Is there any way to submit additional or supplemental information to a FAFSA application?

Question

I'm a current college student, going into my junior year of school. My parents have been in the process of divorcing for the last year. Because the paperwork wasn't signed by a judge until June, the IRS forms for my parents were filed together as always. So while my FAFSA form will say that I am in a six-figure household, that is not and has not been the case for some time.

My mom claimed that the Financial Aid Office where she is continuing her education told her there are additional forms to fill out, but I have yet to receive a response from my own school's Financial Aid Office. Does anybody have experience with a situation like mine?

Answer 1

You will need to check the marital status on your FAFSA.  You cannot change it once it's submitted.  If you put down that your parents were seperated on the day you submitted it, the FAO should have spotted the fact you put down both mom and dad's taxes.  You would have been ablel to only use your mother's income if she is the parent you continue to live with.  This is what we refer to as the parent of record.

If you put down married then your mother can write a letter for professional judgment to the director of your financial aid department.  She will need to state the facts, her income, etc.  There aren't typically 'additional' forms to fill out, just a serious letter stating the situation and the change of income the divorce has caused.

Answer 2

You can contact your school and ask.... don't wait for them to contact you because they are going to assume the info you put on your fafsa was correct when you filled it out.  Most of the time they won't "Update" it to reflect a change in circumstance.

When a person completes the fafsa, it asks if that person is married, single, divorced or seperated.  When she filled it out she should have listed "Seperated".  When she did, it would not have let her list any of her ex's info regarding income from working.  If she would have called the Dept of Ed, they would have instructed her to exclude all her ex's info... including the info on the AGI and taxes paid.

Perhaps she forgot to do this and they are wanting to correct it.  Or perhaps she is just being selected for verifcation and just needs to turn in those forms.

If you filled out your fafsa and selected that your parents were "married" on the day of the application, you might have a hard time convincing them you accidently meant they were "Seperated" and should have excuded dads income. I would pull up your SAR from your pin number on the fafsa.ed.gov website and see how you answered it AND the date you signed it to see if it was before or after they seperated.

Call your school and let them know what happended, but like I said, they may or may not sympathize with you...  You might have signed it saying they were married on that day and you prob are not going to get it changed.