my son uses my address for all legal documents so we used my/my husbands income to determine financial aid. his dad makes less money. is there a way to legally use his father’s address/income for financial aid purposes?
Where does your son live? Who does he live the most with? number of nights?
It may not matter…the schools that give the best aid usually require ALL parents and step parents incomes.
Where will he be applying?
Legally he can use his dad’s income information for FAFSA if he lived with his dad more days in the 12 months prior to submitting the FAFSA than he lived with you.
^^^ and this is the ONLY way he can legally use his dad’s income on FAFSA.
This is still confusing. For the first year it makes sense, but not after that if he lives on campus. We have always alternated years claiming him on our taxes even though he spends 75% of his nights at my house (& continued to do this since he turned 18 & I stopped getting child support). I assisted my son in filling out the FAFSA and it only asked for my household income. It’s possible we missed something.
No, that is correct. ^^ Parents are allowed to swap the tax deduction any way they want to. Even if he never spent one night at his father’s house, the father can still take the tax deduction. However, FAFSA is different. It counts the nights spent at one home versus the other.
And during college there are breaks and summers where most kids return home and work. Tax law and fafsa regulations are not aligned in a number of areas.
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even though he spends 75% of his nights at my house
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And in the future, where will he be spending Winter Break and summers?? Mostly at your home?
FAFSA asks for parent and spouse income for the household your son spent most time in.
Some private schools also have other FA forms, e. g. CSS profile, and they require custodial parent household income and non custodial household income.
Maybe you can negotiate with your ex that you now get to claim your son since you will be asked to contribute more to his college costs (and he lives with you more) and no longer get child support. If you spend $4,000 or more on qualified education expenses (QEE) like tuition, required fees and books per calendar year, you might qualify for a $2,500 tax credit, American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC), although there might be income limits.