I am married, but my son is from a previous relationship. I have low income, stepfather is high income, but will not be contributing to my son’s expenses for College. How can I become eligible for financial aid, considering just my income?
I’m sure one of the more experienced financial aid experts on this site will respond, but the short answer is that your husband’s income will count. There is not a way to selectively include or exclude a spouse’s income/assets on FAFSA (or CSS, for that matter).
It might be more helpful to target schools where your child would be offered merit for their record, or schools that are in your budget.
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Are you the student, or is your son?
If you are the student, you will have to find a public flagship that is affordable for you. You can submit the FAFSA application, but know, going in that it takes everyone’s income into account.
If the funding is for your son, the stepfather’s income will be considered because you are married.
Remember that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid is just an application to see if the student qualifies for the paltry aid the government provides. (Pell grants are ~$6K per year/Federal loans start at ~$6K per year). Not a lot of money to fund a full college tuition.
The application is then forwarded to the schools, which is where the actual, decent, funding is dispersed.
The government and schools don’t consider whether or not your spouse chooses to contribute. It doesn’t matter that you are “low-income” and your husband is not. If that were the case, everyone would say that they chose not to contribute to their family’s college costs.
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FAFSA will include your financials, your new husband’s, and your son’s…there is no way around that (short of getting divorced, which I am not suggesting you do). Most CSS Profile schools will also require bio dad’s financials, and a new spouse if there is one.
What state do you live in and what can/will you pay for college per year?