FAFSA changed by school but school wont say why

BelknapPoint
Sat, 01 Apr 2017 00:58:30 +0000

^^^
I think it’s good for people to hear these scenarios so that they can have more data points that may have some bearing on a situation that they are involved in.

Here’s one that I have direct knowledge of:

The student had submitted FAFSA for consideration for junior year financial aid. FAFSA asks that any student income that comes from work-study employment be reported, so that it can be deducted from student taxable income since it comes from a need-based program. Properly reporting work-study wages on the FAFSA will reduce the FAFSA EFC. In this case, the school “corrected” the FAFSA by changing the properly reported work-study wage amount to $0! This was especially curious given that the work-study wages were paid by the very same school, and a student W-2 issued by the school showing the correct wage amount that was reported on FAFSA was included in the financial aid package that the student submitted to the school. Shortly after a “what the heck are you doing?” email was sent to the financial aid office, a reply email was received that basically said “oops, sorry,” and a correction to the “correction” was made that restored the FAFSA to its original, proper format (the FAFSA EFC was also returned to its prior, correct amount).