<p>My high school aged niece has come to live with us and will probably stay with us until she reaches adulthood. We are completely financially responsible for her. We we not her legal guardians--we are trying to do this but it is a complicated situation. She is in state custody in a different country but they have let her live with us. One of her parents is deceased the ither is in a long care facility in a different country. We are planning on listing her as a dependent on our taxes.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how FA for her for colleges would be figured? Would our household income be used or not?
Thanks for any info.</p>
<p>Also, we have two older high school students who will be starting college soon. Would she be listed on their FA as a child living in the household? Some ask for siblings but I thought some ask about other children in the household.</p>
<p>Is she international or US citizen/green card in status? My understanding is that if she is not legally adopted by you, the FAFSA is still completed with the custodial parent unless custody has been relinquished and the child is a ward of the state, which is what it appears to be in this case. So, she’d be independent through FAFSA, if she is permitted to file FAFSA. For PROFILE school, you would have to check each school as to how this is to be treated. There have been people who have posted in your situation, where the college insisted on the guardian’s support being listed, though most of the time it does not seem to be the case. </p>
<p>For your own children, if your niece qualifies as a dependent on your 1040 forms, then yes, you can list her as such . That isn’t going to make much difference, however. Just a bit on your parental allowance for assets as that is often linked to the number of dependents. Unless you are asked by a college to include your household financial info for your niece, you are not going to get to count her as a college going kid in terms of your expected contribution for your own child. . </p>
<p>Thank you cpt. She is a dual citizen. </p>
<p>What you describe is pretty much what we suspected. Right now she is not thinking about long term education at all–she has been through a lot and is just trying to readjust to family life. But, with a high school senior, I am on the verge of filling out FA forms (first time for us) and I want to be aware of future possible implications.</p>
<p>Is your niece eligible to complete FAFSA? That is, does she have US citizenship or a green card?</p>
<p>I think since she is a ward of the state (county, whatever) and she is over 13, she will be independent for FAFSA purposes. This is a good thing. She’ll have a 0 EFC.</p>
<p>She has a US passport and a certificate of American birth abroad (not sure of exact wording).</p>
<p>I was thinking she would have a zero EFC. </p>
<p>But…we had to apply for Medicaid for her because our private insurance will not cover her until we are officially her legal guardians. When I turned in the Medicaid form, the assistant said she should be eligible for cash assistance but then a caseworker told me that she would not be considered individually for cash assistance. This made me wonder about FA for her as well. Is it likely one hears one version ( 0 EFC) but when you get down to the nitty gritty, you are denied?</p>
<p>You may have difficulties in that the US courts are not involved. In other words, I don’t know that the FAFSA is going to recognize legal guardianship of a US citizen granted by courts in another country. How much time do you have to get her situation straightened out? As for listing her as a member of the household for the older children? I would imagine that as long as you’re claiming her as a dependent and providing the appropriate amount of support, there wouldn’t be much of an issue there. </p>
<p>I don’t think FAFSA will be the issue if translated paperwork were made available showing her removal from her parent. That might be something you want to get so you’ll have it handy. </p>
<p>Where I see the issue is with some PROFILE schools that will want the support the child has been getting from the OP to be documented. I think when the time comes, some shopping around of schools and how they will treat this issue would be needed. Ask. It is not an uncommon situation. The only curveball here is that the parent from whom the child has been removed is not in this country. So it would be a straight forward question to financial aid offices as to whether or not they require guardians of a child to provide financial info of theirs. Some school have so required, some do not. </p>
<p>Ok thanks all. This gives us some things to consider.</p>
<p>The court has moved glacially slow on this so far. We have been trying to get guardianship for two years. She came to visit this summer and they agreed to let her stay-- very unexpected – but we are all so pleased with that outcome. I don’t see it being resolved anytime soon as the back and forth conversation take a long time. She is a sophomore right now. </p>
<p>If she has a US Passport, she’s a US citizen. Don’t even worry about what other countries she’s a citizen of (unless they are offering $$). I assume one or both of her parents were US citizens and she just happened to be born abroad. If they registered the birth she’s good to go. Can even run for president because she’s a natural citizen, not naturalized.</p>
<p>When SHE fills out the FAFSA, one of the questions is ‘have you been under court guardianship at any time since you were 13?’ She fills out yes (because you said her legal guardian at this time is a county?) and that will deem her independent and skip the parent/guardian section on assets. She’ll have to answer her own questions about assets.</p>
<p>If you do get custody of her, she’ll still be independent because she was a ward of the court (county/state) after she was 13. You would then get to take her as a dependent, include her in your household, etc. This is one situation where everyone benefits.</p>
<p>I think she/you should be getting many benefits from SSA or the state, including medicaid. She should get a benefit for the deceased parent (if a US citizen) and for the parent in the assisted living situation. Keep asking until you get a definite answer, and the COUNTY person may not know about federal (SSA) benefits. She should get free lunch, all the fees for SAT/ACT paid or waived, certain other costs paid or waived. Her situation is why there ARE these programs. Make sure she gets what she deserves.</p>
<p>A very (very) wealthy friend adopted her grandchild. That child, because she had been ‘in the system’, got to keep her medicaid until she was 18. Since the grandparents were self employed, it was great that they could keep that because the coverage, especially for mental health, was much better than anything they could buy on the open health insurance market (pre Obamacare, but still better in that state). Another friend adopted a child and was told the same thing, to keep the medicaid because they also were small business owners an the insurance wasn’t great.</p>
<p>If all else fails, this would. (In my opinion) be a good case for a dependency override. One parent who is no longer alive and one who is in a facility in a different country. You may have to do I net all of this, but if she is not deemed independent because of her ward of the state in that other country…one would think schools would consider a dependency override.</p>
<p>In order for her to b independent for federal aid She has to have guardianship established by a US court. Worse case scenario is the you would turn on translated copies if her paperwork to request a dependency override. </p>
<p>Thanks @sybbie719 for the exact wording. </p>
<p>It is funny because over on the nmsf thread people are arguing over the state by state cutoff and here in fafsa is another example of states playing a role in important factors for students.</p>
<p>ETA: what the heck do they do if it is out of state? Are her parents’ assets/income still considered? They have neither so the net result might be the same. </p>
<p>The net result is not the same if the student is considered a dependent rather than independent. FOr one thing the limits for the Direct Loans are higher for an independent student. The other thing is that one needs the parents information and signature. If the parent won’t give it, it’s a problem. Dependent students who have to have the parent’s FAFSA completed and signed whose parents refuse to give the info or sign the FAFSA, are not entitled to aid other than the $5500 in loans unsub, and even that is difficult to get if the parent won’t sign and say s/he refuses to complete the FAFSA.</p>
<p>My advice is to get an attorney who can get the paper work needed in that court that is in the student’s state of legal evidence .</p>
<p>I do not know for sure, but I suspect this can be taken care of with Personal Judgement on part of a fin aid officer. I don’t know details, but I’ve known similar situations and the kid was treated as an independent student by FAFSA. As I said earlier, it won’t fly with some PROFILE school that will go want the guardian’s financial info, but seems to work with a number of PROFILE school. The student will have to ask each fin aid specifically if the situation is an impediment at that school</p>
<p>But since the student is still young and there is time, I would work on getting the paperwork in place for the legal guardian ship that will comply with FAFSA’s rules.</p>