Students' Assets Affecting EFC

<p>I had once read somewhere that if a parent's income was <$30,000 and therefore an EFC of 0, a student's assets did not come into play, and so the EFC would remain unchanged. Can someone tell me how true/untrue this is? I have a full-time job right now and I'm concerned about how much money I need to save in order to pay my EFC for the 2011-2012 school year. Thank you.</p>

<p>The EFC is not automatically 0 if the parents income is under $30,000. They must meet the income requirement and some other requirements such as being eligible to file a 1040A or EZ (rather than a 1040) or being a displaced worker or receiving means tested benefits such as food stamps. If they *are * eligible for the automatic 0 EFC than the EFC formula stops there and all other data such as student income and assets is disregarded. If they are not eligible for the automatic 0 EFC then other data such student income and assets will affect the EFC.</p>

<p>As swimcatsmom said, having a 0 EFC doesn’t automatically mean that assets are disregarded. But if you qualify for either the simplified needs test or automatic 0 EFC, then your savings/asset info will not be required for FAFSA (some states/colleges require this info anyway though in order to award their grants). You can read pages 4-6 of this document to determine if either SNT or Auto 0 apply to your situation:</p>

<p><a href=“https://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111609EFCFormulaGuide20102011.pdf[/url]”>https://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111609EFCFormulaGuide20102011.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;