I’ve decided to take a year off between highschool and college for a few different reasons.
I’m want to work part time, help my family with a few things, and improving/working on my art in the span of next year with the intention of applying/going to college to major in illustration/animation.
What I’ve heard however is that working part time can affect the amount of aid you get from FAFSA? Is there a certain amount of money I can make without it affecting financial aid? or does it not matter what I make if my family (really just my mom) makes less than a certain amount annually?
Thanks for any help!
First…fafsa doesn’t "give"you aid. It is a financial aid application form that is used to determine your eligibility primarily for federally funded need based aid. Some colleges also use it to determine their institutional aid funding.
Yes, your income will be a factor if it is above a certain amount.
I would suggest you look at a college now, and run the net op rice calculator for that college. Do it twice…once with your projected income (as the income in the student section) and once without it. Look at the difference.
It won’t be particularly accurate as these are updated annually, but it will give you an idea.
Keep in mind that the only income that will count is the income you earn between now and December 31 - so it won’t be a full year’s income. (And then your spring income will count towards the following - 2017-18 - school year.)
50% of the income you earn over $6310 will be added to your fafsa EFC. Though only part of that would be earned in 2015 and part in 2016. I’m presuming you are graduating this year. 20% of any savings you have on the day you file fafsa will be added to your EFC.
If your mom’s AGI is less than $50k and she meets one of the other requirements like filing a 1040A tax form instead of a 1040, then neither your nor her assets would add to your EFC. If her AGI is less than $24k and meets one of the other requirements, then your income doesn’t matter, you get an auto 0 EFC.
Those are the 2015-16 school year rules, it could change for 2016-2017. You can see the requirements for the simplified formula and auto 0 on pages 4-7 at this link:
http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/090214EFCFormulaGuide1516.pdf