Do I have to include Child Support and Alimony in CSS Profile, and does it make a significant difference whether I include it for aid.
Also, does Child Support go in UnTaxable income and Benefits,
and Alimony Go in Other Taxable Income, or are they both combined and put in one section?
“Any child support or alimony received must be reported, but be careful to report it only once. Today, alimony received is reported as income on your tax return but child support is not. Therefore, child support is considered nontaxable income that must be reported for financial aid purposes on both the FAFSA and CSS.Nov 12, 2019”
Source. Google.
Please tell me you really weren’t thinking about just omitting child and spousal support on these applications…
You are required to report both child support and spousal support on your financial aid application forms. The amount you received in 2018 would be what you would include for the 2020-2021 forms.
Does it make a difference if you include it? Frankly…you don’t have a choice. It would be dishonest to NOT include these items on your financial aid applications.
Getting need based aid by knowingly omitting sources of income is considered fraud. That’s a crime. Don’t do it.
Colleges frown on dishonesty…so if you got child support or spousal support, include them where they belong in the financial aid application forms.
Do the colleges take into account that the child support ends on the student’s 18th birthday? So it’s basically irrelevant to the single parent’s income stream for the child’s college years?
You would need to request a special circumstances consideration or professional judgement from the college financial aid office for,them not to consider child support you received in 2018.
Contact each college your child applied to…and find out what you need to do.
@sherimba03 that depends on where you live, the laws in your state and your support order. in NYS child support ends at 21. Parents can also petition for upward modifications, amendments to support orders to include college cost.
When it comes to paying for college, parents are first in line to pay their children’s college cost. Colleges do not get involved in child support issues, or mediate between parents. They award their institutional aid based on ability to pay, not willingness to pay or what your support agreement states. If you know that you have an uncooperative parent, they you may have to modify you list for schools that do not require information from the non-custodial parent.
When it comes to college, for federal aid, students are dependents of their parent(s) until the year they turn 24. For many CSS profile school when it comes to institutional aid if you start as a dependent student, you finish as a dependent student, even if you have a life event (children, marriage) that make you independent for federal aid. Barring the death or both parents, many students are not independent for institutional aid until they are 27.
I think the Profile asked me when child support ended. I made sure to say it would end before college began in the “anything else we should know” area, too.