My son’s father is single and I am remarried. His income is equal to that of mine and my spouse. We split time and expenses equally. Is there an advantage to him as the FAFSA parent with a household of 3 or is it better to use my household with a size of 4?
I think yours would be better as there is an allowance for two adults working as opposed to one, plus you have the extra person. It probably won’t matter much unless those other children are also in college.
One place where you might benefit is the AOTC. A single taxpayer gets no benefit after $90k while married tax payers get some benefit up to $180k. I think the student must be a dependent on your return to take the AOTC so if you have been trading the exemption, you might want to plan it for the college years.
Thank you for the quick reply, sometimes it is hard to navigate the financial aid world. I appreciate the help.
If you really do split time equally, the parent providing the majority of the support must be listed as the custodial parent on the FAFSA. Usually, that is the parent with the higher income.