<p>I do admit to be NPC obsessed, but could somebody explain this to me. I received $22,000 in unemployment in 2013. When filling out the NPC I put that income in the other taxable income or loss box. The odd thing is by putting the income in that box my daughter’s net price is $1536 more than if I had that $22,000 as regular income. I am using the college board NPC so it is easy to play around with the numbers. I would have thought that having a parent unemployed wouldn’t make the price go up. Smart people please explain. Thanks</p>
<p>I don’t know specifically about unemployment comp but anything that is taxable and from which SS and medicare tax was taken out should go in the regular income box. You get credit for paying income taxes and for the SS and medicare tax you pay.</p>
<p>It looks like SS/medicare to me. If it’s wages, then you are assessed for those things, and FAFSA and other calculators subtract those amount from income used. For other income, that is not the case.</p>
<p>Om FAFSA there are allowances against income for various things such as Federal taxes, State taxes FICA, and an allowance for employment expenses for working parents. The FICA allowance is only calculated for money earned from working, so unemployment would not get that allowance which would make the available income higher for the EFC. If you did not work at all in the year, you also would not get the allowance for employment expenses. I imagine NPCs have similar allowances.</p>
<p>Yes…money that isn’t earned from wages/job will have a harsher calculation.</p>
<p>Was that your only income? Or did you work last year as well?</p>