<p>I made around 13k this past year, my mother and stepfather combined made 39.5k I believe. I've been getting Pell and TAG, and EOF to go to school at county college for free for the past couple years. However this past year, me making 13k has been like a good 40% increase in previous years (7, 8, 9k a year). I dont think this should have messed up my aid like this, I was accepted to Rutgers Newark for Fall, and they have given me an initial offer of 8500, 2000 is Work-Study (which i dont want to accept), and then the rest if Stafford Subsidized and Unsubsidized loans...thing is, Rutgers costs 12,300 a year, not including books. My EFC was around 4452 or so. My sister is also goign to school, and her EFC says like 0700...</p>
<p>Is there any way I can get a Pell Grant, TAG or EOF like I used to? We have no assets and my mother is working once or twice a week now for a few months, we can barely make ends meet. Can I appeal to their financial aid office for these Pell grants? I think I missed it only by a few...</p>
<p>It had 3 red stars next to the 8500 amount, and then it said at the bottom I'd be eligible for a TAG grant...but not pell? In this instance would it make sense to stop working as much, and go back to making around 7k a year, save it all up to pay for school and then next year get some good Pell Grant aid? My mother is playing on getting a divorce as well, and thats even better for me because this guy doesnt contribute to our family costs and basically is making money and messing me up.</p>
<p>EFC is based on parent earnings and assets and student earnings and assets. Your earnings do have a huge impact on your EFC. Dependent students have only @ $3800 in protected income allowance. Anything over that gets allowances for taxes paid, and estimated state taxes and and FICA, but then 50% of the remaining student income goes to the EFC. Your sister’s EFC would be lower because she did not have the income you did. The Pell grant is completely dependent on your EFC so if your EFC is too high you are not eligible for the Pell. Probably nothing much you can do about it this year.</p>
<p>The cut off for the Pell for 2009-2010 is 4617 according to the recently updated tables. If your EFC is 4452 (which sounds lowish considering your income) you should eligible for some, though not much, Pell. (at EFC 0 the maximum Pell if $5350 is awarded but as the EFC goes up the Pell goes down until at EFC 4618 the Pell = 0). The school may be using the old tables for your award if your EFC is below 4618 and they have awarded no Pell at all. So you may get a few hundred once they update.</p>
<p>I you do do WS the earnings from that are not held against you for financial aid awards next time round. So you can earn up to $3800 (+ whatever the increase in allowance is next year) plus WS without it affecting your EFC.</p>
<p>Just to check - did you make sure when you completed FAFSA that any grants included in your AGI from your tax return were reported correctly elsewhere on FAFSA? The question on FAFSA about grants included in your AGI are to make sure your EFC is not increased because of them.</p>
<p>Hm I see, my mother wants to fill out the FAFSA as well as she is planning on going back to school for maybe nursing or something similar, I know her status in school wont help me. Is there anything that a person at the Financial Aid Department can do to help me? Like if I show you them that my mother is currently at a on call job, my job itself is once or twice a week most, that our total monthly incomes dont cover our rent/utilities, that they can possible reduce our EFC amount? </p>
<p>My mothers credit is messed up, and I dont have any at all, so I dont think we could get a PLUS loan. </p>
<p>As for the grants question, no I made sure to not include it in our income, so that it wouldnt raise up my EFC. And yes I will take the Work Study then, and tell my job I can only work weekends so that next year will go by a lot smoother.</p>
Not quite sure what you mean. If you had taxable grants (anything in excess of tuition/fees/required book, you would have had to report them on your tax return so they would be included in your AGI. You can’t not include them in your income if they are in your AGI on your tax return. But the FAFSA formula will deduct them from income before calculating your EFC as long as you report them them on appropriate question on FAFSA.</p>
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<p>If your mother is turned down for a PLUS loan you will be eligible for additional Stafford loans of $4000 on top of what you are already eligible for ($7500 if you are going to be a junior). She must apply and be turned down though. You are not required to have a credit rating to get a Stafford loan.</p>
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The EFC is calculated according to a formula set by the fed govt, not by the school. The school cannot change your EFC. Sometimes if there is a specil circumstance they may be able to make some changes to input figures on FAFSA. But they are restricted by law as to what is considered a special circumstance. Not enough money to cover rent would probably not be considered a special circumstance as income is already taken into account in the EFC. If there is some change in circumstances (such as if your Mom is actually separated and getting a divorce, rather than just thinking about it) it might be considered a special circumstance. It is always worth talking to them. Most financial aid officers want to help where they can, but cannot go outside the law.</p>