<p>I am currently a 2nd year student at Sonoma State, but because I took 43 units my first year and attempting my 60th unit in the fall, I'm considered a junior by my school. My mom is a single mom and I have one younger brother in HS(he will not attend college). My mom makes about $28,000 before taxes. My dad is supposed to send about $10,000 in child support a year, but doesn't. Last year I was able to pay for college with scholarships. I only had to pay about $500. I'm not getting any scholarships this year. My mom wasn't able to claim me as a dependent on her taxes because the court ordered my dad got to claim me (because I was 17 for more than 50% of 2011 and it was "his turn").
Sonoma State doesn't release financial aid packages until end of June/beginning of July. I got mine and I received
4,500 Federal Direct Subsidized Loan
2,000 Federal Direct UnSubsidized Loan<br>
My EFC is 20,000 dollars. I feel this is very unfair and I should have gotten a grant. My boyfriend is going to Sonoma State and his family makes much more than I do and he got a 5,000 dollars grant. I don't understand why I didn't get a grant or more unsubsidized loan.</p>
<p>Pick up the phone. Call the financial aid office. Ask them what happened.</p>
<p>If you live with your mom, you are her dependent for the FAFSA. Whose dependent you are for taxes has nothing to do with this.</p>
<p>did you file the FAFSA using your mother’s income (since she is the custodial parent)?</p>
<p>Based on what you wrote, minimally you should have been eligible for a Pell grant and probably some California state aid (if you are a California resident).</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>How can your EFC be that high if your mom makes so little? Are you including your dad’s income on your FAFSA? if so, you shouldn’t be since they aren’t together.</p>
<p>I haven’t seen my dad in over a year and did not include his info on my FAFSA. My school did edit my FAFSA to include the $10,000 a year in child support we should receive but we only got around $2,000.</p>
<p>I did call my financial aid office and they told me that I could take out a loan from Sallie Mae and gave me a sheet that explained their 3 different loans. Has anyone ever taken out a loan with them?</p>
<p>does your mother have her own business?</p>
<p>Where did the school get the idea that your dad is supposed to give $10k in child support? They wouldn’t just “know” this.</p>
<p>And, if he only gave $2k, then you need to contact the FA office</p>
<p>Also, even if he did give $10k, your EFC would NOT be $20k. that would be about 2/3 the family income. Does your mom have a lot in savings or assets???</p>
<p>Something is NOT right…either your mom has assets, or your EFC is an error.</p>
<p>My mom does not own her own business. She works for a factory. She has HS diploma and my dad was something like a GED.
My mom has no assets. We have nothing in bank (she has 7000+ in Credit card debt). We rent a home. We own a car, but its 11 years old.
I think the problem is that dad claimed me as a dependent by court order for 2011 and my Financial Aid office seemed really confused that I don’t even know where my dad lives but he claimed me as a dependent. On my mom’s taxes she had to claim all 10k of the child support even though she didn’t get it all because “one day” she will get the back child support and she needs to get the amount she was supposed to get.
I’m just concerned because my EFC is 20,545. I will call tomorrow.</p>
<p>Either way, your EFC isn’t right.</p>
<p>And, your mom shouldn’t be claiming the $10k NOW just because she MIGHT get it later. That isn’t right. She has to declare it AFTER she gets it. Your dad may die TOMORROW and your mom may NEVER get the money. </p>
<p>Putting in on her taxes is a huge mistake. Your dad could use that as “proof” that he DID pay. she needs to correct that</p>
<p>Putting it on her taxes is NOT some way to help her get the money in the future. Who told her such a thing? </p>
<p>Anyway…even with the $10k added to her low income, your EFC would not be that high. </p>
<p>You need to check how things were put into FAFSA…perhaps something was put as “child income” instead of mom’s income…</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter who claims the student. You live with your mom.</p>
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<p>This is a problem, because your mom was not suppose to include the 10k in child support on her taxes (if she was getting 10k in alimony or if 10k was for alimony and child support, then she would have to report the alimony portion on her taxes). </p>
<p>However, for child support, your dad does not get to write it off on his taxes, and your mom does not claim it as income on her taxes. she would however, have to report the amount of child support received on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>If she has done this then she needs to amend her taxes and make the correction.</p>
<p>Like m2k says, even if your father claimed you on his taxes, for financial aid purposes, your mom as the custodial parent should be filing the the FAFSA using her income/assets.</p>
<p>Just reiterating what sybbie said: </p>
<p>Child support is NOT taxable income and should NEVER be declared on your mom’s taxes.</p>
<p>Your father had to pay taxes on that money when he earned it - and it does NOT get taxed a second time when he turns it over to your mom.</p>
<p>It sounds like your dad’s income was used to calculate your EFC . . . hence the school’s confusion when you say you don’t even know where he lives - they think you’re living with him!</p>
<p>Your EFC should be close to zero. Call the school and get it straightened out.</p>
<p>1) Whose income info was put on FAFSA? and how much was put as income?</p>
<p>2) What amount was put on FAFSA for child support? (if more than $2k, than get that corrected).</p>
<p>3) Tell your mom that she wasn’t supposed to include the $10k on her taxes and to correct that.</p>
<p>4) You with your mom, so her info should be on FAFSA. It doesn’t matter that your dad claimed you. </p>
<p>5) It does sound like your dad’s info was used on your FAFSA, so correct that.</p>
<p>(As noted above, your mom should NEVER list child support on her taxes…not BEFORE she gets it or AFTER she gets it. )</p>
<p>Thank you so much everyone.</p>
<p>I just wanted to give an update, in case anyone finds themselves in a similar situation.
After contacting the FA office and asking someone to review my case and checking in, this morning I found out I was receiving a 5970 dollar grant. You just have to keep trying and make sure that someone reviews your file.</p>
<p>Child support is not supposed to be included as income in taxes. And on the EFC, I am guessing there is a mistake there.</p>
<p>Glad it worked out flute. Did you find out what the problem was?</p>
<p>They just said something was overlooked.</p>