<p>Okay, so, here's my situation.</p>
<p>My mom is an illegal immigrant, but I am a US citizen. I live with her and 3 sisters, who are all younger than me. I am a currently a junior in high school and I am SUPER SERIOUS about continuing my education. However, we run into a little problem.</p>
<p>I know that I can put "Will not file" under my tax return and write all 0's for her SSN, but what about my father? He is very much alive, and I know where he is - we still keep in touch. He is legal here, but I do not live with him. My parents are not divorced, but I guess you could say they are legally separated and have been for years now. There is some complicated stuff involved, but they cannot file a divorce at this point until I am of adult age. (please do not ask about this further)</p>
<p>My question is, what do I do with FAFSA if my father, who does have a tax ID and has a high income, sometimes "helps" us with about 1 thousand dollars a month for rent, and a mother who doesn't have a stable/documented income, considering that I only live with my mother, who is also illegal?</p>
<p>Also, will putting all 0's on her SSN and etc. put her at risk for being investigated?</p>
<p>Please, I am very afraid. I do not like the idea of community college (trust me, I am a MUCH better student than that and plan to pursue a much higher field) and I am definitely not the military type. Thank you very much.</p>
<p>You would have to use 0’s for your mom’s SSN, but yes you could report her income on the FAFSA. I have not heard any stories about the INS catching up with undocumented parents just because of the FAFSA. It is my impression that FAFSA like tax returns, isn’t linked to the INS databases. Someone else (kelsmom? thumper1? swimcatsmom?) might have a better idea about that one.</p>
<p>Since your father is helping to support your family, it may make more sense for you to use his information. Talk with him about that possibility. Run both sets of numbers through the calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and at [EFC</a> Calculator: How Much Money for College Will You Be Expected to Contribute?](<a href=“http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp]EFC”>http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp) If your family finances are truly messy, you might want to print out the FAFSA formula and work through it all on paper <a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/101310EFCFormulaGuide1112.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/101310EFCFormulaGuide1112.pdf</a></p>
<p>But the truth of the matter is, if your immediate family has limited resources your mother being undocumented may be the least of your problems. There are very few colleges and universities that would meet your full financial need. You need to be looking for places that will be affordable. Lots of us have our kids at our closest community college for that very reason. Even with excellent grades, test scores, letters of recommendation, etc., at the end of the process you may find that the only place you can afford is your local community college. Find out what kinds of merit scholarships yours offers, whether or not there is an honors program, and the track record for getting highly motivated students such as yourself into good 4-year institutions.</p>
<p>Read through the sub-forums on specific scholarship organizations that are at the top of this forum for ideas about other opportunities for you, and check through <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html</a> </p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I am far from a financial aid expert.</p>
<p>But it seems to me that the OP would benefit from filing FAFSA with her (undocumented) mother as custodial parent. Depending on the OP’s academic achievements, PROFILE schools may also be a possibility–you should complete the CSS PROFILE’s estimator and see what your IM (institutional methodology) EFC is. For quick estimate purposes, just add your dad and your mom’s incomes and assets together as if they were still living together. Your best chance at getting FA is at full-need PROFILE schools that will consider your dad’s income and assets as available to pay for college; depending on how much he makes/owns, that may or may not be tenable, but you won’t know until you do the calculations.</p>
<p>Also, what state do you live in? A very few state flagship universities will meet full need based on FAFSA only.</p>
<p>the gov does verify everything on fafsa. the thing is, if your parents are not divorced, your dad’s income and assets are also counted when calculating your aid. you are a citizen so you shouldn’t have problem with the verification they do. when you apply for college and financial aid and you have SS# but your parent doesn’t, it kinda suspicious (usually kids get citizenship through parents) and might raise a red flag. but I doubt ICE is going to get your mom just b/c you applied for aid. they have a lot of worse people to deport and other important stuff to do than just hunt your mom down. as long as you are a citizen, there should not be problems</p>
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<p>unless they are separated then it’s the custodial parent only. The OP mentioned he lives with his mother and 3 sisters and mentioned he/she knows where the father is…I did not read it as if the father were living with the family. If the father sends the mother money, then the mother reports that money.</p>
<p>A resource I’ve found helpful is the book Paying for College without Going Broke, which I checked out from my local library. I didn’t find the answer to your questions regarding immigration issues, but I think you would find it helpful for your other questions. For example, the book explains that FAFSA has one category for divorced or separated parents (and that parents are considered separated if they don’t live together, whether or not there is a formal separation agreement), so momofthreeboys is correct.</p>