Income from Student Employment, Can Someone Clarify This?

<p>Can someone clarify this for me before I email son's FA counselor. She has nicely and patiently answered a bunch of questions for me already, (I hate filling out all those forms, some of the questions seem very ambiguous to me) and I'd hate to make her start thinking, "oh no, not her again", LOL, no I know she really wouldn't but they are very busy now.</p>

<p>Son will most likely be awarded work study for next year. If he were to find an non-work study job, does this statement apply to work study jobs only or is it for any student employment. </p>

<p>*** If your need is met by all aid offered and your earnings exceed the FWS offer/certification, your other aid will very likely need to be reduced. Therefore, it is important to monitor your earnings as earning in excess of your FWS award may result in termination of employment.***</p>

<p>Son's full need, minus required health insurance, was met last year, I'm assuming it will be this year. It included both subsidized and unsubsidized Staffords and if he and I together could figure out how to take have to use the unsub (or at least as little as possible), but if he can't make over his work study amount without reducing his other, that will be a wash on his end. </p>

<p>They state that outside scholarships go to reduce student loans in most cases, it's possible the same policy applies here, it doesn't say.</p>

<p>Along this same line, one of the forms, was it the Profile, asked for an estimated summer earning on the student's part. He hasn't been able to work summers before so we didn't know what was realistically possible, so we in effect guessed. He will be at home during the summer, and he'll have two towns he can find employment in, both about 30 miles away from our house. (we're rural and not farmland, but timber, my closest neighbors are few miles away and we all drive that far or farther to work). Gas is high, his truck gets poor mileage, so that's a factor. </p>

<p>2 things; first that question was in regard to this summer's employment, 2012, does it impact this year's aid 2012/2013? </p>

<p>Second; again does this statement only apply to earnings from summer work study?</p>

<p><strong><em>Federal law has made a savings expectation from summer Federal Work Study earnings quite stringent. This is due to the severe restrictions placed on summer expense allowances for many students. The allowable costs are limited because the Federal Methodology already provides for summer living expenses of the student, and dependents, if any, in the calculation of the student (and parents' if the student is dependent) contribution for the regular academic year</em></strong>*</p>

<p>He would be in this category</p>

<p>Based on federal law, summer expense allowances (not expected to be saved) are:</p>

<p>*** • Enrolled for no summer courses, working in the same area where parents live: standard local transportation for the period of employment.***</p>

<p>Goes on to state, estimate earnings as closely as possible because: Should you be unable to earn the expected amount of Federal Work Study certification, you may request (in writing) reconsideration of your academic year aid package after fall registration. Any increases in your aid package would be in the form of self-help (loan and/or work study) and would be on a funds-available basis.</p>

<p>I know both of these statements refer to work study only, but I'm wondering if that's because his package only had work study in it. He did not have an expected student contribution in his package last year, so I don't know if the statements would have been different if he had had a summer job last summer. </p>

<p>Thanks for the help</p>

<p>I can’t answer all your questions, but I believe that the income earned from Federal WS does not count towards student income in determining student EFC, so if you are at school and have a WS option versus working a regular job off campus, it is probably better to take the WS.</p>

<p>Also, even non work study employment would only affect FAFSA EFC if it exceeded $6K (dependent student income protection allowance) unless the students earnings were put in their checking or savings account as 20% is applied to the EFC.</p>

<p>*** If your need is met by all aid offered and your earnings exceed the FWS offer/certification, your other aid will very likely need to be reduced. Therefore, it is important to monitor your earnings as earning in excess of your FWS award may result in termination of employment.***
This means that the student is responsible for not earning more than the work study award. If he does earn more than the award, his other aid will be reduced … most likely, they would have to return an amount of subsidized loan equal to the amount earned in excess of the award. So if the student is awarded $2500 but earns $2564.10, the sub loan would be reduced by $64.10 — the school would send that back to the lender & the student would owe either the school or the government (many schools will have the student owe the school, but some will report it as a federal overaward, which is not a good thing to have). This policy makes the student responsible for monitoring his earnings, rather than whomever has hired him.</p>

<p><strong><em>Federal law has made a savings expectation from summer Federal Work Study earnings quite stringent. This is due to the severe restrictions placed on summer expense allowances for many students. The allowable costs are limited because the Federal Methodology already provides for summer living expenses of the student, and dependents, if any, in the calculation of the student (and parents’ if the student is dependent) contribution for the regular academic year</em></strong>*</p>

<p>What this means in plain English is that the Cost of Attendance for summer term is a lot lower than it is for fall or winter terms. The rest of what it says is not really important.</p>

<p>As for the rest of your post … this sounds to me like it pertains to summer work study earned when the student is not in classes. It is possible to earn work study in the summer when you are not enrolled, but the amount earned counts against the aid in the next aid year (fall/winter). </p>

<p>Please do not feel that you are bothering the aid officer. Trust me when I tell you that they want you to ask them if you are not clear.</p>