I’m confused. And I’m not new at FAFSA - third time college parent.
The first time I filled out the FAFSA for my upcoming freshman daughter the estimated EFC was just over $12,000. When I filed my income taxes a few days ago, we corrected the numbers. Our income had gone up $2,000 from my estimate to $101K, but the EFC jumped to over $14,000. However, I realized I made a mistake on that revision, and overstated the taxes we owed. When I made THAT change today (taxes are lower by $8,000) the EFC is over $18,000. Very confused. Six people at home; but she is the only one in college this coming fall. Can the amount of taxes you paid change the EFC this much? My taxes are not available to transfer to FAFSA yet.
Yes, income going up and taxes going down (since they reduce available income for FAFSA) can increase EFC, that much I’m not sure.
But once your tax return has processed you can import the tax return information right into FAFSA with IRS retrieval tool. Then you will know that the numbers are correct.
Also if you had 401k contributions you need to list them under untaxed income in box 94a in parent section.
These are not on tax return so many people forget to list them.
But the important question is, will it matter if EFC is 12,000 or 14,000 or 18,000?
Do the schools she applied to only use FAFSA to award aid? Do they meet need? The EFC is too high to qualify for Pell grant either way.