<p>My mom chooses to not work as if she did we'd need to hire a babysitter for my younger sibling and basically the income she receives balances out with what we'd need to pay the babysitter so she's a stay at home mom.</p>
<p>In this situation, how does that affect my financial aid? I'll be applying for UC's and some privates soon. She's not unemployed or looking for work... just choosing not to work. Does that mean I get more financial aid because only one parent is working or less because she's not unemployed but doesn't work.</p>
<p>Now the thing is, I do some things online such as run a blog and websites as a hobby but with advertisements (such as google adsense) and generate a little bit of income. The accounts I use will be in her name and have her tax ID because I'm under 18 and the only ways to use the service is to use a parents name and ssn. It's nothing really, in a year, maybe $2000 income? </p>
<p>Would this hurt anything?</p>
<p>I'm wondering if I should withhold the income from those services (you can just hold it in your account till you want to get paid, by then, you'll need to enter tax id, which i haven't done yet but was planning to do soon)... so that I can get more financial aid..</p>
<p>But I'm completely new to this so I'm not really sure what would hurt me and what wouldn't hurt me. The total family income for my family is around $65 - $75k so it isn't much so I'd need financial aid.</p>
<p>I guess in short I also want to know if it even matters that one parent isnt working... or is it simply based on the income that is reported.. whether it is from one parent or both.</p>
<p>I believe you should start with an online EFC calculator, but keep it mine you don’t necessarily “get” the difference between the cost of attendance and estimated financial contribution (efc).</p>
<p>Check out the “Blue and Gold” plan for UC’s, but I think it’s for lower income than yours.</p>
<p>I think I qualify for the Blue and Gold plan. I hope I do. I guess I just want to know if I should leave my moms income at zero and not do anything that makes it seem like shes receiving income (since its so little, its not worth it to risk my financial aid), or just continue to do so as I’m not sure how one parent not working plays a role-- does it hurt you or does it help you? Or does it do nothing.</p>
<p>Your FAFSA EFC is based on income and assets. The FAFSA does not speculate as to why some people are working and some people are not. (Can you imagine the degree of intrusion that would require???)</p>
<p>Some have reported that if an unemployed parent returns to work, that there is an allowance built into the FAFSA for that, so that the additional income will not negatively affect the EFC as much as you’d think, especially with a part-time low income.</p>
<p>You should run your numbers on an online FAFSA calculator as Shrinkwrap suggests. You can see the outcome with and without the additional income.</p>
No, there is nothing like that built into the FAFSA EFC formula. There is a small additional allowance - “employment expense” - against income when both parents are working - it is 35% of the lower of the parents’ incomes up to a maximum of $3500. </p>
<p>Other than that allowance, the FAFSA EFC formula bases the EFC on actual total income of parents. It does not care whether one or both are working.</p>