<p>I'm currently trying to re-enroll in college (been about 4 years) and applying for financial aid. I've lived with my boyfriend for the past two years and we have a child together. He claims both of us on his taxes since I do not work or just work part time. The FAFSA only asks about my parents' info but they do not support me. The financial aid office said I am not "independent" and my income was too low to be considered as such.
I'm planning to meet with them in about a week to ask but I was wondering if it's possible to use my boyfriend's info on my FAFSA?</p>
<p>Shouldn’t it be whoever you are dependent on, that you should put on the FAFSA? Not knowledgeable enough on financial aid, but that’s my guess.</p>
<p>I would imagine so but it only allows for guardian information on the forms. Therein lies my dilemma…I assume I will just have to wait until I speak to an adviser.</p>
<p>You would use your boyfriend’s info. You are independent if you have a child and provide more than 50% of his support. Since the boyfriend supports you and the child, his info and not your parents’ would be used.</p>
<p>I don’t think you can use your boyfriends information on FAFSA. To qualify as independent you must have a dependent of your own for whom you provide more than 1/2 the support. As you do not work and do not provide any of the support while your boyfriend provides 100% of the support, you do not meet this criteria. I think the exception could be in a state where your living arrangement is considered a common law marriage. </p>
<p>A financial aid officer can do a dependency override in certain circumstances. This may qualify as one - I don’t honestly know - this would be something to ask the financial aid officer about.</p>
<p>NOT independent. A student who is claiming she is independent for financial aid purposes based on having a dependent FOR WHOM SHE PROVIDES AT LEAST 50% OF SUPPORT must be able to prove that she provides at least 50% of the support. If you have no income, you cannot support a child. Your boyfriend would be able to be considered independent if HE were in college, but you are not. You are dependent & must include your parents’ info … you cannot include your boyfriend’s.</p>
<p>Also … re: it being “who you are dependent on” … no, it’s parent/s only. If a student is or has been in legal guardianship, she is automatically independent. Again, those are the rules.</p>
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<p>It would seem like the above would mean that moms could not be “stay at home moms” unless they were married. While this may be the way it is for the purpose of these forms, I’m troubled by this. </p>
<p>I agree that it’s worth talking to a financial aid officer to see if your circumstance would be considered for a dependency override.</p>
<p>We encounter this a lot. We do not grant dependency overrides for this. It is clear in the policies that an otherwise dependent student must provide at least 50% support in order to be considered independent. I suppose some aid administrators might grant a dependency override, but I wouldn’t count on it. You can try.</p>
<p>Thumper, a “stay at home mom” has to get her support from somewhere. If she is unmarried, who is providing the support? If it’s her parents, she is dependent. If it is her boyfriend, she is dependent. If she receives federal benefits & supports her child on that, then she DOES provide 1/2 support herself through these benefits. We are talking about an otherwise dependent student here, not an older mom who is already considered independent. But even the independent mom who has no money coming in is going to be questioned … how does she live? Who gives her the money to live? We will count the financial support she receives as untaxed income or adjust her living expenses to 0 if others pay for her. Again, federal benefits are HERS, so those do count as a means of supporting her family.</p>
<p>If a 30 year old tells me she has 3 in her household & she has no money coming in … and she is not married … and no common law marriage exists … I will only count the household size as 1. The other 2 are being supported by someone else. Maybe it’s not fair, but they are not married. If they were, guess what … we’d be counting the husband’s income … so it’s not fair to let her get a free pass with a 0 efc if boyfriend makes money.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input everyone – kelsmom in particular, you sound like you know what you’re talking about.</p>
<p>The bit I don’t understand is why they would need my parents’ info instead of his. I do understand why I’m considered dependent and I could understand if I lived with them with their support but it’s been a while since that has been the case. I do currently work part time but I don’t know how much that would count toward the 50% of our child.</p>
<p>Kelsmom…if this young mom were married to the father of the child, she WOULD be considered independent, right? It wouldn’t matter if she was working or not…the only income on the FAFSA would be hers (if any) and the dad’s. </p>
<p>The issue is that this couple is NOT married. The mom is still being supported by the father of the child (and so is the child) but because they are not married, the mom needs to put her parent’s info on the FAFSA. </p>
<p>NOW…I do understand that this is the case as the FAFSA rules apply. </p>
<p>I guess the big question is…since the dad is supporting them anyway…why don’t they get married?</p>
<p>Yes, but … if the FAFSA is already completed when they get married, the student will not be able to update her status to married at any time in that aid year. Another fun rule. That one CANNOT be bent …ever.</p>
<p>You sound like my family, thumper1. 
I honestly do not have a good reason for it other than “marriage” does not interest me in the slightest and I have no desire to ever be married.</p>
<p>There are many seemingly unfair rules in financial aid, and this is one of those. I have met so many hard-working young people who completely support themselves & still have to have mom & dad’s financial info to get aid. The rules are far from perfect, but they are what they are & that’s the reality we deal with.</p>
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<p>Part time incomes can vary alot - is the amount that you make on an annual basis enough to justify a claim that you are providing 50% of the amount needed to support a child? Do you receive assistance from any federal/state programs such as WIC, Earned Income Credit, etc.? I think what kelsmom is saying is this can also be added to your income for FAFSA to determine support. </p>
<p>The full text of what qualifies for independent (and simplified needs/automatic 0) here:
<a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf</a></p>
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And that’s true of a lot of kids who have moved out of their homes and aren’t supported by their parents. They’re still considered dependent, too. It’s way too easy to manipulate the system if this situation would make you independent.</p>
<p>I don’t think the rule is unfair at all. Married couples and live-ins are not the same thing. Marriage is a legally recognized contract, a relationship involving responsiblities under the law, and rights under the law. One of those rights is the ability to use the spouse’s information on FAFSA.</p>
<p>I agree there is nothing unfair. If you want to be declared independent and use the dad’s financial info…get married.</p>
<p>The same rules apply to everyone. There are a lot of students who are surprised that they are not independent for FAFSA because their parents do not claim them on their tax returns or they have been self supporting for a year or 2 or 3. I think it used to easier to be independent but they had to tighten up the rules because their was so much abuse of the system. Probably a lot of the rules that may seem unfair is because people abused the original rules. Of course then the tightened up rules catch genuine people in unusual circumstances. I guess that is what professional judgement is for.</p>
<p>For instance I believe in the past a parent in school (I am one of those now) could be counted on the student’s FAFSA but there was a lot of abuse of the rule so now a parent in school cannot be counted as one in college on a student’s FAFSA though the student can be included on the parent’s FAFSA. I think it used to be easier to be independent in the past but some people abused the rules so now it is more difficult. For instance I remember a friend telling me someone suggested to her that her HS age daughter move out into a trailer so she would be independent for FAFSA - my friend had no intention of doing it but some people think it will actually work.</p>
<p>We have a similar situation to the OP though with no baby. My son and his girlfriend have lived together for 3 years. When she decided to go back to school at 23, having lived independently for 4 years her Dad, who is a doctor so you know what that means for the EFC, had to be listed on FAFSA. The next year she turned 24 and was independent for FAFSA. Then my son decided to go back to school. He was 22 and had supported himself since he was 19 and dropped out of college, plus supported the girlfriend for the better part of a year, was still considered a dependent for FAFSA. Though actually in his case it worked out better for him as my husband is retired so our low income meant he qualified for the automatic 0 EFC and his earnings from the previous year (which were long gone on rent and bills) were disregarded. He would actually have been much worse off financial aid wise if he had been considered independent. So we were giving the opposite advice for him - *don’t *get married yet because it will kill your financial aid.</p>
<p>I’m not really sure where I stated this rule was unfair. I was trying to better understand how it worked…
Anyway I do not receive any kind of federal or state aid. I’ll be 24 next year anyway…</p>
<p>Oh no, you didn’t say it’s unfair, someone else did.</p>
<p>But still, marriage carries certain perks. I hope you’ll reconsider at some point, it’s not really so bad. :)</p>