<p>If the student income is below the threshold for simplified needs, AND they file a 1040A…do they also have to qualify for free lunch? </p>
<p>NO, they do not.</p>
<p>Two criteria that must be met are the income of the parent under $50K, AGI, AND the ability to file a 1040A. OR qualifying for free/reduced lunch.</p>
<p>Our oldest DD is in college, but works. Her income pushed us over the income limits for reduced lunch, but did not affect our FAFSA, we still do not report assets. </p>
<p>It also appears that the FAFSA does ask for assets depending on the state where you live. </p>
<p>" Fourteen states and the District of Columbia do not allow students who qualify for the simplified needs test or auto-zero EFC to skip the questions. These states are Colorado, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming "</p>
<p>Interesting, I guess that’s why it asked us for assets. My daughter still got a state grant despite relatively large parental assets but it may have been larger without the assets.</p>
<p>So…to the OP, if your mom’s income is below the threshold…AND she will be filing a 1040a tax return this year, you will qualify for simplified needs, I believe, and the assets will not be counted.</p>
<p>Lovely. Thank you all for the help…I’ll feel a lot more confident about things now when I go to fill out my fafsa :)</p>
<p>Just remember…this is for schools that use only the FAFSA…and only IF your family qualifies for the simplified needs test.</p>
<p>There is no simplified needs test for schools,that use the Profile or their own form to collect financial aid data. </p>
<p>The school I plan on enrolling in (I guess it’s not a big secret considering my past three threads have been posted in that school’s forum) only uses the FAFSA…in fact, they refuse to even send any merit scholarship info until it’s been processed (supposedly they don’t lessen the value of merit scholarships if you get more need-based aid, but I’ve heard otherwise). And if for some reason I don’t qualify for the simplified needs formula (although according to all that’s been posted here and everything I’ve read, I should)…at least I did everything right and won’t be hunted down by whomever for forgetting to include anything</p>