<p>What financial aid offices are being asked to do is look at each situation in terms of actual earnings now, rather than using the base year (that is, 2008 for 2009-10), for those who have lost their jobs. It does not imply that the EFC will be 0. It does not even really provide much guidance for aid offices, other than a suggestion to make adjustments to income as appropriate (whatever that is determined to be by the school).</p>
<p>If your unemployment benefits are really high, then you can’t realistically expect an adjustment that does not take your earnings into account. Aid officers do not make the EFC any particular number … rather, they adjust elements in the formula. If income is gone, the income from work may be 0 … but the AGI would not be 0, because it would include the unemployment income (that is how it will look when you do your taxes for the year, so that is how the aid officer treats it).</p>
<p>You can file a special circumstances/loss of income request & see what happens.</p>