<p>The IRS has guidelines regarding who must file. Generally, if you only made a small amount you don’t have to file a return (but you might want to in order to get some of your withholding back. But there are other situations that might make you required to file. Go to the IRS website and follow the links to “who must file” or something similar.</p>
<p>The $1500 won’t hurt your financial aid at all. Work study income doesn’t count as income that can increase your EFC (actually, it gets added in, then you deduct it on a worksheet later). And that $1500 amount is well below the student income protection allowance.</p>