college asking for statement of support for dependents of mine

Paying for College
1

<p>the dependents are cousins of my child but we support them. </p>

<p>they attend school in mexico though. are they still part of our household size?</p>

2

<p>i found this: </p>

<p>Qualifying relatives who are related in one of these ways need not live with the taxpayer. As long as you meet the other four tests (gross income, support, citizenship, joint return), you can claim these qualifying relatives as a dependent.</p>

<p>[Qualifying</a> Relatives: Residency Requirements for Qualifying Relatives](<a href=“http://taxes.about.com/od/dependents/a/Dependents_4.htm]Qualifying”>Claiming Dependents on Your Federal Tax Return)</p>

3

<p>The link you posted is for dependency for tax purposes. Not the same as dependency for FAFSA. For FAFSA dependency the rules are that if the child is not your own child they must live with you to be considered members of the household.</p>

<p>[Completing</a> the FAFSA 2010-2011/The Application Questions(59-79)](<a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/completing_fafsa/2010_2011/ques4.html]Completing”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/completing_fafsa/2010_2011/ques4.html)</p>

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4

<p>why the difference? you would think fafsa would allign with tax law.</p>

<p>i found this on a government website: </p>

<p>To determine whether to include children in your household size, the “support” test is used (rather than a residency requirement) because there may be situations in which you support a child who does not live with you, especially in cases of divorce or separation. In such cases, the parent who provides more than half of the child’s support may claim the child in his or her household size. It does not matter which parent claims the child as a dependent for tax purposes. If you receive benefits (such as Social Security or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families [TANF] payments) in the child’s name, these benefits must be counted as parental support to the child.</p>

<p><a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/completing_fafsa/2008_2009/ques6.html[/url]”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/completing_fafsa/2008_2009/ques6.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>There are quite a few differences between the way FAFSA looks at something and the way the IRS does. Being independent, for one.</p>

6

<p>FAFSA does not align with tax law in many ways. For instance my son was not eligible to be our dependent for tax purposes because he had been working full time and earned too much. But when he returned to school at 22 he was still our dependent for FAFSA purposes. He was not living with us but was still considered part of our household for FAFSA as he is our child, and was still considered our dependent for FAFSA. </p>

<p>I think the rule you are quoting related to your own child. A child you are supporting that is not your own child or stepchild comes under this rule.

. I may be wrong, your school will be able to tell you for sure whether the cousins can be included for FAFSA purposes. What they say is what counts.</p>

7

<p>I’ll voice an alternate opinion. There have been a number of families who have posted here in the past who support relatives…grandparents, cousins, aunts/uncles in their native countries. These folks do not live with these families. I believe FAFSA views this support as a CHOICE you are making. You could just as easily make the choice to fund your child’s college education. Please understand I am NOT criticizing families for supporting relatives in their native countries…but the FAFSA does not count these folks as “members of your household”. They are NOT members of your household and it really doesn’t matter how much money you are sending them…you are supporting THEIR household…not part of yours.</p>

8

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Amen. If you still have funds to support someone else’s household after paying for your child’s college education…congratulations. BTW - have you been declaring these cousins as dependents on your Federal Tax returns?</p>

9

<p>thanks for the responses</p>

10

<p>aglages I think the language in the tax forms is “looser” than the FAFSA. The FAFSA language does include the “living with you” language and I don’t believe that is true with the Fed Tax forms. Even then, it applies to kids that are in boarding school but “at home” for vacations and summers. They “technically” don’t live with the family 100% of the time, but are still dependents for FAFSA. Either way, the school will make it’s decision based on the statement of support letter that they are requesting form the OP/family.</p>

11

<p>Boarding school students are different. Their PERMANENT address is their PARENT’S address…not the school…same as for college students who don’t live with their parents.</p>

12

<p>^^I see I wasn’t clear. I was making the point that boarding students are dependents even though they dont’ “live” at home full time. I did a poor job.</p>

13

<p>momofthreeboys: I understand there is a difference in definitions of dependents between FAFSA and the IRS. I was curious as to whether the OP was confident enough in his/her belief that these relatives were considered “dependents” to put them on their IRS forms.</p>

14

<p>*FAFSA views this support as a CHOICE you are making. You could just as easily make the choice to fund your child’s college education. *</p>

<p>Right… The FAFSA thinking must be that it wouldn’t be right to expect tax-payer aid for a child’s college education when a family is choosing to spend its money on relatives who aren’t part of their household. The thinking is that family dollars should go to the immediate family’s needs first, and then if money is left over, the family can choose to support relatives. If the family chooses to do otherwise, that’s fine, but the family can’t expect a lower EFC for it.</p>