Action1

Hi,

I have a question regarding my financial aid. I have an EFC of zero and am getting maximum Pell Grants and TAP.

Parents earning is less than $29000 and its a family of six with 3 college students. I am 18 and dependent.

My question is that how much money can I earn each year and not affect my Aid?

happymomof1

Google EFC formula 2013, and then follow the links to the PDF of the formula. Print it out and work through it on paper using different scenarios. If you qualify for an automatic 0 EFC because of your parents' income, what you earn doesn't matter at all for the FAFSA-based aid.

romanigypsyeyes

The income for auto zero is 23k. OP, you can earn up to 6k in non work study money before your income goes towards your efc.

swimcatsmom

^^Roman is correct. The AGI cut off for automatic 0 EFC is $23,000 (for 2012-2013 -who knows for next year, they cut the cut off by $8,000 this year, it was $31k last year and was scheduled to increase to $32k but in January they suddenly cut it). So if you parents AGI is $29k you are currently not eligible for the auto 0.

Action1

All of you, thanks a lot for your input. Much appreciated.

Well if the cut for automatic 0 efc is 23K, considering the fact that my parents have 3 dependent college students and one school going child, and we are receiving aids like food stamp, wouldn't I still somehow qualify for zero EFC because of the family size and its dependent pool?

Thanks again.
Regards

Action1

Also I know my EFC for 2012-2013 is already 0 even though my parents income is more than 23K and im getting full financial aid. what i dont know is the difference in "zero EFC" and "automatic zero EFC" and if it is only under "automatic zero EFC" that I can earn as much as I want without affecting my financial aid.

swimcatsmom

In the EFC formula, 2 separate calculations are made. One uses the parent income and assets to calculate a parent generated part of the EFC. The other uses student income and assets to calculate a student generated part of the EFC. The 2 are added together to come up with your actual EFC.

Under the special automatic 0 EFC formula, everything else is ignored once the formula ascertains that the parent AGI is under the cut off (currently $23k) and meets one of the other criteria. So all other data is ignored including parent assets and student income and assets (so no student portion is calculated). Under current rules, a student could earn $30,000 and have a 0 EFC if his parent's income qualified him for the automatic 0 EFC because the auto 0 formula would disregard the student's income.

But, if the student does not qualify for the auto 0 (parent AGI over the cut off or does not meet one of the other criteria), then even if the parent generated part of the EFC is 0, student income and assets will be used to calculate a student generated part of the EFC (if any).

The student's income and assets are only applied to their own EFC calculation, not to their siblings. So 2 students from the same family can end up with completely different EFCs.