My EFC Increased significantly! What did I do wrong?

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello everyone, I was correcting my FASFA and my EFC changed from 309.00 to 1,570.00!</p>

<p>We have no assets, or anything, after bills and rent are paid my mom's remaining amount on her account is around 30.00. Her income is lower than 30,000. We do not participate on any welfare program, and these are the only things I changed on ym FASFA:</p>

<ol>
<li>Parents' Number of Family Members in 2012-2013:</li>
</ol>

<p>I was unsure on how to fill this out. My grandpa passed away, so my grandma was staying with us, but she is not from here and she does not get any SS money or anything. My mom does supply her needs, and pays for all of her stuff though.</p>

<p>So from 2 (My mom, and me) I went to 3 adding my grandma. I read that if you have more family members your EFC would go up because it is expected that all members will help on your education.</p>

<p>Should I remove my grandma? Having her on my FASFA would increase or decrease my aid? </p>

<p>Second thing I changed was:</p>

<p>101b. First Housing Plans: </p>

<p>Since my intentions at first were to live ON CAMPUS I had that, but since I will OFF CAMPUS I switched to OFF CAMPUS.</p>

<p>Those two are the only differences between my FASFA after corrections, but still it jumped from 309, to 1507. I tried decreasing the family members to 2 again, and I still got 1507 on my EFC.</p>

<p>We cannot even afford the 309.00, the 1507 is really out of our reach.</p>

<p>What am I doing wrong?</p>

<p>What did I do that increased my EFC so much? Our income has not increased at all, in any case it has decreased.</p>

2

<p>

Don’t know where you read that, but it is completely untrue. A higher number of family members gives you slightly higher income protection which reduces your EFC. If your grandma is living in your household and your Mom provides more than half her support, then it is correct to include her.</p>

<p>Something must have changed on your FAFSA for your EFC to have increased. Print off your previous SIR and the newest one and compare them line by line to see what is different.</p>

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<p>I also wanted to add that on 2010, my EFC was 0000. I made 11,500 on 2010, and on 2011 I made 6,900. My mom’s income increased only by exactly 24 dollars.</p>

<p>Out income was much higher on 2010, but my EFC was 000, our income is much lower on 2011, and my EFC is 1507. </p>

<p>Suggestions appreciated!</p>

4

<p>@swimcatsmom Thank you! I am comparing them, and the living situation ( From on campus to OFF campus) and the number of parent’s family members were the only two different things that I changed.</p>

<p>Also, I compared it to 2010’s FASFA were my EFC was 00000 and only different thing is 1 more family member, and that on 2011 I picked tax form 1040 instead of 1040 EZ by mistake when filling out my FASFA. On 2010 I picked 1040 EZ on my options. I am not sure if this influences aid, I will correct that as well.</p>

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<p>In 2010 you probably qualified for the automatic 0 EFC. The parental income cut off for auto 0 EFC was an AGI of around $31,000. This year, the cut off for the auto 0 EFC was drastically reduced to an AGI of $23,000. So a lot of people that had the auto 0 in prior years were not eligible for it this year.</p>

<p>The living situation would have no impact on the EFC. That is just used by the school to determine aid (some, not all, schools have different COAs for different living situations)</p>

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<p>Thank you swimcats mom, you explained the auto 0 EFC perfectly! Makes a lot of sense!</p>

<p>I wonder why though my EFC increased on this same year, when I filled my FASFA this April my EFC was 309, I just changed those 2 things now, and it shot up to 1507. I did not add any income or anything.</p>

<p>I should add there is no pension or retirement income, or dividends , unearned income.</p>

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<p>Run the numbers yourself and maybe you will find what caused the change:</p>

<p><a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/082511EFCFormulaGuide1213.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/082511EFCFormulaGuide1213.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Oh the increase of family members increasing your efc I found it here :[Expected</a> Family Contribution - College Answer](<a href=“College Planning - Make a Plan For College | Sallie Mae”>EFC - Expected Family Contribution for Financial Aid Eligibility| Sallie Mae)</p>

<p>“The EFC is the Expected Family Contribution, not just your parents’ contribution. Since you and your parents share the responsibility for paying for college, your financial contributions will be considered as well.”</p>

<p>So, I thought it was true! I’m happy if its not though!</p>

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<p>You are misreading the article. *Your *income is considered when calculating your EFC. But you said did not change any income numbers so that should not have changed your EFC. Your grandma being included in the household will not increase your EFC.</p>

<p>As I said earlier, the number of people in the household makes the allowances against income higher which reduced the EFC. If you look at the link somemom posted, on page 18 you will see that the income allowance is higher for a household of 3 compared to a household of 2.</p>

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<p>@Somemom Thank you some mom! I actually went through your link and saw:</p>

<p>"(1) Anyone included in the parents’ household size (as defined on the FAFSA) received
benefits during 2010 or 2011 from any of the designated means-tested Federal benefit
programs: the SSI Program, the Food Stamp Program9
, the Free and Reduced Price
School Lunch Program, the TANF Program10
, and WIC; OR
The student’s parents:
• filed or were eligible to file a 2011 IRS Form 1040A or 1040EZ11,
• filed a 2011 IRS Form 1040 but were not required to do so
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, or
• were not required to file any income tax return; OR
the student’s parent is a dislocated worker.
AND
(2) The 2011 income of the student’s parents is $32,000 or less.
• For tax filers, use the parents’ adjusted gross income from the tax return to
determine if income is $32,000 or less.
• For non-tax filers, use the income shown on the 2011 W-2 forms of both parents
(plus any other earning"</p>

<p>Our tax preparer made a 1040 for both me and my mother but I made 7,000 and she made less than 31,000 for sure. So, my mom could have filled out the 1040A, as she did on 2010. </p>

<p>So I qualify for auto 0 EFC according to this, I am wondering why my EFC higher? Could there be an error on the preparer’s side?</p>

11

<p>@swimcatsmom Thank you for clarifying! the only changes I did on my correction were adding my grandma, and placing my housing as Off campus.</p>

<p>So my efc increased when I did those two things. I am not sure as to what else would have caused it.</p>

<p>I apologize if I appear obtuse, but I admit I am rather ignorant when it comes to this! :x Thanks for your answers :)</p>

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<p>I am not sure why the formula still shows a $32k cut off for the auto 0. The AGI cut off was initially increased to $32,000, but then it was cut to $23,000. </p>

<p>From [Federal</a> Student Aid - IFAP: iLibrary - EFC Formula Guide](<a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/ifap/byAwardYear.jsp?type=efcformulaguide&awardyear=2012-2013]Federal”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/ifap/byAwardYear.jsp?type=efcformulaguide&awardyear=2012-2013)</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>this is the updated EFC formla that shows the change
<a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/010512EFCFormulaGuide1213.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/010512EFCFormulaGuide1213.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>So unless something has changed again, you are not eligible for the auto 0 EFC.</p>

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<p>Thanks, Swimcat, I just did a quick Google, I did not realise that the change for auto $0 EFC happened in the middle of the cycle. Sorry to raise false hopes, OP.</p>

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<p>@swimcatsmom OKay thank you :smiley: that’s too bad though, but an 309 EFC is not bad at all. I will try adding my grandma again to see if that changes anything…</p>

<p>@sommom <3 No worries! I appreciate you taking the time to help! :D</p>

<p>I have another question that occured to me: My mom made 25,609 on 2010 U.S. Income Tax Paid was 141.00.</p>

<p>This year she earned 25,630 a 21 dollar increase and her 2011 U.S. Income Tax Paid was 1,601.00 I am wondering if she only has a w2, no other income at all, why would the tax paid increase so much? Anyone have any ideas? </p>

<p>Sorry for so many questions!</p>

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<p>It could be all sorts of things: The number of dependents she claimed on her return; she may have had some sort of tax credit one year and not another - for instance if you were under 17 one year she might have got a $1,000 child tax credit for you, but once you turned 17 she would not longer get it. She may have had some deductions one year and not another.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>My guess is that in 2010 there was a tax credit that was either not extended in 2011 or your mom did not qualify for it - probably the former.</p>

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<p>You should consult a tax expert for the tax returns.</p>

<p>So, with the increase of your EFC, how much aid do you lose?</p>

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<p>I suggest you do a direct IRS tax transfer. It sounds like you did not do that. Transfer both your info & your mom’s info, and update the family size to 3. You will most likely be selected for verification based on doing so many changes, so you would need to do the IRS link, anyway … and doing it will get you the correct info you need on the correct lines. Try that.</p>

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<p>Your mom may have paid XXX in income taxes, BUT did she receive a REFUND? Sometimes people think that the amount they paid in taxes is the amount that they had withheld, but that’s not true if they got a refund.</p>

<p>What about tax credits? If your mom received any tax credits that may have affected EFC.</p>

<p>Adding a third person to the household would NOT be the reason for increase in EFC unless that was a parent or step parent with an income. </p>

<p>Does your grandma have any income at all or does she depend on your mom for all support?</p>

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<p>It seems to me from what I have read that YOUR income might be the issue. If YOU made $7K in 2011, then half of the amount over $6K will be part of your EFC right there. How much did you report as YOUR assets on the day you filled out the form. 20% of that gets added to your EFC. If you have money stashed in your accounts, you should spend them down for necessities, or reimburse your mother for expenses and have an account in her name and SSN with you as the co account holder to keep that money as she has an allowance before about 5% of her assets are counted towards the EFC. Also, you should spend your own money first and make sure any money left during the year is your aid money, if possible since that is not counted as part of your assets in determining your EFC for the following year. </p>

<p>Tax refunds can also be an issue, particularly state tax refunds. You need to play around with the numbers and find out what the issue is.</p>