Is there a limit on family income to to maintain eligibility for Pell Grants? Our kids have always counted on these, but this year, because our company has added its contributions to our health care to our taxable income, it looks like our income has increased quite a bit even though it really hasn’t. I’d like to prepare myself, as to whether the Pell Grants will be out of the question for us now.
That is not taxable income!
It is for us as we belong to a cost-sharing program. It’s not traditional insurance, and while it’s accepted by the Affordable Care Act provisions, it’s proving complicated as far as taxes and now the FAFSA. The employer-paid premiums have to be recorded as income.
There is no hard cut off as it depends on family size and assets, but for a family of 4 it seems to end if income is about $60k. Did you file FAFSA and get an EFC?
I’m working on the FAFSA now. I’m also working on our taxes, and trying to decide whether to take the Tuition and Fees credit for last year’s educational expenses, which would reduce our AGI but not reduce our taxes very much, or the American Opportunity deduction, which would reduce our taxes quite a bit. I’m wondering whether in the long run it would be better to try to reduce our AGI as much as possible.
I have found the EFC calculator on collegeboard site fairly accurate. Federal methodology. Try snd run your numbers through it. There is a place to put in the education credit too I believe.
Any way you can contribute to an IRA?
https://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/100615EFCFormulaGuide1617.html
You can also figure your EFC out yourself with the EFC formula if you want
Yes, we do plan to do that.
Thank you for this link, I’ll see what I come up with.
Of course, if you near the border line, you may be looking at a Pell grant of a few hundred dollars, not the full Pell grant amount of $5,815.
Yes