May have a mistake on FAFSA, what should I do?

Paying for College
1

<p>I'm a sophomore now, my mother has always been the one to file my FAFSA. I don't really know specifics about my parents income, but I have a general idea. Anyway, I am applying to some scholarships and that have deadlines in October that require my SAR, and I noticed that something about my EFC and parents income looked off. I compared my SAR and Financial Aid packages from my freshman and sophomore year and my EFC went down from about 4200 to 2600 this year. It looks like my parents income went down a little this year, but I have a feeling that it might be a typo - the first two digits of their combined income is switched from what I think it should be.</p>

<p>I definitely don't want to get in trouble, but I have a feeling my parents will not let me find out if they made an error or not. We didn't get selected for verification or anything, but I still don't want to take a risk and have wrong info. </p>

<p>If there actually is a mistake on my FAFSA, what are the consequences of not reporting it? I want to have this handy because I suspect my parents will try to brush it away so I won't be able to even find out if our income is correct or not. My school is a few hours away from home, so this will be a tough conversation to have with my parents over the phone, and they tend to have an attitude where if something happens to our benefit, we shouldn't try to correct it.</p>

<p>Thanks for any help.</p>

2

<p>There may not have been a mistake. If your parents won’t change a mistake, and it is later found, it will just get viewed as a mistake. Mistakes happen all the time. No one gets into trouble.</p>

<p>I know someone who misread the app and put down that the student had a dependent. They got full Pell. Once that was discovered by the school to be a mistake, the money was taken away…no one got into trouble. It was a mistake.</p>

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<p>When your parents filed their FAFSA, they linked to the IRS retrieval tool, most likely. This helps colleges verify that the info on the FAFSA aligns with the tax return.</p>

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<p>I agree. I think their income did go down. </p>

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<p>@thumper1‌ @mom2collegekids‌ This is definitely a relief. I was not aware of the IRS retrieval tool. Thank you both so much for your help.</p>

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<p>Even after DRT, the school may ask for W2 and Tax transcript to verify.</p>