<p>Could anyone offer advice re: applying for financial aid for a child (relative) who lives with you where you are the guardian, but not the parent? The child's bio mother is disabled and receives SS disability; father is unknown. I had heard that the child is considered a family unit of 1 and that the only income to be listed is the child's income from Soc Sec? Is that accurate?</p>
<p>Question answered (“yes” is the short answer) on fin aid thread–thanks for the quick reply.</p>
<p>My friend is a single mom on social security disability and when applying for financial aid, she had to list all income which in her case was the money received from social security for her and for her children. She would get a monthly check and so would her two kids. Hope his is helps </p>
<p>I don’t know of the “financial aid thread” you mention but I have personal experience with this scenario.</p>
<p>The “family of one” applies to FAFSA (college aid from government) if a student was in guardianship before turning 18. Colleges can still require financial information from the legal guardian or parent, via the Profile.</p>
<p>For prep schools, it is entirely up to the school. I described our situation to the schools my D applied to and they all wanted the guardian as well as the two separate parents to complete the financial forms. Since one of the schools used a different financial aid form, it meant that 3 families had to each complete 2 forms.</p>
<p>Cumbersome but it paid off and after the first year we all only had to file one form.</p>