notakid

As soon as FAFSA gives you the option to make corrections, go make your change to zero. The program probably has a bug in it that makes it go crazy for negative income. But triple check the other numbers too.

3bm103

I think there's an error somewhere else. The most the capital loss carryover you can take on this year's return is $3,000. Where does the other $5K come from?

kmcmom13

I'm also wondering if the OP has some type of asset valuation or non-protected fund that is skewing the calculation...it is conceivable to have a high EFC if one has assets valued very very high even without much regular income...although in this case I believe he or she would need to have listed about $400 - 500k worth of assets (which I believe are assessed at 5.6%, right) for an EFC of $24 k.

Any chance this is the case?

sk8rmom

Guessing not, as she said "no assets" in the OP. But it was my first thought too!

momofthreeboys

^^ Probably more like $250,000 it feels. And yes, I thought the max capital carry-over loss allowed was $3000 per year. But I agree, there is most likely problems with the FAFSA or problems with the 1040 that caused the problems with the FAFSA.

kelsmom

If the parents have pensions, those are listed on the 1040, correct? Any non taxable pension would probably be social security, right? I don't know much about pensions and federal tax, but I find it hard to believe the government wouldn't make you report every penny of a non-social security pension. Therefore, this would already be accounted for in the AGI. The non-taxable portion of the social security pension is not reported as untaxed income, nor is the disability if it is social security (which RPR says it is). So why are you reporting pension money as untaxed income? Maybe I am wrong about the non-SS pensions being untaxed??

mom2collegekids

Have you found the error?

While your EFC is likely an error, I'm wondering if it still will be highish because your income is not from earnings.

Others can comment, but I think the calculations from income that's not from earnings has a a harsher calculation because "work-related" deductions aren't involved.

Your EFC should be much lower, but it may end up being higher than you'd like it to be.

Also...do you know if your child's schools "meet need"? Do any of them require CSS Profile as well?

If your child's schools do not meet need, then that may be just as big of a problem.


Edited to add...

Is your child applying to instate Florida publics? If so, does he qualify for full Bright Futures?

RPR210

THANK YOU to everyone who paid me any attention - I truly appreciate your input.

And the answer to question is this: Even though I caught the problem before clicking submit, the pension IS in fact showing for both parents and the student. I tried to make the correction online and, for an undetermined reason, that particular line (and a few others) are shaded gray and untouchable. I called FAFSA and a rep had me do common things like clear my cache and go out and back into it, but nope. Still gray.

I feel like if I was looking at a summary - which I have printed - and it is correct, than what I submitted should have reflected what was in the summary. But there it is - on the SAR. My recently turned 18 year old daughter has a pension! The rep said it was obvious that it was an error but I have to take all the steps etc. I had to contact the college fin aid office because I don't think the corrected version will be available before the Mar 1 deadline.

On a very happy and proud note, my daughter was notified today of a *very generous* scholarship from her school of choice. There won't be much left to pay for with her "pension" ha ha ha

RPR210

And kelsmom, yes, every penny of the non taxable pension is represented on the 1040 and so is the soc sec disabililty. The soc sec disab doesn't show on a FASFA but the entire amount of the other pension does, taxed or untaxed. (Non taxable doesn't mean non-reported!)

No assets to claim. No tax paid on wages. The only error made here was that the parent pension was listed for my child (and parent) and was prob taken at the student's50%. My EFC is probably going to be closer to 3-5K vs 24K when this all washes out, which is what I was expecting.

the carryover is 3K as mentioned, and there is a loss of another type for the prior year resulting in the neg AGI.

RPR210

mom2college kids : Yes my daughter did apply for and is eligible for highest level of Bright Futures and only applied to FL publics! I knew cost was an issue and could never afford private or OOS.

mom2collegekids

Congrats on the scholarship news! What a relief!

Hope you get the FAFSA thing squared!

kelsmom

The soc sec disab doesn't show on a FASFA but the entire amount of the other pension does, taxed or untaxed. (Non taxable doesn't mean non-reported!)
*****
But you already list it on your 1040, so you wouldn't list it twice by also reporting it anywhere else on the FAFSA ... that is what I was getting at. If it is on the 1040, it does not get reported separately on the FAFSA. I am not understanding why you are reporting a pension for either parent or student.

The issues you are having relative to the FAFSA are really odd. I have helped hundreds of students complete their FAFSAs, and I have never run into this. If your print-out and the SAR do not match, look at the summary. Is the summary from a processed FAFSA? Does it have a transaction number? If so, does it match the transaction number on the SAR?

RPR210

I am not looking at it, but I'm pretty sure my printed summary was prior to submission. I think I made the mistake without realizing, I saved it, I eventually went back in to finish up, found the error, fixed it, didn't save but checked the summary, which appeared to have had that line item fixed, then clicked to submit. I only knew a mistake had made it through the submission when I saw my EFC as the summary I was using for checking/rechecking showed a $0 for that line in question. It is clear as day NOT a $0 on the SAR.

As for the pension, the FAFSA specifically asks for untaxed portion of a pension as listed on line (i dont know the exact line number) on the 1040 and I have an entry there so I put it in. This is my first FAFSA but the direction where this was concerned was pretty clear. (And the same line in the student section was an error, of course)

kelsmom

Okay, I get it now. You had an amount on line 16a. You are correct; that has to be claimed as untaxed pensions.

RPR210

Got the grayed out box to open up for editing by changing the drop down box for tax filing to will file, changing the incorrect pension to a blank box, going back to the tax drop box and putting it back to not going to file. Saved it, got the screen showing corrections, and sent it! Whew. And now the EFC is down to what I expected to see, which was between 4K and 5K.

Thank you, everyone. This was clearly unique.