Why is my EFC SO HIGH!?

Hello, I recently filled out my FAFSA. Last year, I got an EFC of 6300, based on my father’s 2016 income. However, this year, I got an EFC of more than 60000, which is based on my father’s 2017 income. Why is my EFC significantly higher when my father’s income in 2017 was lower than it was in 2016? Most of the income information was transferred from my dad’s IRS account. Also, will this have an affect on my Cal Grant as last year, I got $12,000 in Cal Grant A CC Reserve? Does Cal Grant look at EFC or family income?

Did you fill it out correctly? Are you sure you put parent info in the parent section, and not the student one? Did you add a zero by accident someplace (like put in 300,000 instead of 30,000)? Go over each box carefully. If you have a copy from last year, see if you spot any boxes where there is a huge difference in what you put in.

Based on the limited information that you provide and the drastic increase in your FAFSA EFC, I would guess that a significant error was made in completing the FAFSA.

Did you use the IRS retrieval tool last year as well? When I have made a mistake on my FAFSA (such as accidentally including an extra 0 to my parents’ income), a pop-up has appeared saying it has changed from last years FAFSA and to confirm. Did you see any of these pop-ups?

Did your dad have a rollover in 2017?

Did you enter your income information manually? If so, you should be able to see the numbers on your FAFSA once it has processed. Print it out, and review every single entry. It’s very possible you put a decimal point in the wrong place…or added a zero.

Did your parent do a tax deferred retirement rollover in 2017? It would have to be mighty large to make a $54,000 difference…but worth checking.

Something isn’t right.

If you have a EFC of $60,000, you wouldn’t have any financial need at a CA public…and IIRC, the Calgrant is based on both income and financial need. @Gumbymom ??

But really, if everything else is the same, and income is lower in 2017, it sounds like an error entering information.

The only other thing would be if there was an error on your 2018-2019 FAFSA. I hope that isn’t the case.

@thumper1 and @eluu472: If your EFC is $60K, then Cal grant would not be an option. Since you were a recipient of a Cal grant last year, I am sure there is a typo somewhere on your form.

Look over your FAFSA. Either you put the wrong info in somewhere on this recent FAFSA or the previous one was very wrong.

What is the household income?

Hello, thanks for your replies. I compared both of the forms side-by-side. Most of the income/tax information was transferred from the IRS (both of them).

For manually inputted numbers, the only outstanding difference was that I put “600” in the “41. Student’s Total of Cash, Savings, and Checking Accounts” section for current form since I recently opened a checking account and put in $600.

My father’s income in the previous form (based on 2016) was around $65,000. For the current form (based on 2017), my father’s income was around $51,000. I inputted those numbers correctly on each corresponding form. Our household size is 3.

Another difference (which is probably not related) is that on the last form, I inputted a lot of 4-year universities where I would be living on campus as well as a community college where I will be living at home since I didn’t know which one I would be accepted to at that time. For the current form, I only inputted only that one community college.

I’m really not sure what to do at this point. Should I have my father open up his 2016 and 2017 IRS forms to see any outstanding differences?

Yes.

And ask…did your parent do a tax deferred retirement plan rollover in 2017? And if so, how much was that?

Your EFC isn’t affected dorming or living at home.

Did you accidentally include the value of your home?

Are you sure that your dad/parent didn’t suddenly get some big assets?