I am trying to fill out the fafsa?

Question

I am a 20 year old with a child of my own. My boyfriend and I have lived together with our son for over a year. We live by ourselves and pay for our own bills as well as the child. He is the only one that works so he supports both of us but i do not know what to put for fafsa. I have a child whom I would consider i support along with his father....but his dad is the one who actually makes the money...i'm confused!

Answer 1

Your problem is this - because you're not married, you don't get to claim your boyfriend's income on your FAFSA form. Since you don't have any income, you (personally) can't claim to be responsible for paying more than 50% of the support for your child. That makes you a dependent student for federal financial aid purposes, and the income and assets that you must provide are yours and your parents.

To qualify as an independent student, you, personally must provide more than 50% of the financial support for your child. It is not enough to simply have a child, it is not enough to simply live with your child, and it is not enough to live with the person who is actually paying the support for your child.

So - when you complete the FAFSA, and it gets to the question that asks whether you provide more than 50% of the support for a child, your answer is "no". If you put "yes", you are almost certain to be selected for "verification" because you're also going to be putting down that you have no income (and probably no assets). If you have neither income, nor assets, it's going to be pretty difficult to convince the Department of Education that you are providing the support for your child.

If you've given any thought to ever marrying your boyfriend, here's yet another reason.

I hope that helps - good luck!

Edit: I like Found's thinking, so I'll help you out with that, too. If you live in any of the following states, you may be able to qualify as a "married" student under the legal doctrine of common law. However, these are the ONLY states that recognize common law marriage:

Alabama

Colorado

DC

Georgia (but only if you were together prior to January 1, 1997 - Hmm...unlikely since you're 20)

Idaho (before January 1, 1996)

Iowa

Kansas

Montana

New Hampshire (but only for inheritance, so forget this one)

Ohio (before January 1, 1991, when you were 3)

Oklahoma

Pennsylvania (prior to January 1, 2005)

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Texas

Utah

Simply living in one of these states does not automatically qualify you to claim that you have a common law marriage - you would need to satisfy each state's own legal definition of that status.

Answer 2

I'm not quite sure what you're asking, but if you are supporting your child in any way....if you and your husband support that child, then you put down that you're supporting someone in your family....hope that helps!

Answer 3

NotAnyoneYou Know is correct.  If you are under 24 also be aware you will be defaulted back to "dependent" and will have to report your parents income.  

You MIGHT be able to say you are common law married and then list his income on the fafsa.  I have seen this happen where there are children and the parents file taxes together as married.  

Something to think about.