<p>My mother receives monthly Veterans Survivors benefits from her previous husband who was in the Navy. We filled out my FASFA at a financial aid event at the college I will be attending this fall, with help from FA counselors. They told me we didn't have to report her benefits because it's the only income she makes (she doesn't work), and it's nontaxable government benefits. A few months later, I received my award letter and a form for verification, which we promptly filled out and returned with the required paperwork. I just received a new up to date award letter, which shows that I will receive about $5000 less aid than my previous award, and our EFC approximately $2000 higher. The office knows about our financial issues, and they told me this shouldn't affect aid. I've seen on previous websites, like <a href="http://www.finaid.org">www.finaid.org</a> , that says this shouldn't affect aid, but I'm not sure if this site is reliable (never used it). I plan on contacting the FA department Monday, but how do I approach this situation? Note: This would now require us to pay ~ $10,000 out of pocket, instead of ~ $5,000, which we were going to pay with student loans. </p>
<p>If you didn’t report the survivor’s benefits, I doubt that was it. What about your income? Did it go up? Did you have a lot in savings?</p>
<p>does your mom have a lot in savings? maybe from a life insurance from the death of her H?</p>
<p>as a single parent, the exemption is low.</p>
<p>''h shows that I will receive about $5000 less aid than my previous award, and our EFC approximately $2000 higher. The office knows about our financial issues, and they told me this shouldn’t affect aid. I’ve seen on previous websites, like <a href=“http://www.finaid.org”>www.finaid.org</a> , that says this shouldn’t affect aid,“”</p>
<p>??? if after verification, your efc went up by 2000 then that would effect aid.</p>
<p>what is your new EFC.</p>
<p>If you can remember the fin aid officers that assisted you with the forms, ask them flat out about the situation. Make sure you look over the info and play around with the EFC estimator and see what else can be causing the problem. </p>
<p>Our EFC went up $2000 because the FA department altered my FASFA during verification and put her benefits on the form. The benefits weren’t from my father (this was from her previous marriage a long time ago). My father only makes around $50,000 a year, and my mother and I don’t work. Our income did not increase (in fact it will probably decrease since my father needs to get surgery this summer and won’t be able to work). Our EFC is now around $5,660, and was previously about $2,356. We didn’t have large savings accounts or any other large accounts on my FASFA. </p>
<p>??
Your first post was misleading.</p>
<p>You made it sound like these benefits were your mom’s only income…you neglected to mention that your mom also has your dads income. </p>
<p>how has your mom been able to keep those benefits? Is she not married to your dad? </p>
<p>I’m still not sure why that benefits income wouldnt be counted. </p>
<p>My parents are not married. Sorry for any confusion. </p>
<p>Which benefit is she receiving? If SBP, it is taxable.</p>
<p>Where is the Finaid link? I have found the things I looked up on there reliable.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine any source of income would be disregarded regardless if it is taxable or not. Were the ‘FA counselors’ you got help with from the college or elsewhere? As you see, the verification officer deemed it reportable. Go talk to the person who advised that it wasn’t and see if they have a citation source for that. But if they were wrong there isn’t really anything you can do about it.</p>
<p>Ok, from this, it looks reportable</p>
<p>“veterans noneducation benefits (e.g., Disability, Death Pension, or Dependency & Indemnity Compensation (DIS)) should be reported in Worksheet B of the FAFSA as untaxed income.”</p>
<p><a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid;
<p>BrownParent, I believe untaxed SS disability is also not included in the financial aid formulas. </p>
<p>Untaxed regular social security income is disregarded and not reportable on FAFSA. Any part that is taxable (due to other income levels) is reported in the AGI.</p>