<p>Financial aid is critical for my college education. My family's financial situation, however, is a little complicated.</p>
<p>*I am a senior in HS, permanent resident with a mom who just received citizenship, and resident of Georgia.
*I have a twin brother who is planning on attending college this fall as well (2007-2008).
*My parents are married.
*My father works in Germany; he lives there, pays bills and taxes, and has been doing so for the past four years. In the 1040 form, he has claimed tax exemption of his income (roughly $67,000), but only is able to bring back $2,000 when he comes back to the United States every other month- a total of $12,000 a year.
*My mother works here in the US and has an income of $45,000.
*According to the 1040 Form, the AGI is $43,838.</p>
<p>With this information, we completed the CSS Profile and used College Board's EFC Calculator to calculate an EFC of $10,000 (which we find reasonable with my father's circumstance).</p>
<p>The horrible news came as I have just completed and submitted my FAFSA application. My EFC is now a surprisingly high $36,709!</p>
<p>What I think went wrong:
We did not know how to include that my father only brings $12,000 back a year and lives separately, so FAFSA did not calculate it correctly. </p>
<p>Because I have already submitted my FAFSA to half of my schools, what should I do? Should I contact the financial aid offices immediately? What should I tell them?
And for the other schools, how should I edit my FAFSA?</p>
<p>Thanks a lot everyone!</p>
<p>deja vu moment.</p>
<p>I am reposting my reply to this question from the parents forum:</p>
<p>Income that can be tax exempted because of being earned overseas is not excluded on FAFSA - in fact there is a specific place to add it back onto the FAFSA form. I don't know the tax laws etc and why your Dad can only bring $2000 back. I know my Ds friends Dad is a contractor overseas right now and he has to declare all that income on FAFSA which makes her ineligible for AID. I don't know if you have a special circumstance that would make a difference but try talking to the finaid officers as HImom said. I will be honest and say that I doubt it will make a difference but I may not be completely understanding the situation.</p>
<p>There are several instances of income that is tax exempt but not 'FAFSA' exempt. For instance my husbands SS pension is not taxable but we have to show it on FAFSA and it is used in our EFC calculation.</p>
<p>Having said that the EFC sounds high for just you if there will be 2 in college (unless there are other assets). You did put family of 4 with 2 in college right? That would halve the EFC dividing it between the 2 of you.</p>
<p>I think that's where the mistake may have occured; I put a family of three because people have told me that since my father lives in Germany, he is not considered to be a part of the household...=/</p>
<p>If he is working overseas but your parents are still together - not separated or divorced then I think he would still be part of the household (but double check with expert). However that would make maybe a couple of thousand difference not the amount you are talking about. When I said it would halve it I meant 2 in college as opposed to 1 - not the number in family. Sorry I was unclear.</p>
<p>I think the real problem is that this is still your Dads income - where it is earned makes no difference to FAFSA. There are a lot of Dads who work overseas and their income is not exempt for calculating EFC whatever exemptions from tax there may be. EFC is calculated using all income and assets with formulas for a certain amount of protection. I suspect on the calculator you entered the figure based on AGI not realising you would have to add back in the overseas income. I did the same the 1st time I ran it then realised I needed to add the SS pension money which upped our EFC a bit.</p>
<p>But definitely talk it over with a finaid officer because there may be something I am misunderstanding.</p>
<p>Yea, I put 2 as the number in college. By finaid officer do you mean from the colleges? Or someone affiliated with FAFSA?</p>
<p>I mean the financial aid officer from the college. Financial aid officers are able to make adjustments but there are strict guidelines to the circumstances and what they can adjust. For instance if there has been a major income change (job loss, loss of benefits) they can make what is called a 'professional judgement' adjustment to input figures. Just based on your Dad working overseas (and my understanding that your parents are not separated) I don't think there would be a basis for this. But I am not a financial aid officer. And I don't understand exactly why he can only bring $2000 back so I am possibly not understanding the complete picture. It is an unusual situation so that is why you need to talk to the FAO. Based on an income of $112,000 with $65,000 being tax exempt your EFC will be high. Run your figures through the Finaid calculator this time including the overseas income and I think you will find it makes a big difference. </p>
<p>I believe it is also possible to talk to someone at FAFSA to make sure you are entering everything correctly. Good luck and keep us posted. Hopefully with good news. :)</p>