<p>???</p>
<p>Who is trying to dabble in FA fraud? Where is there evidence of that? </p>
<br>
<br>
<p>then, no, you don’t include him. And it looks like your mom filed taxes correctly. You just need to fix your FAFSA and put single. He’s not really anything to you. He’s not your stepdad…he’s your mom’s BF.</p>
<p>You don’t have a stepdad legally if your mother is not married. Unless your “dad” in this case adopted you his income and assets are NOT included. He is not in the picture at all other than in commingled assets and money that he gave to you directly. </p>
<p>Your forms are all done wrong, and to your detriment, most likely, so you should contact the financial aid offices ASAP. if your “dad” has income and assets, they don’t belong in the fin aid consideration at all. If they are substantial enough they could affect your aid eligibiliity and amounts accordingly.</p>
<p>“however, since my mom already filed as HOH, I don’t want the financial aid office giving me a lot of trouble because the taxes were filed “wrong” when they really weren’t.”</p>
<hr>
<p>Sigh … if only you knew how much financial aid offices hate “giving (you) a lot of trouble.” We all wish we didn’t have to do this (but we have no choice).</p>
<p>OP, YOU have caused the financial aid office and yourself a lot of trouble by not filing the forms properly. Not the other way around. As I said before, you probably did yourself a disservice, since your “dad’s” income and assets should not be included which would reduce the numbers and possibly increase your aid.</p>
<p>What a mess! But you’re not the first student to have made a mistake in filling out FAFSA . . . so just file a corrected FAFSA and move on.</p>
<p>I’m not sure, though, that parents’ marital status is among the items that can be corrected on FAFSA . . . some things can be corrected, and others can’t. If you can’t correct it yourself, contact one of your schools (just one!) and ask them to help you correct it. They can make changes that you can’t. Once the change is made, all of your schools should receive the updated form, I think . . . kelsmom would know this for sure.</p>
<p>It’s getting late in the season, and OP has some PROFILE school involved so I would recommend that contact be made to each and every financial aid office and that a print out of the profile and FAFSA be made with red marker correcting it and sent ASAP to financial aid. Make it easy for them to correct the thing quickly. I would also send an e-mail to each Admissions office, but that is not so critical, as it is not likely to have made any difference at all there. But for financial aid, this could be critical.</p>
<p>I said fraud is suspected as the OP asked “how would they find out?” …what’s there to find out if the truth is being told? furthermore, if I am to believe what the OP is saying, it sounds like a common law marriage to me.</p>
<p>You can make a change to parent marital status on the FAFSA, but it is best to work with the financial aid office when doing this. Consult them & ask for their advice on how to fix things.</p>