<p>Okay for the fall semester of 2011 and spring semester of 2012, I've received an efc score of 0. But when I filed my fafsa for the next incoming semesters my efc went up to 8000! I'm really confused, I received a pell grant and a MAP grant. But the next incoming semesters it says I'm only qualified for loans. How did my score shoot up so high? My mom and dad are working at the same job from last year. Could a factor of that high score be from the IRS's part? I filed the fafsa as parent's tax "recently filed." So I need to wait another couple weeks for the IRS to process this information. I'm really confused. Oh I also attend College of Dupage if that matters. I'm also a full time student with no job as well. Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 will be my 2nd year in college. And I'm getting A's and B's in all my classes.</p>
<p>Is it possible that you qualified for an automatic $0 EFC last year and don’t this year for some reason?</p>
<p>well the only thing I could think of is that my dad was on unemployment for a couple of months around 2009-10. My parent’s income was around 70k for 2010 now it went up around 82k this year’s tax information. my dad said that the difference wouldn’t really matter that much. I expected that I would get a grant this year but not as much as last year’s.</p>
<p>You just answered your own question. $82,000 of income will not give a family an EFC of zero. I’m surprised it’s only $8000. I’m surprised you received an EFC of zero for the previous financial year unless the unemployment created a time pocket where you qualified for zero, but perhaps someone will think of something I’m not thinking of. Are your parents on-board with the additional expense for your college?</p>
<p>How many students are in school in your family?</p>
<p>It seems odd that you would have qualified for a Pell Grant last year. Who has an EFC 0 with an income of $70k??? It would seem like you’d need a few siblings in school to get an EFC 0 with that income.</p>
<p>I’m wondering if last year’s FAFSA was incorrectly filled out. As I mentioned in a thread a month ago, a student had gotten an EFC 0 and full Pell, but it was later discovered that her dad had accidentally said that the STUDENT had a dependent (when the dad meant that HE had a dependent).</p>
<p>I’d be concerned that a mistake had occured with last year’s FAFSA and you’ll be told that you owe some/all of that Pell money back. The student I mention above did have to pay all her Pell back.</p>
<p>Sorry my mistake on the income total its still the same. the difference is about 2-4k. My dad makes around 45k and my mom makes 33k. But the gross income for 2010’s is 82k. where as now its about 85k. I did find a couple of mistake on my fafsa but it was information on my mother’s birthdate and their marriage date. I have 3 other siblings and im the oldest so I’m the only one going to college. The college didn’t called me/mailed me during the year. The only thing I could of think why my efc is so high now is because I didn’t get to link my current fafsa with the IRS. My mother was also unemployed but that was probably around 3-4 years ago. </p>
<p>Also I remembered my junior year in high school I was qualified to get reduced lunch because my father was unemployed. But I didn’t get that for my senior year. </p>
<p>But other than that I really don’t see the difference between last year’s and this year’s fafsa besides the extra +3k income.</p>
<p>
I would think it would be impossible. Our income has never that high and our EFC has been anywhere from 2-6K. Even with multiple kids in college the EFC would be divided between them so the EFC should have least been in the thousands.</p>
<p>^^The OP is the only one in college so there are no siblings to split the EFC with.</p>
<p>For the fafsa you need to enter adjusted gross income, (that tripped us up). Get printouts of both forms. What is different?</p>
<p>Are your parents self employed?</p>
<p>Since when yoou filed FAFSA during spring of senior year, and that was using income from spring of junior year, maybe it was the reduced lunch that gave you that EFC.</p>
<p>However, it still doesn’t seem right that with an income of $82k with ONE in college that anyone would get a 0 EFC. It doesn’t even sound like the person should get any Pell at all.</p>
<p>I’m confused about your numbers. Dad makes around $45K, and mom makes around $33k. How does that add up to $82K? You talk about your both your parents being unemployed at times during the previous few years. Perhaps they were both unemployed for part of 2010, and so their income was less than you realized?</p>
<p>Are your parents together?</p>
<p>Please review your numbers…something is not right.</p>
<p>Also, you mention that you don’t work. Since it looks like your EFC will much higher than last year, you may need to start looking for work immediately since it’s likely you’re not going to get the aid you need, and your parents may not be able to pay the EFC.</p>
<p>That said, it sounds like you’re attending a CC…It looks like the tuition/fees are about $4k per year. </p>
<p>Are you saying that this year you got a $5550 Pell Grant plus a MAP grant? how much was the MAP grant?</p>
<p>How did you get a Pell grant with an income of $70,000. There is no way that income would be a 0 EFC. It sounds like your FAFSA last year may have been done incorrectly.</p>
<p>$45k plus $33k does not equal $85k. Did your parents have some unearned income ?</p>
<p>swimcatsmom Quote:</p>
<h1>How did you get a Pell grant with an income of $70,000. There is no way that income would be a 0 EFC. It sounds like your FAFSA last year may have been done incorrectly.</h1>
<p>That’s the $70,000 question.</p>
<p>Frankly, this student may be in danger of having someone uncover a mistake in last year’s FAFSA and then being told that he has to pay that money back. </p>
<p>I wonder if somehow only the mom’s income was included on last year’s FAFSA???</p>
<p>(frankly, it just goes to show how naive families are about FA and EFC. For a family with an income of $70k to think that they should have a 0 EFC (pay nothing) is really unbelievable. )</p>
<p>kai356 -</p>
<p>Here are links to the FAFSA formulas for each of the last four years. Print out the formulas for the years that are of interest to you, and work through them on paper. This will help you determine the factors that have caused this difference in your EFC.</p>
<p><a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/010512EFCFormulaGuide1213.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/010512EFCFormulaGuide1213.pdf</a>
<a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/101310EFCFormulaGuide1112.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/101310EFCFormulaGuide1112.pdf</a>
<a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111609EFCFormulaGuide20102011.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111609EFCFormulaGuide20102011.pdf</a>
<a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf</a></p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>I think I’m going to set an appointment with my financial adviser about this. Thanks for your feedback. Hopefully the adviser will clarify what’s wrong.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>I’m not sure that’s a good idea. There’s a good chance the advisor is going to discover that this year’s numbers are right and last year’s numbers were wrong. If that happens, you’d have to pay back your Pell Grant. And, you won’t be able to register for classes next year until you pay it back.</p>
<p>Instead, you need to have an outsider look over both year’s FAFSAs to determine if there was a mistake.</p>