Does 44i include tuition and housing paid by the parent?
What is the wording of the question?
Money received, or paid on your behalf (e.g., bills), not reported elsewhere on this form. This includes money that you received from a parent or other person whose financial information is not reported on this form and that is not part of a legal child support agreement.
Is the parent who is paying the tuition and housing a non-custodial parent (and is therefore not reporting financial information on FAFSA)?
No. The parent is custodial. We are filing this for grad school. They do not require parent financial information. We paid tuition and dorms. Should we claim that in question 44i or opt to input financial data for us the parent.
Ok, this additional information is important. Parent financial information is not reported on FAFSA for graduate students, who are considered independent for FAFSA purposes. Therefore, graduate school student bills paid by a parent should be reported by the student on line 44.i.
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@BelknapPoint im guessing….but what if the parent paid undergrad college bills…because the FAFSA uses prior prior year info?
I am assuming you paid for undergraduate expenses & now your child is a grad student. My interpretation was always that any money paid by the custodial parent on behalf of a child who was dependent for FAFSA at the time the money was paid was not to be reported. The reason: As a dependent student, the expectation is that the parent will pay for the child’s educational expenses. If your child was in grad school for the year in question, you will have to report- this year only. Given that any money paid on a student’s behalf will no longer count against them beginning in 2023-24, any help you choose to provide to your D as a grad student will not be reported on future FAFSAs.
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@kelsmom so money paid for undergrad costs is for the prior year and not the prior prior year?
No, it’s for prior-prior. I don’t know the specifics of OP’s situation, so I was trying to cover all bases. It’s probably easier just for OP to post more specifics so the response can be targeted to the situation.
I am filling this out for my daughter for the 22-23 school year. Information is supposed to be based on 2020 financial and tax data. I read your interpretation from earlier and that makes sense. I just needed to make sure that I didn’t need to input that figure for tuition, room and board.
She was in undergrad in 2020 and will graduate in May. Grad school will start in Aug. 22.
Based on that information, you won’t need to report anything for 44i.
Thank you very much. I appreciate your information.