<p>Parent income is low < 15k.
Student income none.</p>
<p>Have a property that is rented out. After costs, net income from rental is less than $100 a month.</p>
<p>FAFSA EFC is near $10K though.... just because of the rental.</p>
<p>So I'm screwed? It's not listed as a business (reported on Schedule E, instead of Schedule C). If it were Sched C, then the asset would be 0, and EFC would be 0...</p>
<p>If that asset value was instead in the form of a retirement account, personal items, business, annuities(?)... then EFC wouldn't be so high right?</p>
<p>But now I don't think I can go to college with that EFC...</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>Your family’s income is low enough that you should be an Auto 0…assets don’t count. Are you sure that your parents income is THAT low? No other income?</p>
<p>Hopefully Kelsmom will weigh in. Maybe it’s how you file that’s the problem???</p>
<p>Are you a rising senior? If so, where did you get that EFC? Or are you about to enter college?</p>
<p>Are your stats high enough for merit awards?</p>
<p>*Transfer Student</p>
<p>So My Aid Awards for 2013 show only the Pell and University Grants for Gift Aid, Student Work-Study, and Loans.</p>
<p>What about Cal Grant?
I checked my Aid offers from other UCs and they show Cal Grant A.</p>
<p>Does anyone else have a Cal Grant award from UCI?*</p>
<p>Your income is still low enough to qualify for B&G. Was your Pell taken away? Is that how you know that your EFC changed? </p>
<p>You need to call about your Cal Grant.</p>
<p>I’m not an expert on the auto zero…but I’m not sure it is JUST income that determines it. If it is like simplified needs (whereby assets do not get counted), the family has to have the low income PLUS one other qualifying thing…either receipt of a means tested benefit (food stamps, free lunch, for example) or the ability to file a 1040 short form (EZ or A). </p>
<p>With rental properties, I don’t believe you can file a short form 1040…but I could be wrong. </p>
<p>To the OP, the rental property equity is an asset. The rental income is income. </p>
<p>Make sure you use the equity…value minus owed mortgage. Did you do that?</p>
<p>But do be aware that some deductions allowed for your rental property for tax purposes are not allowed for financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>If you have sufficiently high stats, perhaps look at schools with great merit aid.</p>
<p>I believe you’re right Thumper. You have to be able to file an EZ or 1040 short.</p>
<p>Even with an auto zero EFC, if the OP is looking at schools that use PROFILE, they would come up with their own expected contributions. And, yes, property and other things that require filing a 1040 can do you in from the auto zero too. </p>
<p>IMO, owning income property is really a killer for financial aid. I’ve seen it make a lot of numbers go haywire whereas if the asset were in just about anything else, it would not have been the case. Family busnesses can do the same for PROFILE schools.</p>
<p>He’s going to a UC, which doesn’t use CSS.</p>
<p>I think this student will still get aid because income is low enough for Blue and Gold promise.</p>
<p>Hi, all! I am currently at a financial aid conference, learning lots …</p>
<p>OP would not qualify for auto 0 “for sure,” since the rental property means a 1040 is required. However, if anyone in the family received federal means tested benefits in the past 24 months - SNAP (food stamps) or free/reduced lunch - or if one or both parents is a dislocated worker - OP would qualify for auto 0.</p>
<p>Even if OP is not eligible for auto 0, I cannot imagine that the EFC would be $10,000. At $100/month income, the income from Schedule C would probably be low or maybe negative. The value of the property would have to be really high in order to kick up the EFC that much. </p>
<p>Either the financial aid officer made a mistake (it happens - and I hear that CA schools have cut back staff, so they are overworked, I am sure) or the OP has an incorrect understanding of the parents’ financial situation.</p>
<p>My suggestion is to call the aid office and speak with a financial aid officer. That is the only way to know for sure what happened. Let us know what he/she says!</p>
<p>EFC may be affected by the value of the home, if there is much equity.</p>
<p>The student is a transfer student, so if he qualifed for free lunch in HIGH school (2 years ago) would that still apply?</p>
<p>At the income OP cites for the parents, the equity would need to be really high to make the EFC that high (but it’s possible) … I would guess there are no other assets, so the asset protection allowance would be used toward the equity of the property, and the amount above the asset threshold is only assessed at a few %.</p>
<p>The free/reduced lunch deal is 24 months, for anyone in the family (so siblings count, too).</p>
<p>OP, what is the value of that property if your parents were to try to sell it very quickly? Also, are there any liens, mortgages against it?</p>