<p>My older child is 24 and in graduate school (pharm) and files as Independent on his FAFSA. I still contribute more than 50% of his support. My younger son will be entering college this coming fall. Can I include my older son when answering the question about how many will be in college in the Fall?</p>
<p>"Graduate and professional students are automatically independent. The question then arises whether they can be included in household size and the number in college for a sibling’s FAFSA. The answer is that they can, if they will receive more than half their support from the sibling’s parents during the award year. They do not need to be living at home. It is inappropriate to exclude graduate students simply because they are independent. This situation is quite common among law students, where the parents are paying for law school. "</p>
<p>I found this in some fin aid article that won’t link for me right now. There has been discussion about this with some differences in opinion. Perhaps Kelsmom can elaborate on this as she has personally dealt with this. From what I have seen, grad students, prof students, post undergrad students of any kind do not cause the EFC to be split, but do affect the exemption allowance on assets, but I am not a professional in this area, and am relying on anecdotal evidence. My inclination is to include it and let the Financial aid office at the schools decide how to handle it. </p>
<p>Thank you. I really don’t want to hurt my older son’s amount of aid by including him, but also would like his younger brother to get as much aid as possible. Would it be better if I don’t mark it as “2” in college?</p>
<p>Some colleges will count grad school siblings in the count and some will not. We were providing well more than 1/2 of the support for our grad schooler. We included him. BUT some of the sib’s undergrad schools did not allow,this, and others did.</p>
<p>^Are you saying that for FAFSA or for institutional aid there was a difference between schools?</p>
<p>Thumper…was that for CSS Profile school? Some CSS schools do this, but I don’t think FAFSA only schools do.</p>
<p>I think for FAFSA, you only count the undergrads in college. </p>
<p>When you say that you pay for half of his support…do you mean that you’re paying for half of his Room and Board? Or are you paying for half of his FULL COA …meaning are you paying for half of his tuition, half of his apt, half of his food, and half of all his other costs? </p>
<p>The Pharm student is age 24, so I wonder if his age matters at all. I know he’s independent because he’s in grad school, but he’s also independent due to age.</p>
<p>Does he live at home when not in school or does he have his own full time apt that you help him pay for?</p>
<p>Yes…a Profile School. When DD was applying to college, we specifically asked this question. Some schools continued to count the grad school kiddo when computing the family contribution, and others simply did NOT.</p>