FAFSA and the EFC

I just finished my son's FAFSA tonight and was shocked to see the EFC
number - $53K. Our income reported to the IRS was inflated since I had to
take an early withdrawl (~60K) from my 401K for household bills, tuition,
expenses, etc. after a layoff in 2004. In reality our income was more like
$60K - I have let the school know the reasons for the withdrawl, in
everyone's past experience, will this explaination help out at all?

thanks in advance

I hate to have to take out a loan somewhere in the range of $30K just so my
kid can go to his choice of school. I mean we could maybe pull off an EFC
of $12-15 with me taking on another job, but there has to be a better way.
We do own a second family property, but I really feel parents should not
have to forefit their retirement to send their children to a good school
(whatever a "good" school is)

(on another topic .. the continuing tuition increases (6% next year) are
making me question whether ANY school can be worth $45K a year for tuition
and room and board)

Anytime there is a hardship situation one should advise the school in
writing. In my experience, most schools will consider an adjustment to
your income which can lower the EFC, but even if they do it doesn't mean
that they can, or will, make up the difference in aid. You'll have to
wait and see.

But if your EFC is $53K, adjusting out that extra $60,000 is not going
to get your EFC down to 12-15K. At the very most it might drop into the
20's.


Steven B. Blank
College Financial Aid Consultants
29 Ives Hill Court
Cheshire, CT 06410
(203)250-7761


mary-ellen wrote:
> I just finished my son's FAFSA tonight and was shocked to see the EFC
> number - $53K. Our income reported to the IRS was inflated since I had to
> take an early withdrawl (~60K) from my 401K for household bills, tuition,
> expenses, etc. after a layoff in 2004. In reality our income was more like
> $60K - I have let the school know the reasons for the withdrawl, in
> everyone's past experience, will this explaination help out at all?
>
> thanks in advance
>
> I hate to have to take out a loan somewhere in the range of $30K just so my
> kid can go to his choice of school. I mean we could maybe pull off an EFC
> of $12-15 with me taking on another job, but there has to be a better way.
> We do own a second family property, but I really feel parents should not
> have to forefit their retirement to send their children to a good school
> (whatever a "good" school is)
>
> (on another topic .. the continuing tuition increases (6% next year) are
> making me question whether ANY school can be worth $45K a year for tuition
> and room and board)
>
>