<p>things aren't looking too good. i've applied to mostly 100% full need schools, and my mom says she'd be able to afford somewhere near the EFC for each, but i'm super doubtful. with our income, we shouldn't be feeling like we're living in poverty, but it feels like we are. every day she's constantly complaining about how her entire paycheck goes towards bills. she spends a bit too much on this silly personal thing (hard to explain)—like multiple hundreds every two weeks—but if anyone points that out, she's quick to defend herself since it's her paycheck. that's understandable, but i'm just really frustrated because it seems like nothing's gonna work out. </p>
<p>anyway, my EFC for each school ranges from 5k to 6k. i noticed that there was a student contribution in there, meaning the student has to come up with the money somehow (but that it really doesn't matter since it has to come from the family regardless). anyway, i also noticed that the NPC calculator expects you to give student earnings if he/she has a job. so i was wondering, if i got a job now and saved every penny for college from here on out, would i have to put that in my NPC calculator? would it be deceitful or something? i'm really trying to figure this out. as long as i get a job/work after i file those the FAFSA and CSS, it's okay, right? i'm trying to see if it would count towards my future student contribution instead of my and my family's ~assets. does that make sense? </p>
<p>obviously i won't be able to come up with 6k in 6/7 months, but i want to cover as much as possible so my mom can make this work.</p>
<p>Many schools do require that student contribution including Harvard. So, yes, it’s a good idea to start looking for a job and planning to work this summer. Your financial aid package might include work study as well, which would preclude working towards that EFC since it would be towards your aid package. Some schools that are no loan schools would leave you the option of borrowing $5500.</p>
<p>Be aware that most students do work some for at least their own spending money, and you should start getting used to adding a job to your scehdule. Don’t add any earnings in any calculator or anything until you actually make the money. Who knows what you will end up making? </p>
<p>“but that it really doesn’t matter since it has to come from the family regardless”</p>
<p>I take issue with that statement of yours as my kids have all come up with their own money to pay some of their college costs. They worked every summer during high school and college as well as during the school year at college. </p>
<p>What you make on the job doesn’t count if it’s under about $6K in a year. You have about that in an allowance. When you file FAFSA/PROFILE in subsequent years, make sure you have either spent down any money in accounts or have an account with your parent primary and you joint so that the assets are reported under the parent and not you, on the actual date you file the forms, since you get at least a 20% hit directly towards EFC whereas your parent gets an allowance and only a 5.6% hit for anything over it. But for now, you don’t add in any earnings that you HOPE to make even if they ask. You have no track record, so what you will be making based on past perfomance is a zero, something you need to start addressing to pay that required student contribution.</p>
<p>I wasn’t trying to be offensive with that statement. Some of the NPC calculators divided the EFC into student contribution and family contribution, while some didn’t; I was trying to say that as long as the school gets the money from the family, it doesn’t really matter if it comes from the student or the parents, no? I don’t know exactly how it works or if there’s a limit to either side’s contribution. Obviously many kids work to cover some college costs, and I know I have to be one of them. I don’t mind that at all. I wasn’t trying to belittle anyone’s efforts. </p>
<p>What do you mean by “you get at least a 20% hit directly towards EFC whereas your parent gets an allowance and only a 5.6% hit for anything over it”? Sorry, I don’t really understand it. Thanks for answering, though; I appreciate it.</p>
<p>The way it works is that some school will require a student to come up with $X even with a zero EFC, a poverty level family that truly cannot come up with penny one. That means that even such a student is expected to come up with some of the college costs. But, no, the school does not track where the money comes from and if the parent sells a kidney to pay it, they aren’t going to be looking for that sort of thing. So, yes, if you can squeeze it out of the parents, the school isn’t going to care.</p>
<p>When you file FAFSA and PROFILE, on the day you file, you are asked to list assets including stocks, savings, checking account balances, money in your pocket, etc. If you list the money on the student asset space, the EFC calculator automatically gives you a 20% hit. Like if you have $1000 in your account that day, your EFC starts out with $200. If the money is sitting in your parent’s account, they have an asset protection allowance depending on age of the older parent and number of dependents, and the EFC isn’t affected until they have assets over that amount. Then it starts at 5.6% of the asset amounts over that allowance. So it’s smart to have zero or as little as possible listed as a student asset and have it in a parental account as you can reimburse your parents for expenses made on your behalf and they can save it for you since the financial aid hit makes a difference as you can see. The figure is only based on the assets as of that exact date you fill out the FAFSA and the PROFILE. You can have money before and after that date, but you need to report your assets as of that date, and payables are not excludable. Also, if parents have a large amount earmarked for something, they had better pay it before filing the reports, because earmarks are not excludable. Like if they have an insurance payment for a wrecked car, they better get it out of the account, pay for that repair or buy the new car, because other wise they have to include that in assets and if audited, the schools want to see all of the account balances on the date the fin aid forms are submitted and no explanations and excuses fly well for any money sitting there. Payday is not a good day to file FAFSA, unless you know you are below the asset protection amount.</p>
<p>* so i was wondering, if i got a job now and saved every penny for college from here on out, would i have to put that in my NPC calculator? would it be deceitful or something? i’m really trying to figure this out. as long as i get a job/work after i file those the FAFSA and CSS, it’s okay, right*</p>
<p>Totally fine…do it!</p>
<p>this thread got off-track. Your solution is simple to help pay the family contribution. Start working now and saving.</p>
<p>when you file NEXT year, make sure that you don’t have your earnings in savings. It’s ok to have FA in savings, but not your earnings. Spend your earnings on college first.</p>