<p>Polihist, I also feel bad you're in this situation. A kid in applying for aid should have help and support from his/her parents in completing it accurately.</p>
<p>I know what people are saying about not sneaking around, but if you really can't get help from your parents in correcting your FAFSA with the accurate information, I would do as you suggested, and find a time to track down your step-dad's info and just go in and adjust the FAFSA the best you can. If you can find his tax return, that will answer some of the questions. The assets question may be harder, and you'll have to try to estimate the best you can.</p>
<p>At least that way, if you get selected for verification (and MANY people do!) or there's an audit, or anything like that, you can say you did the very best you could at filling out the FAFSA honestly. Also, also if that happens, the resulting adjustment to your aid won't be as dramatic. I think it could keep you out of the most serious trouble if you really do your best to make sure it's honestly filled out.</p>
<p>Of course, a parent is supposed to "sign" it with their PIN, too, so not sure how you'll work that out.</p>
<p>Your mom is right about it likely affecting at least the amount you can get in a federal grant like Pell, but I think it will just be an ongoing source of anxiety for you and possibly some serious trouble too if you don't correct this as much as you are able to now.</p>
<p>BOTH the student AND one parent sign the FAFSA either with a PIN (electronic filing) or on paper (paper filing) to verify that ALL information on the FAFSA is accurate and complete.</p>
<p>I don't think the student or the parent should be signing this if the information is inaccurate.</p>
<p>"Please do not ask anyone here to give you information that would in any way support falsifying information on your FAFSA, Profile (or taxes). Please. This is a forum to provide help to folks in HONESTLY completing these applications, not to provide ways that are fraud. As noted above, there are significant penalties to providing false information on the FAFSA which include remission of financial aid AND admittance to the college.</p>
<p>This is NOT a situation where you should be looking at the "odds" of getting caught. This is a situation where you should be figuring out how to provide the ACCURATE information on these forms.</p>
<p>Please do not put the folks who post on this forum in this situation. BE HONEST. It's the only way to complete these forms.</p>
<p>If your mom is married to your stepdad, there is NO WAY around reporting the income and assets of BOTH your mom and stepdad."</p>
<p>Im not if you bothered to read any of my posts. I wanted to know the odds so I could show my mom. I think its one out of every three get selected but I have no evidence to support that claim.</p>
<p>Ill send my mom an email tomorrow while im in school with the link that was provided by Sue and tell her that it said that my FAFSA was selected for verification because of inaccurate information and that it needs to be corrected or it could result in the consequences found in the link.</p>
<p>you don't need to tell her you were selected for verification, just tell her what can happen IF it is selected for verification by the school. Also if you are getting state grants to go to school, they could ask for info too.</p>
<p>If you start off with a lie, and you perpetuate that lie for the next 4 years, I would say that the chances of being verified over a 4 year period are greater than the chance for any one year.</p>
<p>And she also should be filing a joint return with her current husband, not as a head of household. I think she used a different address because your stepdad probably filed as single and used the address where you currently live. Of course this is whole different can of worms because unless her W-2s show same address as the income tax return, that could raise a red flag for the IRS</p>
<p>I can't sleep at night if I am untruthful or knowingly lying about ANYTHING. I guess it's the Jewish mother guilt that is all consuming</p>
<p>If you google 'how many FAFSAs are selected for verification' you will find several links to college sites that will confirm that at least 30% are automatically selected for verification by FAFSA. Some are randomly selected (we have been verified all 4 times we have filed - waiting to see if we are this year, expect we will which which will be another 3), others because of conflicting information. According to one of the financial aid officers who posts on CC, each school is required to actually verify 30% of all FAFSAs they receive. Some schools verify everyone.</p>
<p>If a student (and I'm not talking about Polihist, just a hypothetical student) filed the FAFSA with just one parent's information, and that parent also filed their own taxes with that same information, then if the student was selected for verification wouldn't producing the parent's tax return validate the information on the FAFSA? What other information might a college want that would tip them off to the existence a step-parent filing separately? First things I can think of would be that the student's address, as they are registered at the college would not match their address on the FAFSA or the parent's tax return. And also the parent's W-2 forms, maybe, if they reflect the parent's actual current address. Most of the immediate flags I can think of are related to the address... but I haven't been through verification yet (although we got the asterisk on my daughter's EFC, so that'll be coming up soon), so I'm not sure what sort of documents they might ask for that would raise questions and consequently a deeper probe.</p>
<p>OP: That's good that you're trying to make sure the information is correct. You're right; you can't help what your folks do. I'm in a similar situation -- my parents are divorced, but live together. (my mom stayed to take care of my dad, who's in poor health.. nothing to do with financial aid) So, I filed the FAFSA under my mom's info only and the CSS/PROFILE with both of their information. The FAFSA is not always randomly selected for verification: if certain flags come up, you will be verified automatically. That's what happened with mine. As long as you're honest to the best of your ability, it will be your parents, not you, that will have to deal with the feds. I personally think that it's unfair to the student to let their parents' financial decisions bear that much weight on their college financial aid, but what are you going to do?</p>
<p>I would call the Financial Aid offices at the colleges that you're thinking about and explain the situation to them, because even if things clear with the government, the colleges will pick up the errors, no doubt. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>I sent the email earlier and were going to fix it tomorrow and while we're doing it i'll tell my mom to let me enter in my dads information so we don't get in trouble.</p>
<p>I'll let you'll know how it goes and if my plan backfires even after I showed them the warning i'll take cotees advice and contact the school.</p>
<p>I agree with 'rent of 2, if some one is committing fraud on their tax return and therefore providing a return that matches the FAFSA, finaid might not find that, but when the IRS does find it, the finaid penalties can kick in too!!</p>
<p>Good news! Just received my SAR and I have a star next to my EFC, which is 0000. Usually one would be upset since they have to go in and make corrections,verify,etc.... but this means I can use this to persuade my parents to let me go in and put in both of my parents information so everything turns out well in the end.</p>
<p>=)</p>
<p>I'll give an update later if I can put in my fathers information.</p>
<p>FYI, it will up to the school you are attending as to what procedure/forms are necessary to verify the fafsa. You should check their website and/or contact them to see what the next step is (check the website first).</p>
<p>Explain to your parents that putting YOU in a precarious position because of THEIR decision to misrepresent their tax filing status and/or Fafsa information is WRONG. Believe me, it's not worth the angst, anxiety and general worriness (not sure if that is a word!) just to get a low EFC and maximum federal grants/aid.</p>
<p>I corrected it as best to my ability. My mom got mad and scolded me and said im not going to get through life being honest and if i dont get any money for school im kicked out when i graduate.</p>
<p>The universe has a way of rewarding integrity, P., so I am confident you will create a great life for yourself. I realize it's difficult to have different views from your folks. Remember, their rationalization may be a reaction to tough times they've experienced or a world of hurt that never healed. Try to love and understand them but follow your instincts about doing the right thing and realize that at the end of the day you alone are responsible for the representations that you make to others, including universities. Life is wonderful when you feel good about yourself, so keep up the good work. You will prevail.
Cheers to you,
K</p>
<p>You did the right thing. Lying has a way of coming back to bite people in the butt. You don't have to keep your stories straight when you're telling the truth (whether it be about financial aid and taxes or anything else). </p>
<p>Let us know what kind of aid you get offered and we will keep you in our thoughts.</p>