<p>I'm still unsure of how to report my parental income in my situation:
My mother died when I was 6. My dad is remarried currently. Should I follow their instructions and exclude my step mom's income, or do I have to include her's too?</p>
<p>Thanks (i realize this is a repost, but I'm just wondering if anybody has an answer in this forum)</p>
<p>Neither of those links works. As far as I know your stepmother’s income is added to your dad’s. He must be your Custodial Parent. Check with the Duke FA office.</p>
<p>You have to include the spaces in the document name (copy paste it into your searchbar). Duke’s policy is really strange so I have emailed them. </p>
<p>“If one or both of your parents are remarried, we will remove consideration of income earned by your stepparent.”</p>
<p>&</p>
<p>“If both biological or adoptive parents are being considered, Duke does not
require information from step-parents if the biological or adoptive parent has
remarried or is in a domestic partnership.”</p>
<p>What does “considered” mean? Is the fact that she is no longer living a consideration? I know what I need to put on the FAFSA. I know what Duke requires you to submit. But I don’t know how they look at things and what I should be putting in my net price calculator. I would interpret this statement more liberally, but it just seems too good to be true.</p>
<p>It sounds like Duke does not consider the income of the step parent when they are computing your need based institutional aid. I believe Princeton does the same thing.</p>
<p>ETA…your mom will not be in the equation at all as she is no longer alive.</p>
<p>Regarding the NPC, why don’t you give them a call and ask.</p>
<p>nickchan1, my reading is I think you will be required to include your stepmom’s info because you aren’t/can’t include your biological mom’s info. I don’t think the divorce/separated scenario where both biological parent’s info is included applies to you.</p>
<p>The OP’s parents aren’t divorced but I found the above quote from the 2nd link surprising.</p>
<p>As stated above, for FAFSA you will have to include your stepmom and I believe Duke will require and use it for their aid too for the reason I stated above.</p>
<p>Call Duke and ask. I agree it’s not all that clear. They say they exclude stepparents in the case of divorce. I can’t see why this wouldn’t also be the case for a widower or widow.</p>
<p>But the only way to really know is to ask the folks at Duke.</p>
<p>What it usually means in cases like DUKE, from my experirence, is that if the two legal parents of a student are filling out the financial aid for, then, if those parents are married to someone else, that there are “steps” in the picture, those “steps’” financial info is not needed. Usually, PROFILE schools require info from ALL parents, step and actual so that if mom and dad are split and both currently married to others , info from both mom, dad and each of their spouses, that is, 4 people here have to put income and asset info down on that form. Duke, in such cases, only requires the legal mom and dad.</p>
<p>However, in the case of the OP, his mother is deceased, so both of his parents’ info cannot be given, just dad. In that case, don’t know if step mom’s info is needed. FOr FAFSA, yes, it is, but for Duke’s own form, OP has to call DUke and ask specifically. My guess is that they will want stepmom, since there is no mom.</p>
<p>Interesting, as the “if” in DUke’s paragraph there seems to indcate that there is a choice–kid can use both parents without steps or a parent and a step rather than the parents–don’t run with this, I’m just musing.</p>
<p>The second “if” in the same paragraph extends the case of the first “if”. So they remove consideration of the stepparent income if there is a stepparent, but that only applies if the original parents are separated or divorced.</p>
<p>This is a reasonable step by Duke to keep the financial burden from spreading beyond one set of parents. CSS Profile requires the information of both parents and (if remarried) both stepparents. That means that schools using CSS Profile would normally consider a stepparent’s income available to pay their tuition, regardless of whether that stepparent is raising, gets along with, or even has any contact at all with the child. So Duke acknowledges that CSS Profile requires that information, but refuses to use it in their own calculations.</p>
<p>In your case, presumably your parents were never separated or divorced. Presumably your father remarried after becoming widowed, both biological parents are not being considered (because you mother died), and your father and stepmother are the only parents you have. Your stepmother’s income will and should be considered in this situation.</p>
<p>I contacted Duke last night and got a reply today. Here it is:</p>
<p>"When completing the FAFSA, both parent and step-parent are counted in that calculation. You can go to our website and look for special circumstances and see if your situation is one that is listed there.</p>
<p>If you do not see your situation listed, you may want to send in a special circumstance letter and explain your situation since it sounds like the step-mother has only been in the picture for three years."</p>
<p>So they obviously use the FAFSA, but this is a ‘special circumstances’ case that they would review individually. </p>
<p>Op, Though it does appear to me that your stepmom belongs on PROFILE, and she would for most PROFILE schools, do let Duke know as a special circumstance that she is your stepmonther, that she has only been married to your dad for 3 years and if she has other children and circumstances. Most PROFILE school count all 4 parents and steps when mom and dad are remarried, but it appears Duke will only count two out of the 4. In your case since your mother has passed away, your stepmom and dad are the two parents that will be considered. But I would let them know and make that determination. Also look at other PROFILE schools and see if any of them could use some reminder of your particular situation.</p>