<p>My nephew has not been able to find a steady summer job. He is doing odd jobs around the neighborhood, trying to earn as much as he can. He is paid mostly in cash. He will use everything he earns for books and expenses for fall term. He consequently will not show any earned assets (no payroll check, no money in the bank) by the time my sister does the FAFSA and Profile forms for next year. </p>
<p>My nephew is receiving need-based aid. If he doesn't show sufficient income from a summer job, will the college reduce his need-based grant on the grounds that he should have earned more over the summer? That is, will the finaid office make the assumption that he is a lazy slug and since he didn't work more, he is less deserving than other students for grants? Or, is my sister worrying needlessly and driving us all crazy for no reason?</p>
<p>If your nephew falls short on the summer earnings, the school will not reduce his need based grants, they just won't give him any additional monies to make up the shortfall.</p>
<p>My suggestion is break out the package. Make sure the room, board, and fees are covere because that impacts his ability to physically attend. </p>
<p>Back out the travel books and miscellaneous expenses (that is usally where his summer earnings and work study monies go toward). Even if he has a shortfall, he'll adjust (you'll be suprised at how well they learn to work things out). </p>
<p>The net-net is this, the tuition is taken care of, he'll go to class, the room and board is taken care of , he'll have a place to sleep and he'll eat. He'll use his resources to get used books or he'll be at the library immeadiately after class to check out the books that he needs. He may end up doing things on campus that don't cost a lot of $$ until he gets a paycheck from workstudy but in the end he'll be ok. Tell your sister to relax because it all works out.</p>
<p>She is worrying needlessly. While the colleges seem to always leave a small gap (Cost of Attendance - (Financial Aid + EFC)) to be filled by summer earnings, they don't care how that gap is closed. They just assume that if the student does not earn the money, he will fill it some other way, like reducing the expense of attendance. More Ramen, less Domino's.</p>
<p>Remember that the Cost of Attendance is a combination of fixed, knowable numbers (tuition) and rough estimations (transportation, books). If a student is thrifty and does not actually spend what is estimated, the summer earnings "gap" can be closed that way alone.</p>
<p>They will not reduce aid. One summer my son was unable to find a summer job. He talked to financial aid at his college that fall, and they arranged for him to add some work study to his financial aid package to make up for the lack of funds. So there can actually be some benefit, if the college is one that guarantees to meet need.</p>
<p>Our EFC includes $3,000 of summer earnings. This is a school that meets 100% of need. However, if D was not able to raise the $3,000 they would not offer more aid- but nor would they penalize her the nxt year.</p>