FAFSA EFC Looks Wrong

Paying for College
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  1. AGI has increased by $4,000

  2. the FAFSA EFC formula for 2017/18 lists an income protection allowance for household of 3
    of $22,300

the FAFSA EFC formula for 2018/19 lists an income protection allowance for household of 2
of $18,320

so that means $4,000 more of your income is being assessed towards EFC

  1. the 17/18 EFC formula lists an asset protection allowance of $21,200 for two parents at age 50 (example).

The 18/19 EFC formula lists APA for one parent at age 51 as $13,800

So that means in this scenario $7,000 more of your assets would be assessed towards EFC.

So FAFSA available income increased by $8,000 and available assets potentially increased by $7,000 compared to last year.

That might be mitigated a bit by possibly higher federal and state and social security taxes paid (if you earned more in 2016 than both you and ex H combined in 2015), and slightly higher employment expense allowance (35% of the lesser of the two incomes, or $4,000, whichever is less, if two working parents).

So if the spouse had a small income the employment expense allowance might have been less than $4,000.

But yes these differences could increase EFC by a few thousand compared to last year.

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So…I did the FAFSA worksheet and the EFC is right, my number on the worksheet came out about $500 more than the FAFSA itself. Seems crazy and I’m not spending additional time trying to figure it out as so many here have come up with plausible reasons for the increase. Apparently working those extra 20+hours each week for four months increased my EFC by just about what I ended up taking home net. C est la vie. Now to figure out how to pay for senior year. Keep your fingers crossed financial aid is good to us! And thanks to everyone for your help and input, much appreciated.