Korean Job Discussion Forums

[essyanthology]

Has anyone applied for federal financial aid for graduate school? I worked in Korea for two years, but wasn�t required to file US tax returns and obviously not Korean ones either. How did you submit proof of income earned in place of US tax returns?

[bucheon bum]

You actually ARE supposed to file a return when working abroad, just not the 1040 (assuming your income is below a certain amount). Regardless, I wasn't aware one had to submit proof of income for the FAFSA. I didn't submit anything like that when I filled out my FAFSA.

[Provence]

You are required to file income taxes in order to apply for FAFSA. You do have the option to report your earnings as 0 though and therefore wouldn�t have needed to file income taxes. If you get caught the fine is pretty hefty though.

I would just file for the 2010 year, as you won�t have to have to pay any tax if you made under $90,000 and you would be eligible for the fall semester in 2011.

However, unless things have changed since I worked for the financial aid office in small college. You can only receive federal aid if you are in your first bachelors program. Meaning you cannot get aid for a second bachelors or masters program. You do however have to apply for FAFSA in order to get federal loans. So either way you would still have to apply, just don�t expect federal grants.

[Provence]

You are also likely to get a better response by calling the financial aid office of the university you are thinking of attending rather than asking here.

[digby]

What Provence said.

But I got Stafford loans for my masters. The problem you usually run into (or myself and most other people who were in my program) is finding enough classes to put you into full time so that you can get the full amount.

[essyanthology]

Right. I was just wondering if anyone could share their experience with it offhand as a point of comparison, and not as a sound resource. I am planning on getting Stafford Loans and applying for a gradPlus loan as well through a foreign university that accepts US federal aid.

[eb]

Good Luck.Basically, if your unable to show proof of income/taxes,then it means you were "unemployed" with no income for those entire 2 years. There is no little box to check for oversees employment ( except military service). Plus, the American goverenment really has no money to loan right now ( too many defaults), so that combined with every other factor is not going to help your case at all. There are ways to get money for school but I wouldn't be going towards the FASFA route at all right now. EB

[bucheon bum]

[eb]

Although, it might have to do more with your credit score than income.
I am not sure ( Just heard that ALOT of people defaulted). EB

[Provence]

[essyanthology]

I don�t know anything about imports or exports, but a family member of mine is a financial aid advisor at a large public college, and the amount I can borrow, subsidized and unsubsidized through direct federal loans in addition to a PLUS loan would more than cover the tuition and living expenses. Tuition is a fraction of the cost it would be in the US.

[Milwaukiedave]

I'm doing my doctoral degree online and applied for financial aid from Korea with no problem. I had my tax returns for the last several years which helped quite a bit.

[Kheldar]

You must file a 1040 with form 2555-foreign earned income exclusion (under $91,500) for every year you work abroad. You include your gross foreign income on the 1040 and up to $91,500 (2009) is excluded using 2555, basically cancelling out your net income to $0. The FAFSA form specifically asks for amounts that correspond to line numbers on the 1040 that you and your financial aid office will both need.

I believe TurboTax online will let you back file previous years and foreign earned income. The nice thing about TurboTax is it automatically generates your 1040 in a pdf file immediately, and as long as there are no mistakes, you can use it to file your FAFSA. Like the previous posters said, you need to contact your financial aid office and they will give you the proper instructions, but they will definitely ask for a copy of your 1040. I'm currently enrolled in a Master's program and receiving financial aid while working here in Korea.

From http://www.fafsaonline.com/fafsa-form/student-financial-information-for-fafsa-7.php:

"You should always file a tax return, even if you do not have any source of income. Filing tax returns of $0 is actually a good thing, because it's additional documentation that you have no money, and therefore demonstrate need. If you need to contest the results of your FAFSA later, having tax returns showing little or no income will help you."

[eb]

2555 exclusion? Are you bascially filing unemployment? You havn't been
audited yet? EB

[hogwonguy1979]