Changing situation craziness (residency/fafsa)

Okay so I will be a sophomore at a public college in Ohio and have lived in Ohio all my life. The past two years I’ve used my dads info on my fafsa as I lived majority of the time with him and a few months ago he moved to North Carolina so then I moved in my mom when I came home for the summer. So now my mom got a job offer in Texas and will be moving there in the fall but keeping the house in Ohio so my sister can live here and so I have a place to come home to during school year. I am 20 years old and just have a part time job. Can I file taxes as independent and fafsa or do I just claim dependent as the parent who provides more income now even though they are in a different state? and will my residency (in state tuition) be affected if my parents live in Ohio? Ugh this is all so confusing :frowning:

You can file your taxes as independent (if you qualify- check the requirements for claiming yourself and paying your own expenses), but that won’t change your FAFSA classification as a dependent. If your mother isn’t changing her state of residency (she may not like this option since TX has no income tax), you’ll be fine. If she does change (or is required to change - just owning a house in another state doesn’t make you a resident), check Ohio law or your school’s policy on change of residency after starting. Some states do not change status once you start, or continue to consider you a resident if you graduated from a state high school. Check.

You need to ask your own university about the residency issue.

For the FAFSA, you will need to work out which parent you spent more time with by the time you have to file the FAFSA. Most likely your mom, because you did live with her all through the summer.

In future years, you will need to read the FAFSA requirements carefully. If it turns out that you spend the same amount of time with each of your parents, then normally it is the parent who has provided the greatest amount of support for you who is the custodial one. If both provide the same amount, then you are expected to use the figures for the parent who has the greater income.

How you and your parents file your income taxes will depend on whether or not you make enough money to qualify to be required to file taxes independently or whether you are still considered a tax dependent. You need to check the IRS rules about that.

^^A tax dependent can be required to file his/her own tax return.

IRS rules are not college state residency rules.

Also how will the fact that your mom might own two houses affect your FAFSA?

Thank you everyone for the advice. I did not get anything other than the basic federal loans this year so I may just not even fill out the fafsa next year as I will only have tuition to worry about which with the payment plan would be pretty manageable to pay. I read my schools rules and it sounds like I will be automatically grandfathered in to in-state tuition since I went to high school in ohio and lived here the past 5 years. and I do not think I make enough to file independent so I think my mom will claim me this year (my dad has claimed me the past 2 years)