Please, please help answer my question! Re: Pell Grant & eligibility

[p00rstudent]

<p>Hi swimcatsmom,</p>

<p>Thank you for the clarification on the EFC and I am sorry that I keep confusing you. I should probably edit the first post.<br>
When I say that he has no income, I mean that he has no income earned from work.</p>

<p>I will try to clarify:
2007- He had 29k in his bank account but he was unemployed .

his total income & AGI was $29,595 on line 22 & 37 when he added line 8a (183), line 13 (25,373) & line 21 (4,039).

2008- he had 41k in his bank account but he was unemployed.

The numbers that I entered in my thread are from our 2008 State Return. After adding the lines 6-11, the result was “$41,653”. After line 12 was subtracted from line 5 ($1,597 my income), the result was: -$40, 056 Adjust Gross Income.

</p>

<p>He is paying for his medical school through his parents contribution & loans.</p>

[swimcatsmom]

<p>

his $29K income from 2007 was comprised of $183 interest income, $25,373 capital gains (sale of stock?), and $4039 unspecified other income (line 21, 1040). It doesn’t look like he had any earned income at all for 2007.

</p>

<p>As far as FAFSA is concerned income is income. If it is capital gains it is still income. For FAFSA the difference between income earned from work and income not earned from work is that income from work generates additional allowances in the EFC formula as there is an allowance for FICA of @ 6.75%. And I *think *with $25k in cap gains he would not be eligible for filing a 1040a or ez so may not be eligible for simplified needs (unless he meets other criteria).</p>

<p>I agree, the OP needs to sit down with a financial aid officer and sort all this out. Make sure you take your and his tax returns for 2007 and 2008.</p>

[p00rstudent]

<p>Thanks so much everyone for your time in responding to my questions. I still have an unanswered questions though.</p>

<p>

By the way, as I am currently unemployed & my husband is a medical student. The only money that we have to use for bills & food is from the gift money that his parents gave us. Which is about $4,000 & I’ve also included that amount as a part of my cash/savings etc. on the FAFSA. When I meet with my advisor to go over everything and she asks how we survive with no income from work…How would I call that gift money? I looked up “untaxable income” but it doesn’t seem to fall under this category. Do I just say: “We live off of our checking/savings account.” ??

</p>

<p>If & when everyone has time, I hope that you’d go over all my replies. I think it should start to make more sense… haha</p>

<p>I love my husband and it’s so much fun being with him. But when it comes to matters like this…BEING MARRIED SUCKS! <em>sigh</em> I don’t know how I will be able to afford a higher education. It’s not possible for him to help me out and there’s no way that I could share his personal money. That is all allocated for emergencies, simple living expenses (gas, food at school etc.) & to pay off future debt in loans. My parents can’t help out, my husband can’t help out…my only hope was a grant & a part-time job. :(</p>

<p>P.S. What will happen to my 2009/2010 grant if I don’t continue with the 2008/2009 verification process? <em>heavy heart</em></p>

[sk8rmom]

<p>Were you actually married on the day you originally filed your 2008/2009 FAFSA? If you filed it even one day before the marraige, then you filed correctly with only your own income and it should not be changed now. I know this is a smaller concern, but you were selected for verification and have to respond. The worst that can happen is that you lose your summer fin aid grants. Just give the info, as you reported/filed it, to FA and it should be fine, really. If you made an error due to the marraige thing, they’ll let you know and it shouldn’t be a big deal.</p>

<p>You were not selected for 09/10, so I don’t think there would be any effect on your grants either way, but verification could still happen. So, read carefully the 2009/2010 filing instructions here:
<a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/CompletingtheFAFSA09-10[/url]”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/CompletingtheFAFSA09-10&lt;/a&gt;
.pdf</p>

<p>and make whatever corrections are necessary NOW before you get student aid. You don’t want to suddenly have to pay it all back, or worse, get barred from ever receiving aid!</p>

[p00rstudent]

<p>Thank you sk8rmom for your patient & compassionate response. It somehow made me feel better and I think I’ll just throw my fear of undergoing the verification process over my shoulder and just go through with it. I filled out the FAFSA accurately, or the answers matches with the 1040’s. The only thing was, I did not know that I had to input my husband’s #'s as well. I was just discouraged & disheartened because I know if I was single, that I would qualify for automatic zero EFC. But because of my husband’s financial standing, I would not be able to get much help. So his money in actuality does not have anything to do with me, but on paper…it does! It sucks! =(</p>

[kelsmom]

<p>First of all, not completing your verification for 2008-09 most likely will not affect your grant for 2009-10. Were you also selected for verification in 2009-10? If not, it is possible that the financial aid office will decide to select your for 2009-10 verification because you failed to complete the 2008-09 verification (if they use that as a flag). If that is the case, you would simply submit the requested info from 2008 for 2009-10 verification. If you do not complete the 2008-09 verification, you obviously would not be eligible for any summer aid. If that’s not a problem for you, then you do not have to complete it. But why not??? It’s not like they are going to brand you a liar & throw you in jail … they’ll just correct your eligibility.</p>