I recall a short time ago you offered help with the FAFSA.
My son is in the active process of transferring to a four year school. Right now he's looking at Parson's School of Design, which is really expensive.
Our expected family contribution seems high, and I called and asked them about it. They said that the big thing they could see was because we had $12K of untaxable income last year. The 12K was the output of a form (form B?) that included a question on untaxable income (which was 0), but we had about 6K that went into 403Bs from our paychecks, and we took 6K from an investment account and moved it into an IRA. So that 6K was not income, it's just money we already had that we moved into the IRA.
I don't see how that should hurt us, but it seems to be doing so.
Any ideas how to correct this?
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Who is it that you called? The college (and if so, the financial aid office, or . . .)? The FAFSA 800 number?
(I'm heading out for a few hours, and I may have the necessary volume of the FSA handbook at work. But I will get back to you.)
A transfer of funds does not seem to me like it should count as income. But I have to look up the relevant details on Worksheet B.
Also, there is a brand new (less than two weeks) tool on the FAFSA website, the FAFSA4Caster, that can allow you to plug in different numbers and see how that changes your EFC.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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We can take this to email if you prefer, btw.
How can your untaxed income = 0? Worksheets A and B are specifically for different types of untaxed income. If they're totalling a positive number, then it's not 0 -- right? (I feel like I'm missing something here.)
Untaxed income that went into your 403Bs certainly does count in the Worksheet B total. Nothing to be done about that 6K. I'm not clear on why you're listing money you took from an asset and put into another asset on Worksheet B. IRA distributions go there, and so do "contributions to tax-deferred pension and savings plans" -- but that means contributions from your income (i.e., paycheck, etc.), not from non-income sources (i.e., existing assets).
Worksheet B includes:
quote: * Contributions to tax-deferred pension and savings plans. * IRA deductions and payments to SEP, SIMPLE and Keogh plans. * Child support received for all children. Do not include foster care or adoption payments. * Tax-exempt interest income. * Untaxed portions of IRA distributions and pensions, excluding rollovers. * Housing, food and living allowances paid to members of the military, clergy, and others. * Veterans' noneducation benefits such as Disability, Death Pension, Dependency & Indemnity Compensation (DIC), and VA Educational Work-Study allowances. * Any other untaxed income or benefits not reported elsewhere on Worksheets A or B, such as worker's compensation, untaxed portions of railroad retirement benefits, Black Lung Benefits, disability, and so on.
The answer to the specific question on worksheet B that asked for "Untaxed Income" was zero.
Given the way the question is asked, I can't just remove the $6K in question and claim that it wasn't income, because it's listed as a line item on my income taxes. The other ~$6k was deducted from my paycheck and went into a 403B plan. So really there's nothing I can change on the FAFSA at this point.
I tried using the EFC calculator, and got the same answer that the FAFSA had calculated previously. At least we can tell it works.
The answer to the specific question on worksheet B that asked for "Untaxed Income" was zero.
Ah. That line is for all other sources of untaxed income.
quote:Originally posted by Glenn Arnold: Given the way the question is asked, I can't just remove the $6K in question and claim that it wasn't income, because it's listed as a line item on my income taxes.
Ok, that would be something to check with Boon. It still doesn't make any sense to me, but there are LOTS of things in the tax law that make no sense to me! Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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sameusername@optonline.net. I changed ISPs since I created my profile.
I can't seem to change my profile, because I forgot my password. Now if I could just get my computer to tell it to me. If I ever get a new computer, I'll have to find a new name.
Anyway, Raymond has decided not to go to Parsons. At this point, he's pretty much decided to go to Full Sail, except that RISD is actually giving him a better scholarship than Parsons did, so he's going to look at the campus at an open house this Tuesday.
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