FAFSA for 1st Year Grad School: Money Recived or Paid on Behalf of Student

Paying for College
1

Completing the FAFSA for student who will be entering 1st year of Grad School. Just want to make sure we are interpreting the instructions correctly:

Parents IRS and income information not required unless requested by school (they don’t).

All money received by student from parents (only source of funds) or paid on behalf of the student must be listed on Question 44.j.

Correct?

Does this amount include tuition payments paid by parents in 2014? Intuitively, I’d say yes, but I’ve learned never to assume with FA forms.

Thanks!

2

My apologies to all as I should have posted this in the Financial Aid forum. Unfortunately, I don’t have the necessary permissions to edit.

3

Has been moved to Financial Aid with a redirect link left in the Graduate School forum.

I would think it does - the tuition payments were made for your student/on their behalf. But I’m not an expert.

Here is an older CC thread on the same topic: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1280614-fafsa-question-paid-on-students-behalf.html

4

Hopefully this will shed some light: If someone is paying rent, utility bills, etc., for you while you attend school, include the amount of that person’s contributions, unless the person is your parent whose information is reported on this application. Include money that you received from a parent whose financial information is not reported on this form and that is not part of a legal child support agreement.

Tip: This includes distributions to you (the student beneficiary) from a 529 plan that is
owned by someone other than you or your parents or non-custodial parents (such as your
grandparents, aunts, and uncles).

While the wording obviously doesn’t give every definition of the idea of “support,” tuition paid on behalf of the child would be just like another bill that is paid. I believe it needs to be included.