Does a 24 year old disabled brother who lives with my mother and I qualify as a household member on the FAFSA?. My family is my mother, myself (college student), and my disabled brother. He receives more than half of his support from my mother and is a dependent on her income tax. On the FAFSA, I put 3 down for household size, but my college changed it to 2 after they processed my verification papers. This made my EFC higher. Which number is correct?
Does your brother receive Social Security Disability?
Does your brother receive social security and medicaid or other benefits? If so, how much are his SS payments?
How much is your mom’s income?
My brother receives SSI and medicaid. My mom makes about 45,000.
So, how much does your brother get in SS each month?
and how much are his medical expenses each month (that are covered by medicaid)?
@mom2collegekids He gets $730 in SSI
Your brother probably gets about $8600 per year in SSI payments. His medicaid expenses (doctor bills, prescriptions, etc) could be several thousand more.
The school is probably doubting that your mom is spending more than his SSI payments and medicaid expenses when her income is only $45k.
Does your brother give your mom that money to go towards his food and other costs?
So you think they don’t think she is providing more than half of his support? My first year of college they did not question it, so why are they questioning it now?
From your past posts, you were selected for FAFSA verification. Likely because of that it was exposed that your mom isn’t providing more than half of your brother’s support since he gets SSI and medicaid. Those payments are supposed to be going towards his share of living expenses. And his medicaid is covering his medical expenses.
Of course his payments go to his living expnses. SSI covers only basic needs, my mother pays for the rest. Could you live on just $730 a month?
Some people do but I think the issue is whether or not the $730 from the outside source is more than half of the total support that your brother needs.
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Of course his payments go to his living expnses. SSI covers only basic needs, my mother pays for the rest. Could you live on just $730 a month?
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Your brother doesn’t live alone, so that question is meaningless.
Your mom may pay for extras, but she’s not spending enough each month to qualify for paying for over half of his expenses when you add SSI and medicare.
He also gets medicaid which has value…I don’t know what that is. Say it’s worth $10k per year.
Your mom isn’t spending another $18k per year on him.
His food costs are probably, at most, $300 a month. The other $400 is going to your mom to pay for his share of utilities, rent, etc.
Your mom’s income is mostly going towards supporting taxes, FICA, health insurance, and her expenses (food, clothes, car,), and your expenses (food, clothes, etc).
The school doesn’t believe that your mom is spending over $1500 a month on your brother alone from her income alone.
this is no different from families that have granny live with them. Granny may only have a SS payment of that same amount and medicare, but schools won’t let the family count them on FAFSA unless they truly can show that they’re paying a LOT (a LOT) each month for that grandparent…and your mom’s income doesn’t demonstrate that she can or is.
I believe your disabled brother would count as a member of your household. It is possible that this will come up as a verification issue. Just be prepared to show his SSI earnings…and what your family contributes.
I could be wrong. You could call the FAFSA helpline and ask.
@thumper1 It is already a verification issue. It was the verification issue that caused the school to reduce household size. The brother gets SSI and medicaid. The total amount he gets is large enough that the school doesn’t believe that the mom is matching that amount plus more.
The mom may be contributing “some” towards his support, but not enough to exceed matching the aid he gets from the govt. Many misunderstand this. They think that they have to provide for half of what he gets. NO, they have to MATCH what he gets and exceed it. This brother is likely getting about $18k per year in aid (SSI, medical payments, Rx payments, etc). The mom isn’t likely spending an additional $18k (plus) on him…
My son gets the same amount in SSI each month. To get that much, we had to set it up for him to pay us rent each month. He pays us $540 a month - I use that to pay his tuition when he’s stable enough to enroll in school now. I’m not sure how the rent payment affects all of this.
@MaineLonghorn
I think the problem the OP is facing is that the mom has a modest income that is supporting herself and the OP, so it’s unlikely that the mom is also providing more than $750 + medicaid to this disabled brother each month. I don’t know if this brother also qualifies for food stamps (many do)…If so, that’s an additional wrinkle.
OK, That makes sense. It gets so confusing.