<p>Schools cannot adjust the EFC, but they can choose to adjust some of the components that go into the EFC formula. Loss of job can lead to an adjustment to income - but there are no guarantees. Some schools may wait until closer to the start of school to verify that the parent did not get a job in between. The best thing to do is call the financial aid office & ask them what to do.</p>
<p>Am I understanding this correctly… so let’s say the 2009-2010 maximum EFC to quality for Pell is 4617? If our EFC is close to that, 4300, this means we’ll get maybe a few dollars from Pell?</p>
<p>I pm’d you, Sushi. $1100 for you! Plus a SMART grant if your kid is in the right major - $4000!!</p>
<p>Kelsmom, what adjustments are the colleges allowed to make now if a family is suffering job loss?</p>
<p>So I have a question. Does Pell vary like the Fafsa? Just thought it seemed linked. Or is the Fafsa money and Pell money two different things altogether?</p>
<p>There is no FAFSA money - FAFSA is just the application for student aid, which calculates your EFC and is required for any federal money to be distributed, even Stafford loans. Based on your EFC, the Pell (and other state and college level) grants are made. So, federal grant money is directly related to FAFSA. There’s a chart here that shows how the EFC determines the Pell amount:<a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/P0901PaymentSchedules1D.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/P0901PaymentSchedules1D.pdf</a></p>
<p>For job loss, an adjustment to income can be made - that is, instead of using 2008 income, the aid office can use expected current year income. I can only speak for my office, but we require documentation that the job loss is not by choice or due to performance-related reasons. This means proof of layoff/business closure (or loss of business, for the self employed). We also collect any available supporting documentation: final pay stub, unemployment benefits, etc. For the self employed, it’s a bit more involved, but they need to submit whatever they have that will document their current situation. </p>
<p>This is going to be one heck of a busy year for income adjustment. For many families, the net result may not actually be an increase in aid. I work at a public school, and our hope is to help families cover average tuition through a combination of EFC & grants. The income adjustment may well reduce the EFC by a lot … but if it’s more than average tuition, it doesn’t net any increase in grant aid. It may result in a better mix of subsidized loans in the Stafford awards - but there is a maximum of 3500 fr/4500 soph/5500 jr-sr, anyway, so again it may not make a difference</p>
<p>This is probably too late for most who received a Pell Grant in their initial Financial Aid package, but my daughter received $5,350 (probably the max). We went about shopping for colleges based on this offer by Tulane. Only to find out after she accepted Tulane and turned down the other colleges, that we did not qualify for the grant. We are now looking at $7,000 more per year that we did not take into consideration.</p>
<p>$5350 is the maximum Pell grant and is available only to those with a 0 EFC. Your FAFSA EFC must have changed a lot from when you first filed it and had the initial award to when you got the final award. To go from being eligible for the maximum Pell to being not eligible for any Pell would mean your EFC would have had to change from 0 to 4618 or higher.</p>