FAFSA 2020-2021: "money received...not reported elsewhere"

Paying for College
21

I don’t know what the answer to the question is. The instructions for the FAFSA. Asks for all money received from a parent or other person whose financial information is not reported on the form. When you file as an independent student, none of your parents’ financial information is on the form other than what’s asked in this question. Any student, but particularly all graduate students, who are filing as independent students have to answer this question.

This conundrum can also happen if a undergrad wants to file as independent , and meets the requirements to do so ( has a baby, gets married etc) parents paid for college, medical expenses. Gave money to that student in the key year(2018) for 2020-21 FAFSA. Could be sizeable amount of money especially if included COA to a college. Can quash any need based aid.

Those students now independent by virtue of having graduated from college, now applying to higher education institutions will likely have parental support the year before and even the next year after that.

Question is if that support, those moneyS, are excepted on FAFSA. Reading the form verbatim, it doesn’t.

I think it doesn’t much matter. Those schools giving money tend to have their own forms that include parental income ( A lot of private law schools) , and its loans that’s available. About $20k is pretty much an entitlement. Like student direct loan. Not subsidized. Any more, from PLUS if credit allows.

22

The money a parent paid for the student while she was dependent for financial aid purposes is not reported as other money received. If they pay money toward tuition for the first year of grad school, that money will be reported as other money received when filling out the future year FAFSA. While the undergrad-to-grad transition is what causes the confusion, keep in mind that the federal aid expectation was that the parents were supposed to pay that money for the final year of undergraduate. To penalize the grad student for that makes no sense.

23

Thank you @Kelsmom for clearing that up.

For those who don’t know, @kelsmom was a financial aid person at a couple of college…one being a grad school only place.