When applying for financial aid for college, do you have to go off of both parents income if they are divorced

Question

My child is going to be going to college and we are applying for financial aid. Her parents are divorced. She has lived with us for basically her whole life, and her mother has paid $150 a month child support for her. She just stopped with support and we are applying for financial aid. If we go on our income, she'll get full assistance, if we go on ours and her mothers, she probley won't get any assistance, as her moms husband makes too much, YET her mother won't help with anything financial, from braces to college. Do they take her mothers income into play even though she won't be contributing? Thanks

Answer 1

Okay, the news for you here is not what you want to hear.

The only financial information that will be accepted for federal financial aid purposes is the parents'. The only exception would be if both parents were dead, or if the applicant has been legally adopted by the caretakers.

Grandparents don't count, even if they've raised the child from day one.

The people who have provided financial support do not count, even if the applicant has lived in their home, and received NO financial support from mom and dad.

Unfortunately, those rules are established by the federal law that authorized the financial aid program. The Department of Education will not accept an appeal of this finding.

People who want to be helpful come to this Financial Aid area of the site and say "Speak to the financial aid office, and I'm sure they can help you."  That's not true.

Here is the exact wording from the federal handbook that financial aid officers must implement:

"Foster parents, legal guardians, and other relatives

A foster parent or a legal guardian is not treated as a parent for FSA purposes. If the student’s parents are dead, he is independent.

Otherwise, a dependent student must report information about his parents even if he has a legal guardian, unless the school has a documented reason to perform a dependency override.

If a student is living with her grandparents or other relatives, the same principle applies. Unless the relatives have adopted

the student, their income should not be reported on the FAFSA as parental income."

Additional information is contained in this statement:

"If the student’s parents are divorced, he should report the information of the parent with whom he lived longer during the twelve months prior to the date he completes the application, regardless of which parent claimed him as an exemption for tax purposes. If the student lived equally with each parent or didn’t live with either one, then he should provide the information for the parent from whom he received more financial support or the one from whom he received more support the last calendar year for which it was given."

And finally:

"None of the conditions listed below, singly or in combination, qualify as unusual circumstances meriting a dependency

override:

1) Parents refuse to contribute to the student’s education;

2) Parents are unwilling to provide information on the FAFSA or for verification;

3) Parents do not claim the student as a dependent for income tax purposes;

4) Student demonstrates total self-sufficiency."

What can you take from this?

Well, you can't report your income and financial information in the parents' section of the FAFSA.

You can report either her biological mother's information, or her biological father's information, but you do not need to report the income from her mother's new husband (you've said that he hasn't supported her).

So, I think the news is partially good, in that it doesn't matter what your child's "stepfather" earns or owns. Now the only challenge will be to get the financial information from her mother.

Good luck to you - I hope this helped.

Answer 2

Are you the father? The way you worded the question is confusing. Either way she needs to put one parent or the other. She doesnt need to put both. If you are the father, it is ok to put just your information.