How to lower my EFC?

I just got back my fafsa info and it states my EFC is 6602. I'm independant of my parents because of my age so I didn't put their info on the application. There is absolutely no way my parents would even be able to contribute even 200 to my ongoing education. How can I lower this number? Should I included my parents info? My mom has a default federal student loan though. They have both my sisters, two grandkids, and one of the sisters bf's staying with them. I've been on my own for a few years now and need as much financial aid as possible. And I'm not making a ton of money on my own either, like 12 an hour.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

You can't lower your fin aid, like another answer said. Your income has already been earned for 2007 and it isn't going to change by anything you do now. As a general rule of thumb though, the less money you make the better off you are. You would only put your parents income if the fafsa indicated you had to. You can't add them if you want to.

An EFC this high would not qualify you for a Pell grant. Prob not any state grants either. But you will probably qualify for low interest federal Stafford Loans. If you are independent you will likely qualify for 7,500 per year if you are a freshman. Your EFC is not the amount you will have to pay for your school. It is just a code the school uses to determine what kinds and how much fin aid you will get. The best way to determine how much you will have to pay for school is to look at the tuition and fee rates.

You can't lower your EFC by going back and changing it now. Adding in your parents will not lower it either. What a student makes is assessed at a much higher rate than what a parent makes anyway so so long as you have a job (and $12 an hour isn't that bad) you're not going to lower your EFC.

It's too late now anyway. Your EFC is determined by what you made the previous year so anything you do this year won't change anything until your next year's FAFSA.

I have a similar situation and have been independent since day 1 of my college career. There is a question on the fafsa that asks if you are a warden of the state, click YES. This will make your EFC 0. You may have to verify this with the school by filling out an independent form but the school financial aid office will contact you if that is the case. I went through that during my first semester and haven't had a problem since. Good Luck with school.

If your income in 2008 is going to be significantly less than your income in 2007, you can ask the Financial Aid Office to look at the difference and perhaps adjust your financial aid.

Maybe a long shot...but worth mentioning.

Good luck!

Your EFC is not changeable however if your circumstances are changing - going from full time to half time employment for instance, the financial aid office needs to know this.