<p>You know what? I’m actually getting more and more irritated the more I think about this. OP, you are in a position to help your daughter and instead, you’re trying to scam the system by taking away money from people who actually NEED it- and worst of all, you might be putting your daughter in a position of potentially getting aid fraudulently. </p>
<p>You have the choice to not contribute to your daughter’s education. That’s fine. But don’t screw those of us who actually need help out of money just because you don’t feel like paying. If your daughter’s SAT/ACT scores reflect her GPA then she’s going to get great merit aid somewhere.</p>
<p>We (spouse & I) would be signing a legally enforceable Marital Separation and Property Settlement Agreement (MSA) in which I agree to pay maintenance to my unemployed spouse from my retirement income (I’m still learning about the mechanics of this - this, there is such a thing). There would be no “affidavit” - how is that “fraud”</p>
<p>So we choose to in-fact maintain separate residences and finances and file our taxes Married Filing Separate - and actually live apart for periods of time … in accordance with our MSA … whose business is it what we do with our lives otherwise?</p>
<p>(btw - in case anybody is wondering spouse is all on board with this if it proves to be financially beneficial … we’ve been married a long time and have complete trust in each other)</p>
<p>Hopefullly, but from what I’ve been hearing from people I know with kids entering college - scholarships based on academic merit alone has become nearly non-existent. (plenty of money out there for boneheaded football players though apparently)</p>
<p>* You have stated yourself that you will only be doing this to “structure” your financial aid. That being the case, whomever signs your affidavit verifying your “separation” is part and parcel of your fraud plan.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Thumper is right. this isn’t a legal separation in the spirit of what a legal separation is. You’d still behave as man and wife when together…(I don’t know any separated folks who “visit” each other for extended periods of time…I doubt you’re giving dating privileges to each other. You both would probably still refer to each other as spouses…husband and wife. </p>
<p>Would you each set up your properties as sole owned and the surviving separated spouse would have to inherit it? Or would everything be held in community property?</p>
<p>Frankly, I wish all states would do as Texas does. Until you’re divorced, you are married for FA purposes. Makes much more sense. </p>
<p>Do not make a mockery of your marriage and the institution by doing what you’re suggesting. If you don’t want to be married, then get a divorce. </p>
<p>I make approx 70k in retirement benefits </p>
<p>To earn that much in retirement benefits means that you were a high earner before retirement. Stop complaining…either pay what you’re supposed to pay or have your D look for merit scholarships. </p>
<p>Stop trying to scam your fellow tax-payer.</p>
<p>* but from what I’ve been hearing from people I know with kids entering college - scholarships based on academic merit alone has become nearly non-existent.*</p>
<p>Then you’re listening to total morons…(probably the same people who’re advising you on this scam idea). Tell your idiot friends…Academic merit scholarships are NOT nearly non-existent.</p>
<p>I think you should give more thought to your daughter’s list of colleges. You are a bit overly fixated on getting need-based assistance and there isn’t a lot of that available from state schools. Is your daughter set on going to a state school? Or have you just not explored your other options.</p>
<p>If you open yourself up to the possibility of merit aid I think you might be pleasantly surprised. There is a lot of it out there for students with good stats. If you like Texas there is Rice for instance.</p>
<p>I just read your post #23, you have been misinformed, there is merit aid out there for students based on stats only. Do some homework. Go to the school’s websites and find out which ones offer merit aid. Sometimes you have to apply for financial aid to be considered for it, sometimes not. Once you get started doing some research this kind of project picks up its own momentum. Good luck.</p>
<p>Completely false. You’ve spent so much energy trying to figure out how to scam need-based aid and yet you haven’t looked into merit scholarships? I think you need to refocus your energy.</p>
<p>Were not for the health insurance thing we’d just consider a divorce decree. Then it would not matter now would it. Seems non-custodial divorced parents get completely exempted from the FAFSA.</p>
<p>Does your daughter have really high stats? If so, she could get a FULL scholarship at U of Alabama. If she is a NMF she would get even more money…and if she majors in engineering additional funds, I believe.</p>
<p>Any money you pay your spouse will have to be reported on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>Also…do the math…is having TWO residences (and the associated costs for each…) plus the travel back and forth to see your wife really going to net you anything? At a Texas state university, the most your child will see is a $5500 Stafford loan AND whatever PORTION of the Pell Grant she qualifies for…leaving you with the balance to pay.</p>
<p>Well, it’s very early in the game (& it is a game) & of course I will be looking into that - I am & will be considering every angle - child doesn’t have ACT/SAT scores yet. Just started 11th grade, but never made less than an “A” for a semester grade in anything - ever - and that’s going all the way back to kindergarten.</p>
<p>What I’m hearing from folks is pretty discouraging though as far as academic merit based scholarships - I have little doubt child will end up in top 5% of class, but possibly not number one or even number two. It’s a very competitive school & lots of kids have 4.0+.</p>
<p>Marriage is more than just a piece of paper… we don’t need a piece of paper to tell us we are together for the duration. It’s the government seems to be most concerned about that peice of paper and it seems the government and financial aid business are quite concerned about that piece of paper when it comes to handing out money…</p>
<p>How many divorce parents are out there who don’t claim the income of the non-custodial parent for financial aid purposes … are they any less morally responsible for their child’s education than I am? Do you think their income is being reported on their kid’s FAFSA? According to the FAFSA they have no responsibility.</p>
<p>I’d like to hear of just one case where the income of a a divorced non-custodial biological parent is being claimed on the FAFSA. Anyone?</p>
<p>Would it be helpful to go ahead & move to Alabama for her senior year? (looking at Gulf Shores & Orange Beach … as well as Florida)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What’s an NMF? (engineering is a possibility, kid not sure yet but will definitely be in the area of sciences/mathematics)</p>
<p>
Well of course … but spouse plans to be unemployed anyway so that would be her only income … and I would be able to deduct such payments from my Married Filing Separate at the end of the year.</p>
<p>DIVORCED non-custodial parents do not report on the FAFSA…You are NOT proposing to get DIVORCED or even separated from your wife except for finacial purposes.</p>
<p>I will say…you are asking folks to help you scam the system. If you do this…and are found out…your daughter will not only LOSE her financial aid, she will also lose her admission to the college. AND you will face a fine for commiting fraud.</p>
<p>It is clear that you plan to do this…just understand that the risks are more likely than the gains. You STILL will have costs to pay for your daughter to attend college.</p>
<p>That’s my point. And neither do legally separated non-custodial parents!</p>
<p>And that is exactly what we are considering … we will be maintaining separate residences & finances & spouse will be spending considerable time at child’s college location anyway (wherever that ends up being - we’ve been gypsies all our married life anyway, not really tied to any particular place) - not to mention that we are already apart for portions of the year already (and for some of it I am not even in the country). </p>
<p>So what if she has extended “visits” with me for parts of the year & I with her … that has nothing to do with the legal aspects of the matter.</p>
<p>You do NOT have to be a resident of Alabama to receive some of their VERY generous merit scholarships for high achieving students. Perhaps Mom2 will weigh in on the qualifications. NMF is National Merit Finalist…if your daughter attains that she would get more aid and there are also other schools that offer full or partial tuition awards to NMF.</p>
<p>No need to move (or game the system) if your daughter qualifies for the 'Bama awards. They are guaranteed scholarships based on stats.</p>
<p>mymail…As others have pointed out, you (and your daughter) would be better served by spending your time and energy researching merit scholarship opportunities instead of this gamesmanship to attempt to increase need based aid.</p>
<p>BTW…Depending on which schools your D is interested in, the “gains” in need based aid you might realize will often be largely in the form of loans offered or grants. Given the sketchy nature of state budgets these days, grants are much more susceptible to being changed than merit scholarships would be. And given that you’re a financially smart and savvy individual…do you really want to burden yourselves and your child with unnecessary student loans? Probably not…which means you’d be paying those expenses out of pocket anyway.</p>
<p>NMF (as referred to earlier) is National Merit Finalist. If your D scored high enough on her PSAT during her junior year, she could qualify for Semi-Finalist status and that (if she follows up on all the required items to make Finalist) would open up a number of high dollar merit scholarships (many of them automatic…not competitive) including a full ride to U of Alabama.</p>
<p>Do you even know what universities your D is interested in attending?</p>
<p>*Quote:
Does your daughter have really high stats? If so, she could get a FULL scholarship at U of Alabama. </p>
<p>=============
Would it be helpful to go ahead & move to Alabama for her senior year? (looking at Gulf Shores & Orange Beach … as well as Florida)</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Bama has scholarships for OOS kids too…although instate kids have easier req’ts. </p>
<p>I doubt your D would like being uprooted for her senior year of high school. You sound rather insensitive.</p>
<p>Your friends just may not have a kid with your dd’s grades. Really, an A in every class is quite an accomplishment. There are absolutely merit scholarships for kids like that and they are way more generous than financial aid at state schools. </p>
<p>Your daughter can qualify for Natl Merit status by her scores on this year’s PSAT. It will be next month. Most guidance counselors will tell you not to prepare for it because it’s just practice for the SAT but the truth is that there are schools that give scholarship $ just based on those PSAT scores. Have her take a practice test and have her study NOW. That will be a huge help. Make sure her school offers it.</p>
<p>The simple truth is that your child will have spent the previous year living with you both. In those cases, the parent who provided the most support has to fill out the FAFSA. Financial aid offices generally consider that to be the parent with the most income. So you run the risk that they will want you to fill out the FAFSA and it would be worse to have that income with 2 people rather than 3. </p>
<p>There is generally less and less need-based money. (That’s why so many poor and lower middle-class kids drop out of college-- because they can’t afford it and can’t get enough need-based aid.) Everyone who fills out a FAFSA can get a loan no matter what the income level. In general, the only need-based money out there is Pell Grant and that is usually only a few thousand dollars a year. Schools usually don’t give much need money-- that is reserved for the very poorest of the students (which will probably be someone with a larger family size than your spouse and dd) but they usually have some merit money for top students. Frankly, even without merit money, your daughter can probably earn the $2K typical Pell Grant in a summer job. Telling her she needs to do that will do far more for the kind of person you raise than getting a separation from her mom for financial aid purposes. Remember that you’re raising a girl who may identify with her mother. Those kinds of things can undermine the way she looks at marriage and men, whether you realize it or not.</p>