<p>i’m trying to understand how a student’s income affect financial aid.</p>
<p>i am a dependent and my parents are divorced and i live with my dad who has been unemployed for the last 2 years. i worked for about a total of 50 hours for mcdonalds last summer and made about $500. i recently got another job and so i might make more money before the year is over.</p>
<p>i’ve filled out a few fafsa4cast for 2012, and the EFC is the same (the efc is 30) whether i worked 20 hours a week all year or if i worked 20 hours a week for 1 month. does this mean my income isn’t taken into account for fin aid? i thought if you made a certain amount, you are supposed to save half of it or something like that because the fafsa expects you to save some of the money you made for college expenses.</p>
<p>YES YES YES you should work. As a dependent student, you have 6k in protected income before it goes towards your EFC. Then it’s 50 cents of every dollar. </p>
<p>Here’s the bad part though: 20% of everything you have on hand (cash, savings, etc) will go towards your EFC, too. Something to keep in mind. </p>
<p>If your dad is unemployed then you MAY qualify for auto-0 EFC. If so, your income is not taken into account. </p>
<p>Take it from a fellow low-income student, it is ALWAYS better to work than not.</p>
<p>You can earn up to about $6000 per year without any EFC change.</p>
<p>However, if you have all that money sitting in a savings acct at the time you file FAFSA, then your EFC could be affected…so use the money before that point…pay off bills, fix your car, etc.</p>
<p>No, FAFSA doesn’t expect you to save half of your money. BTW…FAFSA is a form, it has no expectations at all. </p>
<p>That said, there is not expectation by the feds for students to save for college.</p>
<p>However, you may be thinking about CSS Profile schools. They often had a “summer work contribution” for students towards their college costs.</p>