A few days ago
terra_incognita

adjusted gross income and FAFSA?

2007-2008 FAFSA

Either my parents or the school made a mistake when filling out the FAFSA or computing my financial aid eligibility. My parent’s filled out the form and stated that their adjusted gross income was $21,000. That left me with an EFC of 11930 . The school required us to submit documents, and then they changed my parent’s adjusted gross income to $43,000 , which gives me a new EFC of 23369. Income tax paid was approximately $3,000.

Obviously along the way, someone made a mistake. There is a major difference between an EFC of 11930 and 23369.

Total cost of attendance at my college, the University of Washington (very good school, by the way!) is nearly $25,000. That includes everything — tuition, dorm, living expenses, etc.

I haven’t talked to my parent’s yet, but until I do, can someone give me a rough estimate of what the pre-adjusted income would be for an AGI of $21,000 and for AGI $43,000? Family of 3 (I’m the only dependent), no assets, … etc.

Top 4 Answers
A few days ago
caba

Favorite Answer

I would go ahead and make an appointment with a financial aid officer at the school so that they can go over the Verification Worksheet with you and you can make sure it was done correctly.

It could have been a mistake on either part, so if you sit with with a financial aid officer you can go through the Verification Worksheet line by line to verify the accuracy of what was changed.

Good luck!

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A few days ago
Anonymous
Certainly people make mistakes… what I would do is get a copy of your SAR and compare it to your parents tax forms yourself. I’d suggest getting a paper copy or printing a fafsa worksheet because it says exactly “What is your AGI? Look on line 34. What are your taxes paid? Look on line..XX. The SAR doesn’t say the line number the info is suppose to come from.

I’d forget what your EFC was before – and concentrate on making sure your current fafsa is correct. An EFC really doesn’t give you an accurate picture of the amount of financial aid you’ll get anyway – just the type. (The fin aid people will kill me if they hear me say that). In your situation, the federal loan maximums will be the same no matter your EFC.

9 times out of 10, parents put an incorrect number of people in the household, not put the correct taxes paid correct (note-this is not the amount withheld or the amount of a refund or payment to the IRS on the tax deadline) or they will not put the correct income earned from working for each SEPARATE parent correct.

Or barb could be correct. Your parents may have forgotten to include assets.

E mail me if you have more questions, I used to proof these all the time and can usually catch mistakes pretty quickly.

Or here is a good publication about fin aid and completing the fafsa.

Good Luck.

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5 years ago
alison
If you look at your tax return, there is a line that specifically says “Adjusted Gross Income.” Use the exact number that is written there. AGI is your income AFTER all your deductions.
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A few days ago
barb j
Call someone at Fafsa first of all. I imagine it could depend on what their assets are-knowing ow expensive houses are in Washington, their assets may be the problem.
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