FAFSA and divorce

<p>My ex wife is the custodial parent for our oldest son and is paying for college. She is filling out the FAFSA forms and they are asking for my income also. Does this have to be filled in? i was told by the school admissions office that my income is not a requirement for FAFSA...only the custodial parent income. is this correct? if so, why is it asking for both incomes on the form?</p>

<p>Since you are divorced from your Ex, your income and asset information does NOT go on the fafsa application as well as your ex’s. The info the fafsa is asking for is HER husband… not you. Now, if she is filling out the CSS then your info is required, but NOT the FAFSA. It won’t even let you put in on there. it is VERY specific about this… your daughter reports the parent that she lived with the most in the 12 months before she fills out the fafsa. If that parents happens to be married or remarried, then the step parent info is required as well.</p>

<p>Your ex-wife is prob not reading the instructions carefully, but you can see the instructions here:
<a href=“http://www.edpubs.gov/document/EN0913P.pdf[/url]”>http://www.edpubs.gov/document/EN0913P.pdf&lt;/a&gt; (page 32)
under: Do I report stepparents info?</p>

<p>thanks. another question, how is Profile different from FAFSA? i understand it requires both incomes.</p>

<p>also, what is CSS?</p>

<p>CSS Profile is a form that about 300 private colleges use to gather family financial information. About a third of those schools require information from the non-custodial parent.</p>

<p><a href=“https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/index.jsp[/url]n”>https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/index.jspn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Your Ex is probably seeing that there is a space for the other parent’s income and is assuming that an ex-husband’s income goes there. It doesn’t. When you’re divorced, only the custodial parent and the custodial parent’s new spouse (if there is one) incomes get included.</p>

<p>CSS Profile is a different FA process. The schools that require CSS and NCP info are usually the ones that give the best aid. They want to make sure that they aren’t giving (too much) aid to a student who has an NCP who is able to contribute.</p>

<p>admissions is telling me to have this in before the end of february and they will begin awarding in March for the fall semester. anyone know how this process works at the college level? are they granted an amount from the Fed govt and they can divide as they see fit? if my FAFSA tells me i may expect $9000 in EFC, how accurate is that in reality??</p>

<p>Federal grants are exact amounts based on EFC. Anyone with an EFC of over about $4500 won’t get any fed grant money.</p>

<p>*admissions is telling me to have this in before the end of february *</p>

<p>What school is this? This must be a CSS Profile school that requires NCP info.</p>

<p>Univ of AR</p>

<p>i ran a FAFSA calculator tool to get that amount…probably a little high</p>

<p>Why are you filling this info out? If you are divorced why are the colleges asking for your information. Do you provide more than 50% of your son’s support?</p>