A friend of mine asked me a question about financial aid and I am not really sure what the answer is. My friend’s son lives with her. The only reportable income she has is child support of 30K . Child headed to a state school so no CSS profile required. Her EFC is 0. Dad is footing the entire bill because essentially the entire bill is only 25% of COA. The son is not taking out student loans either because there is no need to. So what happens in year 2? Will it look odd that the students EFC is 0 but the entire bill will be paid in full by the dad? Do they have to report that contribution from dad in year 2? They both are expecting the EFC to remain at 0 for all 4 years.
Will the dad continue to pay the full bill? If so, what is the issue?
Will child support be ending?
I believe that payment will have to be noted on FAFSA as being paid for the student.
No child support will not be ending. They are just concerned that his contribution will be counted in the following years thus causing the EFC to go up…the issue is, he is cheap and does not want commit in writing that he will cover the bill because he thinks EFC will change because of his contribution. ( Trust me if they were together there would be no aid and he would be looking at full sticker price)
@“Erin’s Dad” …so they will have to list it next year when its time to complete the FAFSA?
If the concern is about the impact on the EFC have the dad put the $ in a 529. That will count at 5.6% since it’s considered a parent’s asset
But state’s schools will not look at his income. He wants to give the money to his ex and have her pay the bill from her checkbook. I’m thinking that will sound some alarm bells and red flags will be waiving all over the place.
The mother has to report all child support on the FAFSA. If she reported $30k this year, and next year she gets $40k from the father because of the tuition increase, she’ll have to report that amount.
…that is what I said. They are trying to play the system. They won’t report it. I love her but it annoys me a little. $-)
You can’t worry about what other people do on taxes or report on FAFSA. My family all thought I was crazy because I reported an outside scholarship to my kids’ schools and on my taxes. “Nobody does that!” I did. I admit I didn’t worry about the small amount one made babysitting and I did not add up the money in the penny jars when reporting assets.
I am not worried. She keeps asking me this question so I figured I would post so I could give her more definitive answers. I’m like you . I am so honest when it comes to taxes, etc. It is what it is.
Money received/paid from/by anyone whose income and assets aren’t included on the fafsa have to be reported the following year.
https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1516/help/faadef22.htm
If she keeps asking, keep telling her but that’s all you can do.
Thanks @annoyingdad . I just sent her an email with the link you referenced.
Does tuition for an adult child count as child support?
It doesn’t matter what the EFC is if he is paying for the whole thing.
Is there some reason why they would continue to file FAFSA?
You don’t HAVE to file FAFSA if you don’t want loans, if she wants to get PELL she would, but it sounds like she wouldn’t qualify.
Since the mother has income under $50k, if she meets one of the other conditions, she might qualify for the simple reporting/no assets on FAFSA. Then the money sitting in a 529 wouldn’t have to be reported.
@emeraldkity4, he’s not paying for the whole thing, he’s paying for everything after need based aid via fafsa. Could be state aid involved to. So they don’t want the need based aid to go away. The OP said after need-based aid the balance is only 25% of COA. With only $30k reportable income, being from child support, the student should qualify for some Pell.
Actually, didn’t the mom say her EFC was $0? If that is the case, the student would be eligible for the full Pell Grant which is $5700 or so. I think it just went up a tad.
If the mom has an EFC per FAFSA that is over $0 in the future, the Pell will be reduced accordingly.
State school . Pell grants and school grants reduces the 27 COA to a little under 8 grand which the dad is picking up. The son will not be accepting loans or work study which covered the 8000
If they wanted to stay inside the lines, the son could take the loans and the father could pay them after graduation. There would be some interest accrued on the non-subsidized portion.
Or the son borrows the money from dad who forgives the loans starting after the last FAFSA at a rate of $14k per year.