FAFSA-principal residence question.. very confused.

Paying for College
1

<p>My parents own a home in South Carolina and we used to live there. Now, we live in a rented house in North Carolina and are residents of North Carolina.</p>

<p>Would the house in South Carolina count as our primary residence or "parents' house" or could we report it as real state in our assets?</p>

<p>P.S. the value of the home is lower than what we owe so I guess it would benefit to list as real state but I wanna make sure this isn't "illegal" or wrong.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>If you are not living in the house it is not your primary home, so yes you would report it as an asset.</p>

<p>If the asset value is negative it will be treated as a 0 in the EFC formula.</p>

3

<p>So if the value is negative I don’t write a negative number, eg. -10000? I would write a zero?</p>

4

<p>No, you write the actual number. But the FAFS EFC formula will treat the total for that category of assets as a 0 if it is a negative number.</p>

5

<p>If the net worth of an asset is negative, it is reported as 0.</p>

6

<p>^^^ Do what kelsmom says, she is a FA officer.</p>

7

<p>Ok, thank you so much. This FAFSA has been extra confusing for me because my parents are divorced and I live with my mom and my stepfather but my mom doesn’t work. So it’s been tough trying to figure what I put for her taxes since she doesn’t really have an income, I hope it takes that into consideration and allows me to get more aid since I don’t think my stepfather will really help me pay for college at all.</p>

8

<p>If the house is rented out, you need to add the rent in as income.
Whether your stepdad will contribute or not, his income and assets must still be included on the FASA. Fo CSS Profile schools, most will want both stepdad and bio dad.</p>

9

<p>To the OP…as noted above…for FAFSA, you include the income and assets of your custodial parent (in your case…mom) AND that custodial parent’s spouse (your stepdad). </p>

<p>And as noted…your primary residence is where you LIVE…not where you used to live. Who owns it? Mom and stepdad…or your dad? I’m bit confused. If it is owned by your mom or stepdad it gets put on the FAFSA. If it’s NOT owned by them and is owned by your dad (non-custodial parent info does not get reported on the FAFSA), it would not be reported.</p>