<p>These might be a very obvious questions, but I’m confused. Hope someone can answer.</p>
<li><p>I am considering to take a second job to pay for daughters tuition. She has got financial aid. But if I do this and when I fill in the FAFSA next year wont they then reduce her aid because I have been earning more?</p></li>
<li><p>I have had thoughts about going back to school (while working) but it will cost a bit. I feel like I have to consult the financial aid office to hear if it is OK. How does it work if one wishes to do something extra? </p></li>
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<p>If you work, you will make more money - however, how that actually affects your financial aid depends on your situation. Are you married & do you currently not work? If so, you will be able to earn somewhere around $10,000 before it affects your EFC - this is because a 2 working parent family enjoys in the formula that a 1 working parent family does not get (it has to do with cost of work). If you don’t have full aid to begin with, it may have no affect even if you earn more. I <em>think</em> that you get a $3k bump for every $10,000 extra you earn - although that’s just off the top of my head. The best way to know is to find a financial aid calculator & plug in different scenarios. If it’s a Profile school, it’s hard to know what difference it will make.</p>
<p>If you return to school, it has no affect on EFC for your D - you can’t include yourself in # in college for her FAFSA. You CAN include HER in YOUR # in college, though.</p>
<p>Yes, they do reduce the aid if you earn more money. Still, most of the time, you will net more UNLESS you fall in a border line area where by making so many dollars more, you lose eligibility for some money such as the PELL grant. Run the numbers through the on line calculators and see if this happens to you at any point.</p>
<p>Thank you both for your answers. Will use the calculators.</p>
<p>But is it likely that the financiall office would take going back to school of a parent as a type of change in circumstances, or would it seem like an extravagance?</p>
<p>There would be no effect, for most schools. Other than the elites, where full need is met & the family choices are critically scrutinized, most schools don’t consider it one way or another. You fill out your child’s FAFSA - you cannot put yourself in the family size. The aid is based on that EFC. You fill out your own FAFSA - you would have 2 in school - your own EFC would be 1/2 your child’s. You may or may not get grants as a result. It all depends on your situation.</p>
<p>If you are wondering if the school would adjust your EFC because you are going to school - that doesn’t happen. The only thing a school might be able to do is adjust income(that is, change expected income from base year to expected) if you are leaving work to go to school in order to get a better job (and even then, they do not have to adjust the expected income). If you aren’t working now, going to school doesn’t change income.</p>
<p>icedragon, are you kidding? I think parents shouldn’t feel obligated to buy a luxury education ($50,000/yr school) but some may WANT to do so. But shouldn’t parents expect to educate their children, at least on some level? For sure, it can be a joint venture but education is expensive. Here in NJ, the state schools cost more than $20,000/yr. Who wants to burden their child with that level of debt? Now, if parents simply have NO resources to help, that’s a different story. </p>
<p>In this case, perhaps the OP has a part time job and wishes to find another one.</p>
<p>What i was getting at, was does the asker have the means to do so? I mean its good that she wants to help her daughter but will she be able to mantain two jobs?</p>