<p>I am still helping a friend of my daughter's with college and financial aid questions.</p>
<p>Her parents are divorced. Her dad lives in another state, is on disability that is under $1K/month and recently married someone who is also low income.</p>
<p>The student lives with her mom. The mom makes under $40K. She is seeing a man who makes more than she does, and they are going to rent a place together on Nov. 1. They are not planning on getting married (I believe he is in the process of divorcing his first wife).</p>
<p>The reality is that neither of the parents have agreed to pay for this student's college. She has been working two low-paying jobs and hopes to cover her college, herself, which may not be realistic.</p>
<p>Okay, so the question is, how does this combination of adults in the picture affect EFC? The non-custodial Dad and stepmom? More importantly, the live-in boyfriend with income higher than the mom? Is his possible contribution to living expenses counted? If his income is not relevant, how are expenses reported? Should the mom report her expenses as being half of the total, if the man in her life is paying half rent and utilities, etc?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Are you talking about the FAFSA EFC? If so, it’s only the custodial mom’s income and assets that are reported for FAFSA. FAFSA does not consider living expenses at all, as those are built into the income protection allowance. The only time the BF’s income would come into play is if he was paying bills that were in the student’s name - she would then have to report this as untaxed income on her FAFSA. Gifts to parents (and shared living expenses) are not reported.</p>
<p>Sorry to be confusing, yes, FAFSA EFC, for now. </p>
<p>Thanks for the response.</p>
<p>I suppose I was also trying to get a picture of how the whole situation would be viewed, on FAFSA, Profile, other application materials from certain schools. But for now, I will stick to the FAFSA EFC for clarity.</p>
<p>If someone familiar with the Profile can chime in, I wonder if it asks about others in the household who contribute. Does the Profile ask for info about both parents? I think it does.</p>
<p>Anyway, unless the boyfriend wants to pay for this student’s college, make sure the mom does not marry him in the next four years because it could affect the financial aid picture greatly.</p>
<p>Some Profile schools require the non-custodial parent’s info, some do not. The most generous schools do, of course.</p>
<p>Would Profile schools wonder about support if a low income parent resided in a “high rent” zip code? What if the low income mom lived with a wealthy partner in a $1 mill plus neighborhood?</p>