<li>Why didn’t my EFC change (after I made the corrections) when:</li>
</ol>
<ul>
<li><p>I erased my parents’ net worth of business (I had $25,000 listed, but since I did not read the information on the side bar, I had to erase it, so now it is zero dollars).</p></li>
<li><p>Worksheet A is $1500 lower.</p></li>
<li><p>My parents’ adjusted gross income dropped by $700.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Why is my EFC EXACTLY the same?</p>
<li>When I signed onto my SAR, why isn’t the corrected information on there?</li>
</ol>
<p>The likely answer: there are protection allowances for these things.</p>
<p>There is a business asset protection allowance, which you fell below when you initially reported it, so your 25K business asset wasn’t contributing anything to the EFC. So when you removed the 25K, there was no change.</p>
<p>Smilarly, there is an income protection allowance for parents. Worksheet A provides an amount that adjusts the income-- but if it was below the allowance amount, and remained below the allowance amount, there is no contribution to the EFC from parental income. So no change.</p>
<p>So if your parents are low income, and you had a low EFC, that’s likely the reason. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if you waited a few days after making the changes and got the email notifying you of a new SAR, and the numbers weren’t changed, then you didn’t properly submit the FAFSA correction. It does take a few days to the changes to get processed and reflect in the new SAR.</p>
<p>Parents are allowed a certain amount of income and assets which isn’t touched by the FAFSA formula. The exact amount varies depending on number in family, number of parents, and age of oldest parent. Students get a certain amount of income which isn’t touched by the FAFSA formula (about 3K for freshmen). These are the asset and income protection “allowances”. Students don’t get an asset protection allowance.</p>
<p>Read up here on the board on how FAFSA works. A good book is “Paying for College Without Going Broke.” It explains how it works, and lists strategies for maximizing aid.</p>
<p>…but what about the decrease in Worksheet A & nothing for the value of a business (when I originally stated that it was $25,000). Wouldn’t that have an effect???</p>
<p>“…but what about the decrease in Worksheet A & nothing for the value of a business (when I originally stated that it was $25,000). Wouldn’t that have an effect???”</p>
<p>I really don’t feel like reading another book. I already read enough of those “get free money…here are some guaranteed ways…blah-dee-blah” books (by the way, all of them sucked). Thanks for the help though. :)</p>
<p>I think what the poster above was saying is, your parents were allowed to have that $25000 business asset without it affecting anything at all. Thus, even if you hadn’t reported it to begin with, your EFC would be the exact same.</p>
<p>I, too, recommend that you or your parents read “Paying for College Without Going Broke” by Kalman Chany. A new edition comes out every October.</p>
<p>It can’t be explained in a short post here in simple terms, because the FAFSA formula isn’t simple. It’s quite complex.</p>
<p>The basics are simple enough, but when you get into the details, it requires some time and study to really understand how it works. And parents and students need to know how it works in order to maximize their aid.</p>
<p>I’ve tried to answer your questions above the best I can and as simply as I can. Read up, here (there is lots of info in this forum) and in the book, and you’ll have a better understanding of how it all works. FinAid online is also a good source of info.</p>
<p>As simply put as possible…your parent’s business asset amount must be “protected”…in other words cannot be tapped for finaid purposes. There is a limit on the amount of asset protection in all areas. For businesses, your parent’s amount must have fallen below the amount…thus no impact on EFC (either the first or second time!!). But I do not own a business…If I did and I had to deal with this info, I would be reading up on it as suggested here to make sure it is correctly entered, if for no other reason. Business assets are complicated and getting “simple explanations” on a message board might not be reflective of your family’s business situation. Yes, it’s a pain to read about it…but it’s a bigger pain if you enter the info wrong and your finaid is affected by your errors.</p>