I’m the oldest child in my family and therefore the first kid to go to college, so I apologize if this is common knowledge, but here’s my situation:
My parents are divorced (father still single, mother married) and now make very different salaries. Mother is over 70K/yr while father is about 45K. Additionally my mother’s husband makes about 100K. When I started filling out FAFSA I noticed that it asks for both parents’ income. If my father claims me as his dependent, do I puy my mother’s income on there still? And will my mom’s high income have a negative impact on how much money I get even if I live with my dad most of the time?
If your parents are divorced, you do not report the financial information for both parents. You only provide the financial information for the custodial parent. For FAFSA purposes, the custodial parent is the parent that you live with or have spent the most nights with over the previous 365 days. You would also need to provide the financial information for the spouse (if any) of the custodial parent.
For FAFSA, as explained above, you list the parent you lived with the most during the 365 days leading up to the day you file the FAFSA. It does not matter which parent claims you on the tax return.
If dad has the lowest income ($45k compared to $170k) and lives in same city as mom, then consider planning to spend 183 nights or more at dad’s house immediately before you file the FAFSA.
So…what this means is the best financial aid is awarded to families who do not stay married and moms who remain single. Interesting huh?
Your assumption is dead wrong…because MOST colleges do not meet full need for all students.
No Empire, that’s not what it means. For many divorced households, their financial aid award is completely inadequate to cover the cost of college because the parents who previously paid rent or a mortgage on one place to live are now paying for 2. And since the vast majority of colleges in America do not promise to meet one’s financial need at all… staying married or not is completely irrelevant to the amount of aid the kid will get (which is very minimal after the Federal limits of Pell).
That option is open to you, @Empireapple Most people do not find it to be the best financial planning advice, but you can try it.