ED Corrects Asset Protection Allowances for 2016-17
By Mandy Sponholtz, Policy & Federal Relations Staff
Prompted in part by a question from a NASFAA member, NASFAA contacted the Department of Education (ED) questioning the figures in the 2016-17 Asset Protection Allowance (APA) tables. Today, ED published a correction to the original tables. Individual APAs based on the parents’ or student’s age increased between two and three times the original amounts. We summarized the changes in the table below:
|
Original APA Range |
Corrected APA Range |
|
|
Dependent Students |
||
|
Married Parents |
0 - 10,700 |
0 - 29,600 |
|
Single Parent |
0 - 5,800 |
0 - 14,300 |
|
Independent Students with Dependents Other than a Spouse |
||
|
Married Students |
0 - 10,700 |
0 - 29,600 |
|
Single Student |
0 - 5,800 |
0 - 14,300 |
|
Independent Students without Dependents Other than a Spouse |
||
|
Married Students |
0 - 10,700 |
0 - 29,600 |
|
Single Student |
0 - 5,800 |
0 - 14,300 |
APAs protect a portion of the parents’ or independent student’s net worth from inclusion in the student’s EFC calculation. Dependent students are assessed a flat percentage of net worth, while independent students and parents of dependent students have a sliding scale of dollar-figure APAs based on age. Older parents and independent students have a greater protection amount. This increase to the APA values will result in lower EFCs for 2016-17 than the original figures.
Publication Date: 8/3/2015
Marvin S | 8/3/2015 9:48:55 AM
Did anyone at the Department of Education explain how the error occurred? Those are pretty big corrections.
Theodore M | 8/3/2015 9:24:10 AM
This is really good to see. Thank you NASFAA.
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