<p>I am almost done with my income taxes; I pushed myself because I will be filling out the FAFSA for THREE students this year! My oldest is in her 4th year, my second daughter is a sophomore, and my son will be a freshman in August. My oldest daughter spent 6 months working at Disney World in 2009, and earned 12 hours internship credit by working and taking a class there. This internship, combined with two dropped classes her freshman and sophomore years, put her a semester behind in graduating. If she goes for another two semesters, she won't have to carry 18+ hours in one semester and will graduate with at least one minor(I am not sure how important that is). She has decided to stretch her classes over two semesters, carrying a 15 to 16-hour load each semester. Both daughters( ages 19,21) work at a local restaurant on weekends/breaks/summer; oldest daughter earned $8000 in 2008, second daughter earned $6000 (she did not come home as often because she does not have a car.) This year, the second daughter(19) earned only a little more at the restaurant($7000), but the oldest daughter earned alot more. She earned $7000 from Disney and @$5000 from the restaurant. It did not seem like a lot of money to my daughter because Disney deducts your housing/rent directly from your check before you see it. Of the $7000 she made, @$2400 went to housing. Does the fact that she paid her own rent for 6 months mean she is no longer our dependant? We have always claimed her because we provided her housing when she wasn't at school, and we still pay for her car, auto insurance, health insurance, etc. How much does a student need to earn before they are no longer your dependant? And if she files her taxes as a single filer, what does that mean for the FAFSA? Is our income and signature no longer needed? I am so confused! Also, will she be penalized for this being her 5th year? She has borrowed about $2600 per year ($10,400) so far to fill the gap left between what we could pay and what she was awarded. I was hoping she could avoid borrowing this year altogether. This is my first post...thanks for all the help!</p>
<p>Have you checked the rules for dependency under FAFSA and for income taxes? The rules for each are different, but easy for you to find and understand. Your child could be independent for income tax but not for FAFSA.</p>
<p>Thank you dt123! After googling the right phrases, that’s the conclusion I came to. I just did not realize that an independent(single) tax filer/student would still be dependent on the FAFSA. We just need to decide what works out best for her tax-wise. I am guessing that being our dependant may be more beneficial because she would be filing single on her own. Anyway, now that I know how to handle that, I went back and looked over last year’s FAFSA when she made less money. Her EFC was @$4700 when she made $8000, so I am estimating (roughly) that will increase by at least $2000(to $6700). Her university does not offer much by way of assistance; I assume because so many others there are in need. My local community college is holding a FAFSA day for parents and students on February 13. Actually our entire state is hosting this at most community college campuses. I was hoping I could file all three of ours next weekend(Feb.6) to beat the rush. Does anyone know if being early makes a big difference? We were told to file by March 1, but no one knows if it matters how early. Is everyone who filed before March 1 in one group while after March 1 applications are in another, or are they decided upon as they come in? I will probably go to the community college for help if a week won’t matter. If that week will make a differenc, I should probably start muddling through right now! Thanks again for the help.</p>
<p>Some schools have some funds that they allocate as FAFSAs come in… or so I’ve heard. But the main thing is to get it submitted before the college’s priority filing deadline. That can vary by college. Some colleges may have a March 1st deadline, others may have an earlier or later deadline. I do think that priority consideration for aid will be given to those who file by the deadline (whatever it is), and secondarily to those that apply after it.</p>