<p>I just got an email from tuft's fin aid saying this:</p>
<p>" This is a revision of your financial aid package from Tufts University. Your aid has been reduced because an analysis of the 2005 federal taxes that arrived today shows higher income than initially reported."</p>
<p>Then it went on to say that my EFC is now ~20k. When before it was 8k. I obviously can't go to Tuft's now, but I am first of all greatly concerned that this will happen to my 5 other CSS schools (after I accepted the package). I should give up on them right? I think what they found is that my aunt has this condo in florida that she rents out to people, and my mom owns half of it because of some will settlement from their mother.</p>
<p>I want to go to Case now, which is FAFSA. My package from them is still the exact same (amazing, 503$ efc there). Would Case change this package after I accept and enroll??? They are fafsa, does fafsa consider a "business"?? I know CSS has a business and farm supplement and that is what my mom sent in to the 6 schools. I'm really confused right now and there's almost no time. My mom sent in the tax returns stuff over a week ago to every school, but I've heard no word from Case or OSU. I don't want to call because I might incriminate myself.</p>
<p>Also, I am a "land grant scholar" to OSU. Which is a full ride. This is partly based on need and partly based on achievement. Could this be revoked? Assuming that Case changes their package, I'd go to OSU with my full ride.</p>
<p>Please give me some info... I'm out of town fri and sat so I'm really in trouble</p>
<p>really need a comment here</p>
<p>Have you turned down schools in favor of Tufts? If so, you might want to call the FA office and plead with them. Was this year's rental income higher than usual? If so, you can write a letter showing that this income is no longer a factor. You'll have to back it up with past tax returns. They won't just take your word for it.</p>
<p>Did you update the FAFSA with the tax return info? You do know you have to do this, right? If so, did your EFC change? If not, you're in the free and clear.</p>
<p>Of course, this ends up being your fault. Your mother should have filled out the FAFSA and Profile with you to make sure everything was accurate. Schools don't take it lightly when the FA information supplied by the student is inaccurate, a main reason why they require signed tax forms as "proof" of income level. The fact you said that your aunt "has a condo in Florida" and your mother owns half of it shows that you and your family are still in denial that the condo is part yours. Your aunt AND mother have a condo in Florida, and they both get income from rent.</p>
<p>so when I submit my mom's federal tax and w-2 forms to case, they will drop my aid too...? This frikken sucks, I don't even know what my package will be now if I accept it. The cause of all of this is that my aunt owns this condo in florida, that is under my mom's name too, and they rent it out to people. So far it's an investment that's actually LOSING money, and my mom owns a small share of it. My EFC would automatically shoot up 10k at case? But I won't know until after I accept their offer to go there??</p>
<p>If it's going to shoot up, then I'll go to ohio state. Would my full ride be affected?? I really need answers now so I don't go with the wrong school/fin aid package.</p>
<p>I haven't turned down any school yet. That's why right now is critical. I don't know what to do.</p>
<p>I'm not in denial about anything. It's that I have 4 days left to make a decision and now I don't even know what my financial aid packages will be. And I've been also pleading with my mom to do fin aid for months, and my dad refused to submit his forms for months as well. So everything just got in about a week ago. I've been doing all I can, I just have incompetent parents.</p>
<p>Also would this take away my pell grant?</p>
<p>I can't answer these questions, Atomic.</p>
<p>the Tufts office mauled me bigtime.. my EFC is 13k and they wanted 39k..</p>
<p>According to my CSS which is as it is, I have a house in california.. I live in India 9rented) but use my aunts MA address as mailing. These guys edisently thought I had 3 houses.. which isnt there on the CSS and I know not how they got this decision.</p>
<p>Finally going to Rice University... they giving me a great aid package to match up to my EFC :)</p>
<p>So maybe "Tufts Syndrome" has a different meaning today? :-)</p>
<p>seriously... they guarantee to meet 100% aid... I cant understand how they got these numbers.. I have appeals and done all kinds of stuff.. finally gave up</p>
<p>Atomic
It is really hard for most of us to help you here as FA is quite confusing when you change the numbers. I would guess that your FAFSA EFC would change once they know about the house your mom shares with your aunt (FAFSA doesn't take into account your primary residence but I do believe they consider a second house as an asset). If your FAFSA EFC increases, your Pell Grant decreases.</p>
<p>You can run some numbers on the college board FA estimator to see how the EFC changes. </p>
<p>At this point, it might be wise to contact your schools and simply ask them. They will know sooner or later anyway as once your parents' income taxes are submitted, the FAFSA (at least ours anyway) was automatically corrected.</p>
<p>I agree with FresnoMom. Since you have only a few days left to commit to a school, you must contact each to see if your FA will change. In this case, it's much better to meet the problem head on than to hope no one will notice. Too much depends on the answers you get.</p>
<p>I called the OSU office and they said that my scholarship will not be affected. But, my pell grant and ohio grant might be decreased or completely gone. So basically I might lose 5.3k/yr then but keep everything else, and they might just up the scholarship to cover the rest because it's supposed to be full ride when added to any fin aid grants.</p>
<p>So I'd go to OSU if my case fin aid decreases by a large amount. Does anyone have any idea how much a 503$ efc would change if a person owns half of a $50k or so condo? They might even have it on mortgage. Heck, the condo might not even be causing this, it might be my dad (my parents are divorced) becase he was really bad with giving us the info and I overheard my mom talking to him and saying that she recorded something wrong. He's unemployed off and on and his assets are really confusing. But if it is my father then case would not be affected at all because FAFSA doesn't take him into account.</p>
<p>Check your official EFC on the FAFSA page.</p>
<p>It still says my efc is $503.</p>
<p>"There were many issues that caused the parent contribution to increase.</p>
<p>1) The Adjusted Gross Income used in the first award was $20,577, as reported on the PROFILE. The 2005 taxes show that it is actually $50,920.</p>
<p>2) Your mother holds an interest in a partnership (I can not yet confirm the value of that because the 2005 return has not been sent to us, only the K-1) but that K-1 showed a distribution from that entity which offset the loss. This was not information I had in the initial evaluation.</p>
<p>3) The home value and debt reported on the CSS PROFILE appeared to be transposed. That is, the value was reported as debt, and the debt as the value. When the 2005 taxes arrived, and I did a complete review, I fixed that error."</p>
<p>So 2 of these errors were on the CSS profile, and the other is the partnership . My mother completed the FAFSA with an expert, they worked together on it, so I don't think those two errors were also on th FAFSA (she did the CSS by herself). Therefore I should be fine for Case, right? I mean it may get adjusted a little because of small profits in the partnership, but there shouldn't be a significant jump? Also the "adjusted income" probably was due to my father, who is unemployed but gets income from various sources, so that wouldn't show up in the FAFSA.</p>