<p>My daughter will be applying for grad school for 2011-12. She will be 23 at the time the FAFSA needs to be filled out. She will have two years of Americorps service under her belt by the time school starts, so no income during that time period.</p>
<p>I've tried looking for information regarding the inclusion of parental income on grad students' FAFSAs, and am coming up with conflicting advice. Since she won't yet be 24, will our income for 2010 need to be included on the form?</p>
<p>DD was 20 when she started grad school and an independent. That just meant she got bigger loan opportunities since there are no federal grants for grad students.</p>
<p>If your D is applying for a graduate or professional level program (i.e., MA, MS, MSW, PhD, PsyD, JD, MD, DVM, graduate certificate, etc), she will automatically be considered independent for the purposes of the FAFSA.</p>
<p>PS. The Americorps living stipend doesn’t count as “income”? I wish I had known that when I filed my FASFA for this year, even though it probably wouldn’t have made a difference, as I didn’t take out any loans this year anyway.</p>
<p>Just an FYI…there are some medical and law schools that DO require parent financial information regardless of the student’s age, marital status, previous degree(s), etc. These schools will request this information regardless of whether the student might otherwise be considered independent for FAFSA purposes. SO…check your schools. Don’t assume that your child applying to medical or law school will AUTOMATICALLY no need to provide YOUR financial information when applying for financial aid. YMMV depending on the school.</p>
<p>Thumper, that’s why I specifically stated “for the purposes of the FASFA” in my post. </p>
<p>IllinoisMom, not 100% sure, but now that you mention it I don’t think I did. I’ll double check with my parents (who received my W2’s and prepared my taxes for me).</p>
<p>Not sure what your DD is applying for, but most US PhDs will be funded with a combo of tuition remission, so only paying some fees, and a stipend for teaching. </p>
<p>Most masters are not funded, but in some cases your kid can get a tuition remission if she is offered a TA position.</p>
<p>Another hidden gem is to be sure the student files early (Jan/Feb) for FAFSA, grad students are eligible for work study, my DD was awarded a $7500 work study and hired by her PI to work in his lab. It was perfect and no one in that dept had ever seen it happen before as most grad students at that school don’t file the FAFSA before the priority deadline and WS funds are gone by the time they apply</p>
<p>psych_, I found this on the Americorps website. Evidently, the Segal Education Awards that you earn for your service are taxable when they are used. A 1099 will be issued to you at that time. Didn’t find any mention of the stipends being taxable.</p>
<p>“End Year IRS Reporting
1099 End Year Tax Statements<br>
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has determined that payments from the Segal Education Award and interest payments made on behalf of a member during a particular calendar year are considered taxable income in that year. These payments (if total payments are equal to or greater than $600 in the year) are reported to the IRS and you will receive a 1099-MISC IRS form. The amount stated on the 1099 must be included as income on your tax return.”</p>
<p>Also, your D should see if any of the schools she’s interested in have AmeriCorps matching programs, where they’ll match her Ed Award with “free” money.</p>
<p>Americorps earnings that are reported as income on a tax return are obviously reported on the FAFSA as income when the AGI is entered. However, there is a section that asks how much in earnings reported on the tax return was attributed to student aid, Americorps earnings, etc. This amount is then automatically removed from the earnings portion of the EFC formula.</p>
<p>Student aid is not reported in untaxed income, so if the Americorps earnings were not reported on a tax return they are not reported on the FAFSA.</p>