<p>I'm a senior in high school and I've pretty much finished all of my college applications. I'm a high-achieving, low-income student and my FAFSA EFC is $0 because of my parents' income and the benefits/aid we receive.</p>
<p>I got a part-time job a few weeks ago and I'm getting a lot of hours every week. It pays more than minimum wage so I'm basically going to be making at least $600-700 per month, which can add up quick considering my only required expenses are about $150 per month, the rest being based on what I decide to do/spend/buy, etc. My goal is to save up as much as possible so that when I get to college I have money to spend on what I need and to go out and do things, cause I never know if I'll be able to find a job (or even manage having one) when I do get to college.</p>
<p>I was wondering, though, what % of my own money is calculated by the FAFSA and added into the EFC? (It does ask for how much of my own money I have, right?). Or am I still automatically $0 EFC because of my parents' income and benefits?</p>
<p>What about the CSS? What percent of my savings/checking accounts is expected to be put towards college? Is it recommended to keep this money out of my bank accounts and in cash or something so that there won't really be a paper trail of how much I have saved up?</p>
<p>Not sure what to do in this situation. Any advice is appreciated!</p>
<p>If you qualify for the automatic 0 EFC (parent AGI < 31,000 *plus *meet at least one of the other criteria such as eligible to file a 1040a or ez etc), then your income and assets will have no impact on your FAFSA EFC.</p>
<p>If you don not qualify for the auto 0 (or simplified needs test) then your income and savings will have an impact on your EFC. A student has some income protection (around $5500 - can’t remember off hand). Anything over that, 50% goes to the EFC. A dependent student has no asset protection. 20% of assets go to the EFC.</p>
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No, this is not recommended as it is fraud. Cash not in the bank is still an asset that must be reported.</p>
<p>CSS schools have no income protection allowance, as with the FAFSA. However, income you make, up to a point, won’t have an effect for many of them because most have a minimum earnings expectation from summer employment. So, in effect, all students start with an EFC equal to that earnings expectation. For instance, for incoming freshman, that amount is $2100 at Duke, $2900 at Dartmouth, $1700 at Georgetown, $1500 at Yale…for many schools you can find this on their FA sites if you dig a little. If not, call the FA office and ask. </p>
<p>If a CSS school is using the 50% rule to asses income, then in most cases you would need to earn more than about $4000 before you would get above their expected contribution from summer earnings. Even then, some of the schools won’t increase the student EFC from earnings. For example, an FA officer at Dartmouth told me that they almost never raise the student EFC, even if earned income gets up to $7000. At Georgetown I was told that a student would need to make close to $15000 before the schools would increase the student earnings portion of the EFC.</p>
<p>Bottom line is that, for CSS schools, you should call the FA office and ask specifically how they evaluate student income.</p>
<p>One more thing…keep in mind that if you are applying for admission next year, then your FAFSA and CSS will only ask for income earned in 2011. So, if you just got a job and make $700 per month for the rest of the year (Sept-Dec), you should be fine with a total income of $2800 for 2011.</p>