<p>I am doing the CSS profile for my twins and they ask how many in college. Last year I put 3 because my son was still a senior. Now he is going full time to grad school and living home. Would he count toward a child in college? Fafsa told me yes, haven't gotten an answer for Profile.
Thanks!</p>
<p>Someone got back to me from Profile, I can count grad school in “number in college” which is nice…doesn’t mean college will all the time, but you can try.</p>
<p>So when you counted him last year, had he already been accepted to grad school? Just wondering because my D1 is a sr, has applied to grad schools, but won’t find out until April and there’s a large likelihood that she won’t be accepted to any of them, so I didn’t count her.</p>
<p>It said, if my memory is correct, where do they intend to go…I called then and they said to put where they felt they would attend and I could change it later.
He knew he got into one grad school in March, another took past April, so he put the first down. (masters) PhD might be different.
You can call them or email, they usually answer within 24 hours.</p>
<p>I just called Profile and they concurred, count the student as going to school, even if they’re not accepted yet.</p>
<p>I decided to see what FAFSA says (since I have already submitted my final with ‘filed’ status). They said this in their web chat:</p>
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<p>Yes, Fafsa wont count the grad student because they need to fill out their own and have to take the “dependency questionaire” Even if all the questions are “no”, the one, “Are you in a grad program leading to a masters or PhD?” would do it. That said, you still can claim them on your tax return and the CSS profile lets you add them. Since most state schools use just the fafsa, I would think you would have more luck with some privates. </p>
<p>I think that is way our EFC fluctuated with each school when my twins applied, some had it over 5,000 more and others less, which showed who counted it and who didn’t in their equations.</p>
<p>I mispoke, I meant to say he is counted on the fafsa. I got this reply from their site:
New party ('Deb) has joined the session:
Welcome to FAFSA on the Web Customer Service Live Help!
Deb : I am filling out the fafsa with my twin daughters and it asks about children in college. They have a brother who is in grad school this year, 22 and living home. I know he’s independent for his fafsa, but is counted as a child in school on theirs? We supply over half of his food, board, etc. being home.</p>
<p>New party (‘Katherine Roberts’) has joined the session:
Thank you for contacting the Federal Student Aid Information Center. I’m Katherine Roberts, your online Customer Service Representative. Give me a minute to review your question, and I’ll do my best to assist you. </p>
<p>Katherine Roberts: Yes he would be included.</p>
<p>Too many forms this week, taking a break today. The contridiction in replies is troubling…maybe two out of three? : )</p>
<p>Wrote fafsa again and told them to make sure their workers are giving out the right answers. She concured and said that you don’t claim grad students on fafsa, just tax forms if applicable. I knew that but didn’t know why they had someone answer differently.</p>
<p>A coworker called the IRS about her 1098T and they seemed to not be able to give her a concrete answer about how to report various amounts and that was scary. : )</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the help! I didn’t save my question to FAFSA, but I’ll try them again today. I did say that I had a younger D who I was filling out FAFSA for and that my older D has applied but not been yet been accepted to grad school. I have a feeling that they just didn’t read the question completely and answered as if the FAFSA was for the older child.</p>
<p>That is scary about the IRS & 1098, D1 goes to one of those schools that offsets tuition and grants on the 1098, I’ve dealt with it and kept records, but who knows if the IRS would accept it if they audited!?</p>
<p>OK, I just called, I would have used the web talk again but their site is a pain because you can’t hit return, everything previously typed disappears (at least on my computer). </p>
<p>First call: I talked to a woman who said that I COULD count older D on younger Ds FAFSA as a grad student. When told her I’ve already filed younger Ds FAFSA without counting the older D and asked her how I would make a correction, she told me that I couldn’t make a correction because she wasn’t in grad school yet. I tried to explain the timing problem with not finding out about grad school until April and having difficulty getting a FA package that late, she hung up on me!</p>
<p>Second call: Got a guy who first said that she could be counted as long as she was still a dependent and that I could claim her right now as she has the ‘intent’ to attend school in the fall. This kind of makes sense as even HS kids have the intent but for several reasons might not. So then I told him about the answer I got yesterday and he said, “sorry, wait I made a mistake”, the answer given yesterday is correct, and he read off the same sentence that once a student enters a Masters or PhD program they are independent from the family and therefore are not included in the household size.</p>
<p>I think I’m going to try again on line. I asked this last person if they would send me an email with their answer and he said he was not able to.</p>
<p>Very frustrating.</p>
<p>I continue to be frustrated, my latest session:</p>
<p>New party C has joined the session:
Hello, I have a High School senior who I am doing FAFSA for. I also have an older child who has applied for a Masters program but who will not find out if she will be accepted until the end of March or early April. On the younger child’s FAFSA, does the older child count as “attending college next fall” even though she has not yet been accepted to graduate school at the time that I have to send in FAFSA to meet deadlines (March 1) in order to receive a financial aid package? Thank you.</p>
<p>Sharon Shepard: The older child will be considered to be an independent student on their application because they will be in a master’s program, so they would not be included on the younger child’s application as part of the household.</p>
<p>Sharon Shepard: Is there anything else I can help you with?</p>
<p>C: Yes, the reason I’m asking is because I have a friend who received a different answer, I’m going to put it in the next message.</p>
<p>Deb : I am filling out the fafsa with my twin daughters and it asks about children in college. They have a brother who is in grad school this year, 22 and living home. I know he’s independent for his fafsa, but is counted as a child in school on theirs? We supply over half of his food, board, etc. being home.</p>
<p>New party (‘Katherine Roberts’) has joined the session:
Thank you for contacting the Federal Student Aid Information Center. Im Katherine Roberts, your online Customer Service Representative. Give me a minute to review your question, and Ill do my best to assist you.</p>
<p>Katherine Roberts: Yes he would be included.</p>
<p>C: Is there a difference between these two cases? It doesn’t seem like it if just the fact of being in grad school makes the older student not part of the household.</p>
<p>Sharon Shepard: If the older child is considered independent on the fafsa and by their school, then do not include them in the household size.</p>
<p>C: So what is the deciding factor of whether they’re a household member: that they’re in grad school or that they’re independent?</p>
<p>Sharon Shepard: Graduate school makes then independent.</p>
<p>C: Because a child can be in grad school and be either dependent or independent.</p>
<p>Sharon Shepard: Its about them being independent.</p>
<p>C: OK, because this is the answer I got yesterday:</p>
<p>C: John Matulovich: Once she becomes a graduate student she will be considered an Independent. When she is independent, she will no longer be list in the household size .</p>
<p>John Matulovich: So if the older student will be at graduate level when the other child stars, you will not include her in the household size, no </p>
<p>C: Which says that it is grad school that defines whether or not a child is part of the household. So, I am very confused.</p>
<p>Sharon Shepard: Graduate school makes then independent. It does not matter because the answer is the same.</p>
<p>They all have the same script. : ) Yes the grad student is Independent on fafsa and doesn’t get counted on fafsa as a number in college…it confused me that so many of them gave different answers but they probably all aren’t very educated on that question…they are used to answering other types of fafsa questions.
You can claim her on a CSS Profile if your younger child is using one and of course on your taxes. We found the CSS profile helped us a lot because they took into account more things. It’s not guaranteed that all colleges will, but some do.</p>
<p>Does your daughter’s college use Profile too?</p>
<p>Yes, the ones that D2 has applied to where need based FA is a factor, all use Profile, so that hopefully will help us. </p>
<p>It’s interesting because I called up Pomona today as I realized that they wanted a copy of 2009 taxes by Feb 1. They said not to worry about that, just to send it in; but I also asked about how to update the Profile to add another student in school and we started talking about FAFSA as well. He said that his understanding was that a dependent could be counted on FAFSA too. So, we’re not the only ones confused! But I agree with you, grad students don’t count on FAFSA but do on Profile and taxes.</p>