is my efc too high for what my parents make?

<p>My efc ended up being a little over 18 thousand dollars. However, my parents only make like 45-48 grand a year. Does that seem like it's too much or does it seem about right?</p>

<p>Seems too high. Do they have a lot of assets? Are they self employed?</p>

<p>My dad is self employed. They don’t have barely any money saved up and have a house to pay off that was built in 04. A couple other car payments but thats it.</p>

<p>When you completed your FAFSA, what did you use for parent wages? Did you use line 12 on the 1040? That is what you should use (and also line 7, if there is any number there). What about worth of the business - did you report an amount? I am thinking you may have reported something incorrectly …</p>

<p>I don’t remember an option that said worth of business. My dad doesn’t own a big business he’s just a masonry contractor and has like 2 employee’s.
As for the parent wages, i used line 12 and 7 and combined them to get 44,387.</p>

<p>Your dad’s business is small enough that he doesn’t have to report a worth, but I wanted to make sure you didn’t put anything for that question. The EFC seems high to me. Did YOU earn money, and do you have money in the bank or in investments?</p>

<p>I made barely over 1000. I have like 800 dollars in the bank. I didn’t give them the extra info though of the amount of money in our bank accounts.</p>

<p>Did you enter business losses?</p>

<p>Line 12 was entered, which is the correct information for business income.</p>

<p>How about parent assets? How much was reported for that?</p>

<p>Oh … you said you didn’t give them asset info. It let you skip that question? If so, there is something wrong. There is no way your EFC should be that high.</p>

<p>Okay, look at your FAFSA (look at the Student Aid Report, if you have it). What amounts do you have for parent income from work, AGI, and taxes paid? What amounts do you have for student income from work, AGI, and taxes paid?</p>

<p>Yes, it let me skip the asset info. When i go back to the fafsa it keeps saying my parents need to sign it before its completed even though it already sent me an email saying it was submitted. I can’t find out how to get back to check the info i put in. I’m guessing i do it from the pin site but i still can’t find where i update the info at. And to alamemom there’s nothing beside business losses.
Maybe i have to wait a day or 2 for it to process before i can go back and change things.</p>

<p>Did you make a change after you submitted your FAFSA the first time? If so, you have to have your parent sign that change - that may be why you are getting that message. Was there a change that you needed to submit?</p>

<p>You should be able to look at your FAFSA. Go to [Home</a> - FAFSA on the Web-Federal Student Aid](<a href=“http://www.fafsa.gov%5DHome”>http://www.fafsa.gov). What options do you see listed when you put in your information?</p>

<p>No i just submitted it like 2 hours ago. Then was reading the report and thought my efc was way too high. The only option that comes up when i put my info in is you need your parents to sign it before it gets completed. But they don’t have a pin number (i’l have to get my mom to make one). When i first submitted it there was an option that said submit without signature or something like that.</p>

<p>Well this is weird. My mom just made a pin account then we used that to sign and finish the process. Now it says we can’t estimate the efc until your application is processed. But on my other email from them it gives me an efc. Maybe that was just showing an example of one. I’m lost.</p>

<p>You must have submitted a FAFSA for which you received an EFC if you have an email that gives you an EFC. You would have needed a parent PIN in order to get that EFC, though … and you say your parent did not have a PIN. I am wondering if you checked a box incorrectly on your dependency status the first time … like saying you were in guardianship or have a dependent. This would have allowed you to send without the parent PIN. If you did this and put your parent income info under the student info, it is possible that you would get that EFC. It doesn’t really matter, though. What matters is that you now have a FAFSA with parent info and a parent signature. In a few days, you will receive a new SAR with a new EFC. Come back and post the new EFC when you get it. I bet it will be lower this time.</p>

<p>i will and i surely hope it will be.</p>

<p>Since your dad is self-employed, did he put any money into retirement accounts last year? If so, how much? That could increase EFC.</p>