[Oasfaa] Earned Income Responses

[Jonna Raney]

I had several that asked me to send responses to them, so I will summarize.  Most said they subtract them as we were doing.  Two said they treat negatives as zeroes.

As Pam McConahy pointed out, it actually hurts the student if you subtract the amount because they lose that amount in the FICA allowance deduction which lowers the EFC.   

After reviewing the regs, I think it's pretty clear that we are to treat them as zeroes, so that's what we will do from now on.  However, the FAFSA instructions are not clear to the student so the only ones in this category that will be correct are those that are selected for verification and are corrected by the schools.  I plan to submit a comment to ED suggesting clarification on the FAFSA instructions for the income from work questions.

Thanks for all the responses.  I feel better that we weren't the only ones apparently doing it incorrectly. :-) 

Jonna