<p>I'm still waiting for answers from the school, which is closed for the day, but would like reassurance that I'm not crazy.</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman with very generous fin aid, and on her 2011 tax return declared about $1K of taxable scholarship income based on the 1098-T. When I filled out the FAFSA, I listed that amount in question 43d, as an exclusion from her income for FAFSA purposes.</p>
<p>Her school's financial aid office "corrected" that exclusion to $0, because the school's scholarships cover only tuition; this resulted in a higher EFC and lower Pell Grant for next year. </p>
<p>My take is that since the Pell Grant is included in the 1098-T (resulting in the taxable portion), we should be able to exclude it from the FAFSA. And in any case, question 43d refers explicitly to the tax return, not to what the school is paying. Even if I made a mistake on the taxes, does the financial aid office have the right to change that section of the FAFSA??</p>
<p>If they see a mistake, they are required to correct your FAFSA.</p>
<p>I get that, but how is it a mistake to answer a question that refers specifically to the tax return with the correct number from the tax return?</p>
<p>the section in question is “Student’s Grant and Scholarship Aid Reported in AGI.” If we reported $1K of aid as part of AGI on the tax return, why should the school have the right to change that on the FAFSA? it’s not their tax return…</p>
<p>I wasn’t saying there was a mistake, was just answering your question: “Even if I made a mistake on the taxes, does the financial aid office have the right to change that section of the FAFSA??”</p>
<p>This is a good question to ask kelsmom. She will be able to explain it to you.</p>
<p>If you reported $1000 of scholarships or grants as taxable income on the taxes, then you were correct in reporting that amount on question 43d. I can’t imagine why the school would change that. (The question asks about grants and scholarships, not just scholarships).</p>
<p>I had a similar “correction” on my FAFSA where they changed my education (AOC) credit from $1500 (electronically transferred from the IRS) to $1096. They (the FA person) is obviously mistaken - but I do not know which college FA office made the change. They made another change that was incorrect also (changed my income!!). I wonder if the ‘underlings’ do these corrections. Next year when D2 is attending college at least I will know who to call to discuss the error.</p>
<p>5 years ago when S1 was applying to 11 schools, I had the problem of one school changing an item. They were wrong. I would correct it, then they would re-adjust it. it was a huge waste of time and I was not happy that when one school makes a change (even if a wrong change), the adjusted FAFSA goes back out to all the other schools.</p>
<p>FAFSA provided me with which school was making the changes. After a bunch of haggling with a rather obtuse person at the college, FAFSA suggested we just delete that school, correct it <em>again</em> and the correct version would then go out to the remaining schools. Since S had decided against this school, we were able to do that and it worked perfectly. Sigh…it was the college from which I graduated!</p>
<p>Update: I spoke with FAFSA, and they said I was absolutely right. Now I get to wait and see if that’ll convince the fin aid office…</p>