Divorced Parents and FAFSA

<p>Hello everyone, </p>

<p>At the moment, I'm trying to prepare for filing the FAFSA in a few weeks. One question that has come up is what I will need to do as far as reporting parental income. My biological parents got divorced when I was about 9, and my mother got remarried about three or four years back. I live with my mother and stepfather regularly, while visiting my father every other weekend.</p>

<p>This is a pretty typical situation in regards to divorced and remarried parents. Based on this situation, will I need to report my biological father's income?</p>

<p>The reason we are worried is because, during the past year, my father's income has been inflated. He is a retail worker and receives commission, and he received a very big project (and therefore large commission) during the last year. We are hoping my qualification for financial aid will not be affected by this.</p>

<p>Finally, if it helps, I will most likely be attending MIT next year. I've been accepted and just need to send the FAFSA to them once I submit it. Thanks everyone!</p>

<p>On the FAFSA, you will be required to report your mom and stepdad’s incomes and assets as you reside more with your mom so…she is your custodial parent. She will need to inc,die any child support on the FAFSA as well. Your dad is not listed on the FAFSA.</p>

<p>For MIT, didn’t you have to do a Profile and a non-custodial parent Profile?</p>

<p>@thumper1 Thank you very much for the information! I have not been required yet to provide financial information to MIT. The closest I have come was including occupations on the initial application.</p>

<p>MIT uses CSS profile for your non federal aid calculation and they DO require non custodial parent information. If you feel this income will make a change in your aid, you can submit a letter with your father’s usual income and what he expects in the future and see if they will consider it. They say letters are wilcome.</p>

<p>For FAFSA you file with your mother and her husband’s combined income.</p>

<p>Due Dates
<a href=“How to apply for aid | MIT Admissions”>http://mitadmissions.org/afford/deadlines&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“MIT Student Financial Services”>MIT Student Financial Services;

<p>on FAFSA, you will include your mom’s income, your stepdad’s income PLUS any child support that your dad pays.</p>

<p>HOWEVER, for MIT, you have to ALSO submit CSS Profile and MIT requires all info from the non-custodial parent as well…so your dad’s income will get considered.</p>

<p>If you go to MIT’s website and look at the FA page, you would ALREADY know this! You should be doing this since aid seems to be important to you.</p>

<p>Why do kids not look at the school’s FA page if they expect/want FA???</p>

<p>Because they’re 17-18 years old, busy with other senior year obligations and not experienced in these matters. Can’t we just leave out the harsh judgements, direct them to the finaid web pages and just help these kids.</p>

<p><a href=“MIT Student Financial Services”>MIT Student Financial Services;

<p>Read this. It is from the MIT website. The CSSProfile is required, as is the fafsa. The non-custodial parent Profile is also required, which means your dad WILL need to submit it. If he doesn’t, MIT will not evaluate your request for institutional need based aid.</p>

<p>Re: the “inflated income”. You can certainly ask MIT to consider this…but they usually only make these allowances for a bump in income if it can be clearly demonstrated that it is a ONE time occurrence that will not happen again. I’m not sure you will be able to prove this. What guarantee can your dad give MIT that he won’t receive a large commission job in upcoming years? None.</p>

<p>Plus, parents are first in line to pay for college…and this “extra income” could have in part been saved to help you with college costs.</p>

<p>Luckily, this is an EA, amd non-binding acceptance, so if the financial aid does not work out, hopefully you have other pending options that will be affordable.</p>

<p>At this point, you need to find out exactly what your parents and stepfather WILL be willing to pay for college for you annually. </p>

<p>And FYI, the Net price calculator will not work accurately for you as your parents are divorced.</p>

<p>@mom2collegekids I apologize, as I am a first generation student and am not experienced in the process… thank you nonetheless.</p>

<p>@thumper1 Thank you for the link. I will need to do some research here and see what will happen. I’m working desperately to get some outside scholarships, but I’m not sure how much those will help, since having three sources of income (both parents and my stepparent) will not work in my favor here with aid.</p>

<p>Before you get all tied up in knots…what sort of income do your mom and stepmom have? It is possible that you don’t have a favorable need based aid possibility even without your dad…or even with your dad with a lower income.</p>

<p>Most I oortant thing you need to know…how much will your family pay for you to attend college? How much? For,get the forms for a moment. Get that number…because that is your bottom line budget.</p>

<p>P.S. You mention CMU and Caltech in some other posts…I believe. Your chances of financial,aid,are the same at those schools…perhaps less so…than at MIT. These are Profile schools too.</p>

<p>@annoyingdad‌ I’m simply wondering why kids wouldn’t have at least peeked at the FA webpage of a desired school if FA is very much needed. It’s not an outrageous question or expectation. More so, you’d think that their parents would also have at least wondered…even if they never went to college themselves. I was a first gen applicant in my day, and finding out how college would get paid for before I even applied was first on the list. </p>

<p>@rkepp12 The NPCs won’t work for you because your parents are divorced. You need to talk to both sets of parents to find out how much they’ll contribute each year for college. The fact that your dad made a lot this last year likely will just mean that the school will assume that at least this one time, he’ll have extra money to help his his child’s education. </p>

<p>MIT is not known to be especially generous with divorced parents situations. I helped a first gen student last year (an AA male with great stats and Val of his class, who you’d think MIT would desperately want!), and his dad didn’t make a lot of money, and his custodial mom didn’t make a lot either, but the “family contribution” was determined and it was more than the two households could contribute.</p>

<p>How much will each household contribute?</p>

<p>I hope that you have some affordable back-up schools. </p>

<p>OP described himself on other threads as upper middle class, EFC $12000, parents’ income of $90k, and personal savings from unreported piano lesson income of $7k. I don’t think he mentioned (yet) how much personal banker bio-dad can contribute, or how much mom/step-dad can contribute.</p>

<p>Madison, the step father is the personal banker. He was the one giving the kid questionable advice about how to manage the student’s money.</p>

<p>This is why I suggested the OP look at what the mom and step mom income is…and also child support will need to be included for 2014 as well on the mom’s and stepdad’s forms.</p>

<p>Be sure you have a financial safety on your list… the CSS Profile schools listed so far could end up being unaffordable for you, and you want to make sure you have options in April.</p>

<p>Student already got accepted to these schools. Hope one of them is affordable.</p>

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<p>???</p>

<p>With an income of $90k, how is EFC only $12k? Wouldn’t it be closer to $20k?</p>

<p>the personal savings of $7k will also add to the EFC. </p>

<p>Unless he knows that he has all costs covered at one of these schools, it doesn’t sound like he has a financial safety. If his parents can’t/won’t pay, he may end up with no affordable schools. </p>

<p>20% of the student’s savings as of the date he files the FAFSA will be added to his EFC.</p>

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<p>Is this Iowa? I highly doubt that Iowa would be giving you any grants other than scholarship. It’s a state school and your EFC is beyond Pell. Have you run the NPC there with your parents?</p>

<p>I know people like the OP, who did not realize how little in financial aid they would get, and how little each parent would be willing to contribute. In the end he accepted the high price college, declined his financial safety, and then could not enroll in the high price college due to lack of money, and is now in a community college.</p>

<p>I understand @mom2collegekids frustration, that this kid is hoping for financial aid, and not being realistic, and not having the conversations with both sets of parents that he should be having.</p>

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In the end he accepted the high price college, declined his financial safety, and then could not enroll in the high price college due to lack of money, and is now in a community college.</p>

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<p>Very frustrating! Kids sometimes thing the money is just going to come from somewhere (we’ve seen kids insist that if they put their mind to it, they can make it happen.) But…then…July comes and the bill has to get paid, and the money isn’t there.</p>

<p>I don’t think this kid’s safety is a safety because he thinks he’ll get grants along with his merit award. His safety, I think, is Iowa and his EFC is too high for grants. </p>

<p>@rkepp12‌ Are you a NMSF? Did your step-dad go to college? He’s some kind of banker?</p>