<p>Nephew is senior in HS, his parents separated during 2014. Nephew lives with Mom full time. He told me FAFSA would just be Mom's info (and I told him she would need to include child support received from Dad) but I am ignorant about the difference between separated and divorced for purposes of FAFSA.</p>
<p>Nephew attends public HS, so not sure how effective GC is, parents are not only dealing with separation/divorce issues, but each of them has an ailing parent now. So my concern is for my Nephew to not get lost in all this chaos. </p>
<p>Nephew acts like he knows it all, parents don't have college as their top priority, and I'm sitting on the sidelines with no clue of their financial picture and not sure if Nephew will be shut out of top choice due to finances.</p>
<p>Would love to hear from some experienced parents on this topic. Thanks.</p>
<p>He’s right, his mom will likely be his custodial parent for purposes of the FAFSA. </p>
<p>We need to know if they are legally separated or not, and how they will file 2014 taxes. </p>
<p>He uses mom’s info, but must include support that dad provides. Any parent assets would have a split worth.</p>
<p>They have been to court a number of times, I believe that the Mom started the process and filed something official. There has been some kind of “decree” from the courts. I think the term is “joint custody” from the courts for the younger child. Nephew is already 18. Does “joint custody” of a younger sibling raise any flags as far as financial aid is concerned? Dad has been ordered by the court to pay child support for the younger sibling.</p>
<p>The 2 kids do live at Mom’s house, and spend the night on some weekends with the dad.</p>
<p>Not sure what choices there are for filing status for separated folks, but if there is one way to file that is better suited for the college FAFSA, please advise.</p>
<p>This is the first divorce in the family and I am clueless about terms. I also don’t know the whole financial picture. There is a house owned jointly for the time being, And there hopefully is some $$ saved in a college fund? But I don’t know and when I have attempted to converse with Dad recently, he is not willing to provide financial information.</p>
<p>Dad has stated multiple times that he will do all he can for his son, but this is the first one to head to college and they are clueless about the whole process. No concern for the thousands of dollars that will be needed. It is too far into the future, and there are too many other pressing issues crowding their eyes.</p>
<p>Bottom line is, if there is a “type” of tax filing that will better suit the FAFSA situation, I can mention that to my brother. And if I need to say to the Nephew “all of your dad’s income is going to have to be reported” I want to get that info to Nephew now. Trying to avoid last minute surprises that will derail him from his top choice school.</p>
<p>He is looking at a small, Southern LAC that is not particularly difficult to get into. He has been accepted, but they have not sent his merit aid award letter yet. Nephew has decent grades, but nothing spectacular. His ACT score is very average, mid 20s I think.</p>
<p>My last words to Nephew were that he needed to be in charge of this process. Don’t rely on others and assume all is being taken care of.</p>
<p>Divorce is EXTREMELY expensive, and things like savings can get wiped out. There may not be college specific savings.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter if there is joint custody. It just matters where the kids sleep most nights (with mom).</p>
<p>the initial “decree” from the courts sounds like the typical…kids are staying with mom during week, with dad on weekends, dad must pay XX dollars, household bills/mortgage must be paid, no bothering each other at place of business, etc.</p>
<p>I don’t know what southern LAC this is, but if he has an ACT in the mid 20s and he expects merit, then likely it isn’t one that give great need-based money and will gap.</p>
<p>I would encourage him to apply to his local state school and any other instate public where his stats would get merit. </p>
<p>When things like this are going on at the same time the college app process is going on, unless the family is affluent, paying for college goes by the wayside simply because there aren’t enough funds to pay for TWO households and college.</p>
<p>The mom is the custodial parent for fafsa since the nephew lives most with her. She should file fafsa as separated. She will have to include any child support received in 2014. For fafsa, the dad’s financial info will not otherwise be required. How taxes are filed is irrelevant for fafsa as is who claims any of the children as a dependent on taxes. She just needs to be sure she is using a tax filing status she is legally allowed to use. </p>
<p>Does this small southern LAC only require fafsa or does it also require CSS profile or it’s own financial aid form? Check the school’s finaid web pages for all of the finaid application requirements. Any additional forms may require the dad’s financial info.</p>
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My last words to Nephew were that he needed to be in charge of this process. Don’t rely on others and assume all is being taken care of.</p>
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<p>I understand that advice, but everyone is distracted right now. Parents are largely concerned about the divorce and money. The kids are distracted by school and their broken home. If you can be the Project Manager and make sure that he has a couple of safeties (financial and acceptance), then he won’t only have a CC to attend next fall. There is a huge possibility that he may only have a CC to go to if this isn’t handled well.</p>
<p>He has a financial safety instate public college that he is willing to attend. He could even commute from home to this public college if the room and board is not financially doable.</p>
<p>Oh good!!! Just make sure he doesn’t decline that admission thinking that somehow a pricier school will work out when all the details haven’t yet been totally settled. </p>
<p>He’s lucky to have you as an advisor during this time. </p>
<p>My D only did FAFSA with the one school she was sure of. Can’t remember if FAFSA is something you have to list a code for every school you are interested in, or can you only list one top school? Or is it something any school can go and pull the info from a database?</p>
<p>List the code for each school up to 10.</p>
<p>Because you do not know where your D will ultimately attend, daughter should be listing the code for every school that she has applied to.</p>
<p>As Madison stated, she can list up to 10 schools at a time. List 10 schools, wait until she gets her SAR (a couple of days), then change and add a different set of schools.</p>
<p>Remember, when it it time to do the IRS DRT, or any corrections/changes she makes she must do it for all of the schools that she has applied to.</p>
<p>My D is taken care of, in college already and she and my H do all the FAFSA stuff and have it down pat. I am hoping to be able to guide my Nephew through the process. He has been accepted at his top choice LAC, but they haven’t sent out his merit aid award yet. He also is accepted at his safety public instate school. So I will make sure he gets the codes for both schools entered for FAFSA purposes.</p>