<p>I finished my FAFSA on Feb. 2 and my EFC was $10k. I really thought the number was going to be higher, and I'm worried my dad may have made a mistake on the FAFSA (when I asked him to go over it and make sure he did it right he just got mad at me). My family is middle class. My mom makes around $80k a year. I'm not sure about my dad, but if i had to guess I'd say probably $40k-60k for 2008, maybe even less (my dads a financial planner/stock broker so the bad economy has really hurt him). We own a house and have three cars (two are really old and one of the old ones was a gift from my grandparents). Do you think that my dad made a mistake and our EFC should be higher?</p>
<p>My dad estimated the FAFSA from last years tax returns; I've bugging him to do our taxes so he can make the corrections but he's putting it off.</p>
<p>If your Mom and Dad’s combined income is $120k then an EFC of $10k is extremely low (unless there is more than one student in college at the same time). The house and cars will have no affect.</p>
<p>If your father is a sole proprietor, then he can take many deductions, thus reducing his taxable income by quite a lot.</p>
<p>Our AGI in 2008 was approx. 62K, and (with effectively zero assets) our FAFSA EFC was 3910x2 (2 kids in college), so 7820. So I’d say your EFC is low, too, since at half your income we’re nearly at 8000. It may be due to your dad’s deductions, as pointed out by momfromme. Otherwise… can’t see how it gets that low on your income – even if it’s a reduced income.</p>
<p>i dont think my dad is sole propieter. He works for a company. He basically uses their office and their name and they take a percentage of what he earns.</p>
<p>It does sound low. Can you access your FAFSA online? If so, look at your dad’s income (specifically, is it Business Income and is it negative?) & the adjusted gross income will be lower than one might expect. That would impact the EFC.</p>
<p>It’s too low for that income level… EVEN if he is self-employed with lots of deductions.</p>
<p>Business loss will directly reduce Income from Work on FAFSA. In addition, AGI will be reduced. I agree that it seems low, though.</p>
<p>I just had a student today who entered info incorrectly. She went from an EFC of 1600 to an EFC of 11,800. Mistakes can be very disappointing!</p>
<p>i just reviewed the fafsa and i think my dad made some serious mistakes. He put $50,000 for my mom’s income when she just told me that she makes $78,000. He put $30,000 for himself, which could be accurate, but I would bet he makes more. I think he may have done income after taxes but that doesn’t make much sense either since he put we paid only $3,000 in income tax. </p>
<p>Are there consequences for making mistakes as big as these? Or can we correct them once my dad finishes our taxes and just get a new EFC?</p>
<p>yes, you can/should correct your data with accurate data.
YES, there are HUGE penalties for getting caught putting false information on their fafsa (and leaving it there).</p>
<p>If you are asked to verify your data, you don’t want to get caught having lied.</p>
<p>so as long as a correct it then im absolutely fine right? nothing happens besides getting a new EFC? I keep trying to get my dad to do our taxes but he keeps putting it off. Can you correct your fafsa more than once? What happens if I change my fafsa after ive already received financial aid packages to colleges?</p>
<p>If you correct your info after you receive your aid package - and if your info results in a lower EFC - then your aid package will be adjusted to reflect the correct information. If your real EFC is higher than the estimate, aid will be reduced accordingly.</p>