Our son filed 2015 taxes as married and the 2016-17 Fafsa was filed with joint income from 2015. Before the start of fall semester 2016, their divorce was finalized. He’s submitted a special circumstance appeal for Fall 2016 and after submitting 20 pages of documents, the fin aid office is reviewing the appeal.
With the change to his marital status, it’s created an administrative nightmare to now get a financial aid picture based on actual need for this semester and for the Spring. To complicate things even more, he’s transferring to a new college for spring 2017, and they won’t review financial aid until after receiving an official final transcript in late December, which is really ridiculous for feds to put a kid in that position.
He’s submitted a special circumstance appeal for Fall 2016 and after submitting 20 pages of documents, the fin aid office is reviewing the appeal.
If he receives an award from new school for Spring before the no financial obligation withdrawal cutoff date, it will be based on married income until another appeal is submitted. He’s submitted a special circumstance appeal for Fall 2016 and after submitting 20 pages of documents, the fin aid office is reviewing the appeal.
So the dilemma is that classes start in a few weeks, he has no aid package and if and when he gets one it may be far short of what he needs to continue on until an appeal is submitted later in the semester.
Unless I have this wrong, now that he’s divorced he will be considered a dependent student for Fall 2016 semester and for Spring 2017 semester even though we did not claim him as a dependent in 2015. Claiming him as dependent in 2016 may not fly with him financially and I can’t blame him. So we will be expected to contribute and may not be able to claim him as a dependent for 2016 income taxes.
I’m looking for any tips on how to navigate this mess while keeping him in school for the Spring without knowing the complete financial aid picture. Unfortunately due to underemployment since great recession our family has experienced a big drop in income so relying on us is not an option.
First of all…forget about YOUR tax filing status. It has nothing to do with financial aid.
Second…as a transfer student, what aid is he hoping to get from the college? Is this a college that guarantees to meet full need for all admitted transfer students?
Third…you say the it is “ridiculous for the Feds to put a kid in that position”. The ONLY need based aid the federal government has any hand in “saying” anything about is the Pell Grant. Will your son be eligible for that? It’s the colleges who don’t review financial aid for transfer students until the last thing. Transfer students are at the bottom of the food chain in most schools when it comes to need based institutional financial aid.
Fourth, three times you posted that the current school is reviewing his special circumstances consideration. That’s good…but remember, these are handled on a case by case basis. Does this current college meet full need for ALL accepted students?
Fifth, how much aid was he getting as a married student? How much does he NEED in order to attend this school? How much does he need to have in aid to transfer to a new school?
Sixth…how old is your son? If he waits until he is 24, he will be considered independent for financial aid purposes.
Seventh…maybe he should request a leave of absence until these finances can be sorted out.
And lastly…any chance there is a public college within commuting distance from your home where he could apply?
@kelsmom hat happens in terms of dependency when a student marries…and then divorces?
If a student who was dependent (under 24 years old) gets married, they become independent.
If they get divorced, then they become dependent students again (unless they meet some some other criteria that makes them independent; having a child that the provide 51% support for, veteran, ward of the state after the age of 13, foster care after the age of 13, etc).
Your income and assets will be used to determine his eligibility for federal aid (it does not matter whether or not you file him on your taxes). On the day he files the fafsa, if he is divorced, he is a dependent student.
So…this student needs to contact financial aid and deal with this.
Re:the school he is transferring to…if he hasn’t submitted the fafsa yet to THAT school…he will do so as a dependent student…and your income and assets will be required…from 2015.
For himself…if he filed taxes jointly in 2015 with his former wife, he should use ONLY his income and taxes paid. He won’t be able to use the IRS DRT for HIS taxes so he should order a 2015 tax transcript NOW, and make sure he has the W-2 forms for himself somthat he can show his earnings. Most likely he will be selected for verification.
Thanks for the reply. If I’m interpreting your response correctly, if he had not submitted his FAFSA he could do so with his income only. Since his FAFSA has already been submitted with joint income, should he make a correction to FAFSA to show his income only?
He’s 21, divorced in 2016 long after 2016-17 FAFSA was submitted. In 2015 he filed married, joint. He attended a 4-year public in the fall and transferred to a 4-year public university with a stronger program. His 2016-17 FAFSA was submitted to the new college in December.
His aid package for the spring was based on joint income from 2015. When he submits an appeal, does he need to correct his 2016 FAFSA to show his marital status has changed? Will he be considered a dependent student for this or will his status not change until the 2017-18 FAFSA is submitted.
If he is filing the FAFSA now, he would put down divorced, because that is his status if he were to file today. Yes, he will use his 2015 income, but he will separate his income from his ex-wife’s and put only his 2015 on the FAFSA in the student income section. Since he is now a dependent student, your income/assets as his parents will go on the fafsa.
He should probably still order a transcript of his tax return from the IRS. HE will need to submit this along with his own W-2 forms.
I thought he already filed a FAFSA for 2016/17 and attended school in Fall of 2016. The same FAFSA counts for Spring of 2017. I think the son was trying to get professional judgment because he was married when he filed the FAFSA, and reported joint income. But now that he is transferring to another school, he is divorced and wants only his income to count?
But since he is now dependent again, he is just trading the wife’s income for the parents’ on the 2017/18 FAFSA.
The fin aid office is saying if he submits a special circumstances appeal for the spring his status will change to dependent and parents financial’s will be required. Shouldn’t his independent status remain as it was when the FAFSA was signed and change to dependent for 2017-18 or does the OFA have discretion to change his status during the award year?
Yes Mommdc you summed it up! Trading the ex-wife’s income for the parents for both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 FAFSA. It seems pretty clear that for the 2017-18 FAFSA his status will change to dependent with our income included. I’m worried that the Spring 2017 award will not change if our income is required. Appealing the award with only his 2015 income is straightforward and we have the IRS transcript. What’s troubling is that his status would change mid-year to dependent with parent’s income factored in. It wouldn’t be so painful if one of us wasn’t underemployed. Assuming more debt or taking on more parent loans is not an option. There are two older siblings out of college.
When the 2015-2016 FAFSA was submitted in mid-2015, they were married and 2014 joint income was reported. Their 2014 income was significantly lower than their 2015 AGI when she got a new job and he worked full-time for a few months. The 2015-16 EFC was $3831 and he qualified for Pell and subsidized and unsubsidized loans. The 2016-17 EFC shot up to $17,158. Is there any chance his independent status can remain unchanged until the 2017-18 FAFSA Is there a firm guideline as to how his status is affected or is it at discretion of the Fin Aid office?
What a mess! Had he not requested the review, he would keep his marital status as married for 2016-2017. Once the school was asked to remove the spouse’s income, they have two choices: Deny the appeal, leaving him independent for 16-17 with spouse’s income in the mix; approve the appeal, which means they change the student’s status to dependent and the parents’ income/assets are added. If he leaves it as is for the new school, he will be married with spouse income for 16-17 (and dependent for 17-18, unless he is independent due to age). If he requests spouse income be removed at the new school for 16-17, you have the same issue there. Either school can say no to the special circumstances review & just leave it as is, but to remove the spouse income means they will in all likelihood require that the dependency status be changed to dependent.
If he has left the old school, he very well may not be able to get any loans for fall semester at this point …
I’m interpreting your response correctly, if he had not submitted his FAFSA he could do so with his income only. Since his FAFSA has already been submitted with joint income, should he make a correction to FAFSA to show his income only?
No - if he submitted with only his income, he would have been asked for spouse income because he said he was married. And if he said he wasn’t married, he would have been dependent & your info would be required.
I suggest he ask the aid office to withdraw the appeal, in which case he should be able to remain as married/independent for the former school.