Income and Financial Aid Eligibility

Federal student aid does not have any explicit income cutoffs on need-based aid eligibility. The number of children in college can have a big impact on aid eligibility. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is used to calculate the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). The EFC is the sum of a student contribution and a parent contribution, and the parent contribution is roughly divided by the number of children in college. So if the number of children in college increases, it can significantly cut the EFC and thereby allow a family to qualify for student aid despite having a higher income. It is important to apply for financial aid every year even if you didn’t qualify for any financial aid last year. Suppose you apply for financial aid for your freshman year in college and don’t qualify for any aid because you are the first in your family to enroll. If you give up and stop submitting the FAFSA, you might miss out on a lot of financial aid in a subsequent year when you and one or more siblings are enrolled in college at the same time. But even if you don’t qualify for grants it is still worthwhile to submit the FAFSA. The unsubsidized Stafford loan and the PLUS loan are available without regard to financial need. You can be extremely wealthy and still qualify for these loans. The Hope Scholarship tax credit is available to families with income up to $90,000 (single filers) and $180,000 (married filing joint). Note that student employment can have a big impact on aid eligibility, especially for independent students. A portion of student income is sheltered from the financial aid formula, but as much as half of income above this income protection allowance will be counted as part of the EFC. To be eligible for federal student aid, you must be a US citizen or permanent resident (green card holder). There are also a variety of types of noncitizens who are eligible for federal student aid, such as citizens of the Freely Associated States, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republics of Palau and the Marshall Islands. Individuals who have been granted asylum or refugee status and victims of human trafficking are eligible for federal student aid. Your parents, however, do not need to be US citizens or permanent residents. They can be foreign nationals or even undocumented. If your parents do not have a Social Security Number, use 000-00-0000 on the FAFSA where it asks for the parent’s Social Security Number. Do not use a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN). If your parents are not US citizens or permanent residents, they will be unable to borrow from the PLUS loan program. In that case you will be eligible for increased unsubsidized Stafford loan limits, the same limits that are available to independent students.