I agree with @twoinanddone , that it is highly unlikely that someone is receiving 10K in month inb child support. Under the current guidelines the NCP would have to be making ~700,000 for one child or $480k for two kids. In the event that parents are/were married, there would most likely be some sort of spousal support which is taxable.
Things that we already know
Having a 0 EFC on federal aid does not automatically give you a 0 EFC for state or institutional aid.
Most schools with really deep pockets are going to ask for the income/assets of both parents
THe majority of FAFSA only schools do not meet 100% demonstrated need.
Since we know that women and children take the biggest financial hit when a marriage or family breaks up (and many of these families end up not receiving the support payments they need/deserve), I am not going to begrudge a single parent whose income and assets places them in a position for a 0 EFC the opportunity for their child to get the help they need to attend college.
Thanks everyone. Like I said in my original post I’ve spent hours looking at various websites and while you have sent several, I’ve also found others with conflicting information. Twoinandone thank you for answering my question based on personal experience! I had the same experience with my first child when I didn’t receive child support, they didn’t count my 403B contributions and we qualified for Auto Zero. If anyone else had actually has experience with Automatic Zero and Child Support, please message me :-).
To respond to others - yes, it’s not really fair if there’s an income under 25K and a ton of child support. But, that’s the law and many parts of the FAFSA are unfair. And yes, child support ends at 18, but due to changes in FAFSA this year, the child support received not only counts on the FAFSA I am currently doing but will have implications for next year as well because support is being paid for 6 months this year.
I thought I was clear. $5800 is not a lot of aid for a $0 EFC family who wants to send their child to a four year residential college. What I meant is $5800 is not going to cover that cost.
Yes…$5800 is a good amount of grant aid IF the college costs $10,000 or so…because the remaining costs can be covered with the Direct Loan. It’s also good in states where there is state grant money for lower income students…like CA, NY, FL.
It is not so great if your only grant money is that $5800 and your school costs $25,000 a year…or more…which is what many instate residential colleges cost per year these days.
In the EFC formula sybbie linked, on page 9, EFC formula A, dependent student, regular worksheet 1
it has a notation (*) to stop after number 3, which is parents’ taxable income.
At the bottom of worksheet it then says:
"(*)STOP here if the following is true:
line 3 is $25,000 or less and
the parents are eligible to file a 2015 1040 EZ or 1040 A tax return or are not required to file a tax return or
anyone included in the parent’s household size received benefits in 2014 or 2015 from any of the designated means-tested federal benefit programs or
either of the parents is a dislocated worker
If these circumstances are true the Expected Family Contribution is automatically zero."
Remember, the federal aid formula is not perfect - some win and some lose. If a family qualifies for auto 0, untaxed income does not come into play. Nor do assets. And the kid could earn a million dollars a year & it wouldn’t matter (not likely, of course). As has been pointed out, it’s possible those things would all come into play for a school in awarding its own aid (those schools using Profile or their own aid form in addition to FAFSA).
mommdc yes I saw what you wrote in my hours of searches, but on other sites I found conflicting info. That’s why my post asked if anyone had done this. I wanted to hear first hand…
Yes...$5800 is a good amount of grant aid IF the college costs $10,000 or so...because the remaining costs can be covered with the Direct Loan. It's also good in states where there is state grant money for lower income students...like CA, NY, FL.
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Right…for someone who isn’t getting any other aid except loans, and he/she is attending a school that costs a lot more, a Pell Grant won’t put a dent in the costs.
I’d just like to add that child support in MA most often continues through the four years of college if said child is attending full time. The exceptions to this are: a “silent” paternity agreement (college is not mentioned), in which support lasts until age 21 IF attending college full time but is easily extended to include the remaining years of undergrad college, assuming again the child is attending full time and those instances where a child support agreement outlines differently. This is personal experience btw.