Hi,
I’m a single mom, who receives child support for my son. Will this affect my financial aid package? if so, why? That money is for my kid and not for me, so I’m trying to figure this out.
Yes, you report child support received on FAFSA question 94.c.
Do you hand over the child support payment directly to your child/ren, and let the child/ren do whatever they want with it? Or do you spend it on things for, you know, their support? Things like food, clothes, etc.?
I think the mother is the student.
While the child support does count, so does the child in your household size.
Thanks! Yes! I’m the student. Also the fafsa app doesn’t word it properly. is it child support monthly or what I have gotten the whole year?
Yes, I believe you are right. Same answer.
Don’t mean to sound clueless, these questions weren’t on there last year as I was able to transfer my IRS info due to filing early. But since I filed friday, my tax info isn’t available to transfer so this child support question came at me out of nowhere.
Yeah, the questions on child support received were on last year’s FAFSA. See questions 45.c. and 94.c. from the 2015-2016 FAFSA:
Sounds like OP might have qualified for auto zero EFC last year so maybe that’s why the question about untaxed income like child support received did not come up?
@katyakatt, did you have taxable income of less than $25,000 in 2015?
<<<
That money is for my kid and not for me, so I’m trying to figure this out.
<<<
Right…but because you have THAT money coming in, that means that whatever income you have is not fully supporting your child. If child support wasn’t including on FAFSA, your situation would look like only your income is paying for your child. The calculation would be wrong if CS wasn’t included. If you have an income, then MORE of your income can go towards college costs because you’re not the only one supporting your child.
@kelsmom could you clarify?
I know child support is listed…but I thought it was spousal support that is income…not child support.
I know on FAFSA if your assets are under a certain amount (APA) then it will skip the questions about bank balances, investments, etc.
So since the auto zero efc formula says if someone’s taxable income is $25,000 or below and they qualify for 1040A or federal means tested benefit or are dislocated worker then the EFC is automatically zero, I assume that person will not have to anwer questions about untaxed income (child support, pretax retirement contributions) because of skip logic because these items won’t be considered in the calculation.
So maybe last year she filled out her income with the DRT and it was under $24,000 and so she qualified for auto zero automatically and never saw that question?
If OP is student(which seems to be the case), CS needs to be declared in
45c. Student’s Child Support Received:
If OP is parent of student, CS needs to be declared in
94c. Parents’ Child Support Received:
But it does seems that if line 3< 24000 and 1040A/1040EZ filed that this info will be ignored or maybe not even asked.
Yes, it sounds like OP is an independent student with a child. So as an independent student with dependent other than a spouse she should be able to qualify for auto zero efc if requirements are met.