My parents do not speak English and this was my first time doing this. I filled out the wrong household size 2 times… First it was 5 because I automatically thought that it was asking how many people lived at our house. Then I changed it to 6 because my brother moved in. But it happened to actually be 3 (my parents and I). I put all of my siblings, parents, and my nephew down for the household size verification sheet at the school. Do you think I will be in trouble for not understanding what household size meant? And do you think the school will allow me to resubmit corrections? I emailed them but they are closed on the weekends. I am having a little anxiety because I didn’t mean for it to be wrong.
Are your parents paying more than 50% of the cost of supporting your siblings? These costs include housing, food, health insurance, transportation, entertainment, clothes.
For example, if your siblings each earn $20,000 per year and they each spend that on rent, clothes, entertainment, food, transportation, health care, then your parents would need to be spending $20,001 each year on each) sibling (more than 50%.
It doesn’t help that your siblings pay rent to your parents - that sounds even LESS like your parents are providing more than 50% of the cost to support each of them.
It appears that I filled out the household sheet wrong. Thank you!
It is okay. just explain to them that your parents don’t speak English and you have been on your own with this paperwork. Explain that you confused fafsa household members with physical household members. Ask how they would like you to report it. Just let them know that your parents help out the family members by allowing them to live there.
Do your parents claim anyone else aside from you on taxes?
I filled out all the paperwork the school required me to do and they sent me back a letter saying "Please provide a signed statement of your parent’s support of [3 siblings listed here]. Show how your parent support these people more than 50% financially with a writing explanation including the statement “I will provide over 50% financial support between the dates of July 2015-June 2016.”
I need help interpreting this… I don’t know if this helps but my siblings are over 25 and they go to work and pay rent which is used for paying bills and food supply.
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But it happened to actually be 3 <<<<
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Ok, so you need to correct it to 3. Just tell the FA office that you misunderstood the question and the answer should be 3.
I think that in another thread that has somehow gone “poof” you mentioned that these older siblings all work and they pay rent to your parents, which is used to pay for food and housing costs. Therefore your parents do not really support them.
Believe me, colleges see this sort of thing a lot. Just submit a written explanation indicating that you misunderstood the question, that the correct # is 3 (you and your parents), and you & your parent who signed the FAFSA should sign the statement. The financial aid officer will update your FAFSA to 3 in the household. If it changes your EFC, your awards may be adjusted (depending on the impact of the change on your awards).
I think the two threads were merged @mom2collegekids …which is actually helpful!
To the OP…folks make mistakes. Just explain.
Really, an additional person in the family makes some difference in the calculation…but the real difference comes if you have a sibling in college at the same time…and that does not seem to be the case.
Good luck!
@kelsmom Is the student supposed to report the rent that the siblings are paying?
Interpretation, here. My interpretation would be that a family member who lives in a home, pays rent, and gets things like meals from the family is not a “renter,” and I would not expect to see the rent reported as untaxed income any more than I would expect to see the rent a parent charges a typical young-adult-child-living-at-home to be reported as untaxed income. (I would expect to see rent paid by an outsider who rents a room over the garage to be reported, because that is a straight business transaction.) Others may interpret it differently. I am not aware that this particular scenario is actually addressed, so it is up for interpretation.
^^^
I can see that. Otherwise the adult children could just directly pay the electric bill or rent or something…or “gift” the parents the money.
Okay thank you so much guys! I thought it was a big deal and that the school would deny me financial aid because of my mistakes. I will go to the office on Monday and explain to them what is going on. 
They can’t deny federal financial aid owed to you based on corrected information, but if the incorrect information resulted in incorrect aid, you won’t receive that.
What was your FAFSA EFC?
I don’t know, I have not given them my parents’ tax return forms yet so my financial aid will be delayed. I have their papers from the IRS which I’m taking to the office tomorrow, but it stated clearly that they needed the tax return form (not any forms of 1040) which is to be mailed from the IRS. Can I bring their tax year 2014 to the school to verify tax information?
Did you link your parent tax return to the IRS data retrieval tool in the FAFSA?
You have the tax return transcript?
Did you fill out the FAFSA?
I have just linked it, and yes I filled out FAFSA in May. EFC = 001452
So you can log back into your FAFSA now to correct it and change the number of people in the household to the right number. You should be able to see the updated EFC number.
Are you living at home and commuting to school?
Yes I am living at home and commuting to community college everyday. I hope to get work study qualifications along with my FAFSA