A Surprise 154K FAFSA Penalty
From the FAFSA Sh*t Storm Files:
Over coffee early this morning, Pearl told me a shocking story, one that we've experienced a few times already this year. Let me pass it along to you as a cautionary tale: it goes a little sumthin' like this:
Family files FAFSA. Family hears back from college financial aid office.
Message: no soup for you. Pay full price.
But here's the thing...
On a courtesy call with a financial aid office, the officer reveals that the FAFSA indicated that the family's income was more than $400,000.
But the family's actual income, filed with the IRS for 2022: $250,000 and change!
Why the 150K+ artificial penalty?
Just another glitch! Too bad, so sad.
Apparently 10% of all FAFSAs filed this year have inflated family's income, wiping out millions of potential eligibility.
This glitch is, of course, part of the FAFSA "simplification," designed to streamline the process. Nice job, guys.
The most frustrating part: these income glitchy things happen invisibly. You can't see it, because the FASFA pulls in data from the IRS behind your back. You don't see the income numbers that go onto the FAFSA.
What you CAN see is the Student Aid Index, a number that's produced after you file. The SAI (formerly known as the Expected Family Contribution) is supposed to indicate how much the Department of Edu-macation thinks you can afford for one year of college, based on the data you inputted and the data that was pulled in from the IRS, behind your back.
Here's a tip: if your SAI seems out of whack, get on the horn with the financial aid offices at the colleges where your child was accepted. They see the behind-the-scenes IRS and other data, and can tell you if you were a FAFSA victim. And make appropriate adjustments.
Just be patient, operators are definitely not standing by, hoping you'll call.
Tomorrow's Live Local Workshop - Bryant Library (Roslyn NY)
I'm back at the Bryant Library tomorrow night, April 11, discussing how to beat the colleges at their own game. ***Note: this will NOT be livestreamed, I don't think the wifi at the library can handle it.***
I'm covering how to get scholarships and financial aid (even if you think you're a lost cause), but also, I'll offer a -- ahem -- lively ("blunt") discussion of the modern day college admissions landscape and, specifically, what it means for your kiddo if he's gunning to get into a top college.
Here's what's on tap for tomorrow night:
- The inconvenient truth about what it takes -- beyond solid grades and near-perfect SATs, "passion projects" and other nonsense -- to get accepted to a top college today [WARNING: Not "Politically Correct"]
- Financial Aid "Loopholes" - how to legally "hide" your money from the financial aid office
- How to avoid Admissions Armageddon and build a balanced, strategic college list
- Are there any Safety Schools any more?
- Stone cold facts about how college admissions officers view test-optional applications
- Extracurricular activities that "sell" verses those that bore
- How to qualify for 56.2% off the cost of college even if you think you make too much money to have a shot at aid
- Negotiation Case Study: How a mild-mannered college advisor squeezed an additional $30,058 from a elite West Coast college...after it's so-called "Final Offer"
- The strange, counter-intuitive reason why six and seven-figure earning families have a better shot at some types of aid than lower earners
- Got a 529? Watch out. The shocking reason why that could be a fatal mistake (and how you might be able to fix things at the last minute)
- How an "expensive" private college could cost less out of pocket than a "cheaper" state university
- More - I'll leave time for Q&A before they kick us out of the library.
Here's where to sign up, if you're local to the Long Island area:
*** BRYANT LIBRARY WORKSHOP ***
See ya,
-Andy Lockwood
P.S. Please feel free to share this with other local, college-bound families. We're down to 11 spots of the original 20 I was allocated. They're given out first-come, first-served.