<p>My son is applying for grad schools. I know he has to fill out the FAFSA. He'll be paying for grad school on his own--if I have him listed as a dependent on my 2008 Fed. tax return, does that mean he must put parent's information on the FAFSA also, thus making it seem like he has more resources than he really does?</p>
<p>We are in this position for our son this year also.
I believe (hope) they are two separate issues.
He will be independent for FAFSA, by virtue of being a college graduate.
He will still be our dependent on Fed tax return since his income we provided most of his support and his income was approx $4000.</p>
<p>We did not include our info on his FAFSA....it kind of prompted us NOT to after answering that he had completed an undergraduate degree.
Love to hear others confirm my idea!</p>
<p>musicmom: you are correct.</p>
<p>Thanks--that confirms what I just read on the FAFSA site.</p>
<p>3bm103-
Thanks for the confirmation.</p>
<p>lso, it is very smart to file early for grad students as their are work studies available, but they are first come first served. My DD began a technically unfunded masters, got a work study RAship which her profs had not seen before and segued that into TAship & tuition remission.</p>
<p>I am pretty sure it was because we filed in January, not May/June like her cohert did</p>
<p>Somemom-
I'm glad to hear that there is a good reason I spent several hours today helping our grad school hopeful son file his taxes as early as possible. Now his 'will file' FAFSA is a 'completed' one.
He could really use some kind of assistantship/remission deal for next year (if he's successful in his apps).
Wow, will this stuff never end?</p>
<p>Grad students are automatically independent. Even if you were to include parent info on the FAFSA, it would be ignored. Note that independent for financial aid purposes is totally different from independent for tax purposes. If you can still legally claim your grad student as an exemption, the fact that he is independent for financial aid purposes doesn't affect anything.</p>
<p>If your grad student is selected for verification & doesn't earn much (or anything), he may have to submit a statement explaining how he lives on so little/nothing - we have to collect documentation - a statement that mom & dad support him works for us.</p>