<p>Can anyone tell me how FAfsa or other financial aid entities would treat this situation - my niece was removed from her parents (who are divorced and living apart) and is living with my sister's family pursuant to a voluntary guardianship document signed by her parents. There is no court involvement. She has been in this living arrangement for almost a year and has just started her junior year in highschool. What income would be considered in calculating EFC? Her parents with whom she does not live? My sister and her husband who have physical custody through a voluntary non-binding document? Anyone else deal with a similar situation?</p>
<p>A voluntary guardianship does not absolve the parents of their responsibility for her educational expenses. In this situation, if there is some parental support paid on behalf of the student (anything … insurance, clothes, etc), that is the parent whose income should be used. If there is NO support at all, then: 1) use the parent from whom the student is most likely to be able to get the necessary financial info; or 2) contact the school to discuss a potential dependency override. In the vast majority of these cases, there is some parental monetary support in some form … so it will most likely be easy to determine. However, if this is not the case, I suspect there is a broken relationship, the options in #1 or #2 may have to come into play.</p>
<p>She is on her father’s health insurance and he pays her cell phone bill. That is it. Her mother pays nothing. Every other expense is absorbed by my sister and the remaining family members (food, clothing, highschool tuition etc). If I had to guess, her father probably will claim her on taxes as dependent although he has no right to. I just wondered whose income would be considered for financial aid purposes when she is applying to college next year.</p>
<p>Her father is the one who has to be the “parent” on the FAFSA. It’s his income that must be used.</p>
<p>As Kelsmom says, her parents income and assets will come into play. If her parents are separated, then one has to be designated the custodiall parent, which would be the one she spent the most time with, even if it 's just one day more than the other. It behooves her to have the parent with the least income be the custodial parent, so that her need is higher and she can be eligible for financial aid. If she’s not spent time with either in 2014 (if she is a rising junior right now) and will not, then the one who has the most in terms of income and assets becomes the parent to use. . Them’s the rules.</p>
<p>It might be better this way if a parent is destitute as your niece may then qualify for more aid. What kind of a student she is and what the family is willing to pay for her as well as the federal aid that is available will dictate her choices. For those schools that tend to give a lot of aid, PROFILE is generally needed, which means both parents’ financial statements are needed. Doesn’t matter that they are not and refuse to be involved. That they are alive puts them in the picture. PROFILE schools tend to be the more selective private schools. </p>
<p>If there isn’t much money in the picture and your niece is not a great student and has middling test scores, then commuting to college is probably the best way for her to go. If her parents do not have much income or assets, then she might get some governement aid to defray some of the tuition cost, or she will have to borrow. Still a local state university or community college will be doable.</p>
<p>Her father would not have to be the one used as the custodial parent if she just spends one day more with her mother in that key year 2014, than her father. </p>
<p>If you have any idea what kind of income each parent has, you can run some numbers through a FAFSA EFC calculator and see what comes up. Check out some schools that are possibiliities for her and run some NPCs based on what you think each parent’s income is. A zero EFC will mean about $5600 in PELL grant as well as $5500 in school loans each year with some of that subsidized. If the custodial parent makes more than what is PELL eligible, then only the loans are guaranteed. State money can be based on both parents’ financials.</p>