Working during college

[syo202]

Hi all:

I'm a full-time college student who's working to pay for books and tuition. However, I heard that your FAFSA (TAP assistance) decreases if you work since you're bringing in a source of cash. Is there a way to offset this? It seems pointless to work if your gov't sudsidizing grant decreases.

Thanks.

[welfareloser]

you'd have to make quite a bit of cash before it decreases... check it out for yourself, because it's been 4-1/2 years for me, and i had different grants, but i made $6000 in income and got the full grant amount i qualified for.

[syo202]

What if you did make quite a bit during the summer and during your semesters? Does anyone know an accountant or CPA that may have some insight as to what the cutoff is?

Thanks.


-Tom

[brainsmile]

generally if you email an accountant... any accountant... they will answer such questions. Make sure to ask more than one... they all have different opinions

[gear02]

Why don't you ask your Financial Aid office? That's what they're there for.

[welfareloser]

Originally posted by gear02
Why don't you ask your Financial Aid office? That's what they're there for.

bingo. the first person you ask may not know, but they will refer you to someone who does. be specific... tell them exactly which grants you have, your age, dependent status (have any, are someone else's) etc.

i would suspect that you would get the full amount until you are above the poverty level. if i remember correctly, for a married couple in 1998, we would have started losing grants at around a combined income of $13,000. so, for a single person, that level is probly somewhere around $7000-$8000.

i would also talk to the agency issuing the grant... if it is the us dept of ed, they are actually very helpful. call the 800 number on their website.

the rule that i follow (and i'm talking about a combo of scholarships, salary and loans, no grants this year): be frugal, work, but don't work your butt off. why work a total of 60-80 hours a week between school and job at your current pay rate, when you can take a few loans and pay them off when you are making a lot more once you are out of school? but don't take it too far... take the minimum amount of loan money you need to be comfortable, and go sparingly with the luxuries (new clothes, expensive trips, bar-priced beer, big-boy toys, etc...) sure you could have it all now, but a mountain of debt will become more uncomfortable as you age and assume more expensive responsibilities and debt (house, kids, cars, wedding, etc)

[syo202]

Thanks for your help.