<p>I am a student that made about $10,000 this year at my primary job, and did a lot of work-study on the side. I go with my mother's financial information (although I live alone and 1,000 miles away, I am still technically a dependent). My mother probably "makes" less than $15,000 a year between alimony, child support, etc.</p>
<p>Last year my EFC was 0. I knew I was going to transfer to a four-year university this year so saved most of my work-study money. Between that, getting Pell money back, other savings, etc., I have about $9,000 saved up. I am scared to report that on my FAFSA. I can't transfer it to my parents so that's out. How much will it affect my EFC? I really can't afford for it to go up - I need to live off that $9,000 for the next 2.5 years!</p>
<p>One idea is that before you file your FAFSA in January/Feb/March next year, pay your Spring semester tuition and all of your rent through the end of your lease in order to spend down the cash.</p>
<p>Are you just asking about fafsa efc or do you also have to file another finaid form such as CSS profile?</p>
<p>Income from need-based employment such as work study doesn’t count against you for fafsa. There is a fafsa question that asks about that. Also savings that you can show are from financial aid don’t count against you either. But if you mingled work study savings with general savings, it is harder to show that it’s finaid savings still sitting in your account.</p>
<p>That being said, for fafsa it looks like your mom’s income would still qualify for the auto 0 efc. Is that what she qualified for last year? With the auto 0 your income and assets aren’t considered at all.</p>
<p>I am asking only about the FAFSA. UIUC pretty much met my financial need for tuition and fees. I just need to pay for housing, which will be very cheap for me as I am frugal and living with friends. I can live off that $9,000 for the next 2 years if I’m careful!</p>
<p>I wasn’t aware about the auto-0 thing at all! That changes things. My mother uses food stamps and definitely makes less than 24,000 in reportable income. I will find out these things for sure in the next couple of weeks.</p>
<p>Sorry to double-post but I have a related question; is my money calculated into the auto-0? I looked into it and I can’t find any indication that it is but I want to be certain. It’s just my mother’s income, not ours combined, correct?</p>
<p>Here’s a link to the fafsa formula guide. Look starting on page 6. The auto 0 is entirely dependent on the custodial parent(s) financial situation.</p>
<p>Just a question, will you have lived with your mom at all in the 12 months preceding filing the fafsa after the 1st of the year? Will your mom still be your custodial parent?</p>
<p>Madison…if this student’s parent qualifies for the simplified needs test, assets and his income are not included at all in the FAFSA formula. And with an incime of $15,000 a year, he would likely continue to have an auto $0 EFC.</p>
<p>I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong!</p>
<p>I’ll bite. We’ve been discussing auto 0 where student income and assets won’t be included. For simplified needs student income will be counted above the allowance and minus the amount from need-based employment. Parent and student assets aren’t counted for simplified needs.</p>
<p>Make sure you do qualify for auto zero. If, for whatever reason, you do NOT qualified for auto zero or simplified needs, your assets will be hit at 20% of the value on the day you fill out FAFSA. </p>
<p>I have not seen my mother (or my father, for that matter) in four years. We are still in small amounts of contact but neither one of them provide me with financial (or any other types of) support whatsoever. I am 100% independent by everyone’s definition except our federal government. As long as I am not married or having children, I will be considered dependent until I’m 24. I go with my mother on the FAFSA because she makes less money.</p>
<p>I am sure she makes less than 24,000 and is on food stamps so it seems I would qualify for the auto-0. I have nowhere else to put the money (as in, towards bills, not hiding it underneath my mattress!) since I will be sharing an apartment with 2 friends and that could cause complicated issues. I suppose I have little choice but to chance it. Thank you, everybody.</p>
<p>That’s not a valid reason. Per the quote in post #6, the custodial parent is the one who provided the most support in the 12 months you last received support from either parent, even if it was 4 years ago.</p>
<p>Um…if you have seen neither parent…that means you have seen them an equal amount of time…zero. The FAFSA guidelines require that you use the parent who provided you with the most support. Since this is also zero, you are required to use the parent with the higher income.</p>
<p>In the example it is the father because the parents were still married the last calendar year support was provided by either parent and the father earned more. We don’t know that the OP’s parents were still married the last time either parent provided some support.</p>
<p>The situation is more complicated than the formulas the FAFSA asks you to follow. The lines of who provides the most “support” have been blurry since utereo. My mom has spent maybe $20 on me in the past four years in Christmas gifts but she got the money in child support/alimony from my dad (who has spent $0. He might make more than my mom but can’t pay the bills despite living extremely frugally. He is poorer than she is). If I listed my dad, I would likely have an extremely high EFC, despite the fact that he has a lower standard of living than I do. The answer of who to list is not at all clear cut.</p>
<p>Really, I have worked ridiculously hard for the past 2 years, with 3 jobs plus school, in which I have nearly a 4.0. I have almost starved, at times living off one ramen noodle packet a day to survive. I don’t feel at all bad about picking the more convenient side of the extremely blurry line.</p>