<p>So I am an undergraduate sophomore and I am having some ridiculous financial aid difficulties. I have filed the past two years using my mom's financial information and it went fine. Since last year though, she got married and she and her new husband refuse to help me for the coming school year filling out the FAFSA which opens January 1st for the 2014-2015 school year. They have stated multiple times that they will not help and I am not sure what to do. My dad would fill out the financial aid information, but he illegally hasn't filed taxes for the past five years or so, so how would that work on the FAFSA, since the IRS wouldn't give him a letter of non-filing and my school will want to know why he hasn't filed taxes and why I can't provide his financial information. My counselor told me to just check that he had no income and isn't filing, but the previous university I attended told me that they needed proof that he didn't have to file taxes, which I can't provide, because he is supposed to be filing taxes, because he does have an income. It's a huge mess and all I want to do is be able to fill out my FAFSA so that I can get through school and move on with my life. Does anyone have in depth knowledge or suggestions of how to handle this?</p>
<p>Why won’t you mother fill out the forms? Does she know that is only used for your aid award and that no one can make her pay anything? And that you can’t get aid without it? Why would your mother do that to you?</p>
<p>I don’t know if they allow you to switch from one parent to another, maybe someone will know how that works. You have to establish your residence with him, I guess. But your Dad will likely have to show a tax return or the non-filing letter. Sound like you would get verified for switching parents.</p>
<p>My guess is that your mom does not want you to know about the income of her new husband. Perhaps it is too high to get any aid now. She stills needs to fill it out in order for you to get a Direct (Stafford) loan. </p>
<p>Do you have a plan if all your aid is gone because of the marriage? Your dad not filing taxes is not a subject I’ll touch.</p>
<p>Does your mom understand that filling FAFSA will not obligate her new husband to say for you but will force you to drop out of school and live in he’s basement - since employment opportunities for college drop outs isn’t the brightest in the foreseeable future - since if she doesn’tyou can’t have any financial aid ? did you squander her investment in you so far, dropping classes or getting D’s and F’s, partying instead of preparing for class, etc?</p>
<p>Here is the bottom line: without a completed FAFSA, you cannot get anything other than the Stafford Direct loans. Your stepfather may out and out refuse to fill out form or give out any financial information. You can explain that it doesn not mean he is obligated to give penny one, but it is a common problem that some parents refus to fill out FAFSA or give out any of their financials. IT’s a major stumbling block for a lot of students. So this is not an uncommon problem.</p>
<p>The other thing is that if he and your mother do fill out the FAFSA, their combined income and assets may be too much for you to get anything other than the Stafford loans. What have you been getting each year with just your mother’s info? The EFC will likely go up and you may no longer be entitled to any more aid. You may lose the interest subsidy of the Stafford. But you know you can complete the FAFSA yourself if your parent refuses to do so and still get the unsubsidized Stafford. That’ s all you would get, but that may be all you would get even if your parents filled out the loan.</p>
<p>You can ask you father if he would fill out a tax return, and if you spend more time with him, than with your mother in the year before filling out the form, you can use him as a custodial parent. The FAFSA for the 2014-15 school year only wants information for year 2013. So he would have to file the IRS form for just this year that is coming to an end. Now that could trigger questions from the IRS as to what he was doing in past years, which could be an issue for him. But if his income is so very low, or what he claims as income is so very low, maybe he did not owe taxes. But if you can get him to one of those tax completion things, and help him get started with getting his tax situation straightened out, it would be a good thing. </p>
<p>You can ask your mother to be removed from her taxes as a dependent and be placed on your dad’s taxes as such which may give him Head of Household status which could reduce any taxes or even give him a tax credit for this year, that is, if you father is not married as well. It would be nice to get your father out of the non tax filing quandrey he is now in.</p>
<p>With many parents, they won’t budge about filling out the FAFSA, and they do have a point if they absolutely do not want to release the info to others. IT’s their right, their privacy, their business. Can’t do anything about that. And as said above, it may not mean getting anymore money anyways if the combined income and assets put you over certain need threshholds.</p>
<p>A dependent student needs FAFSA with parent information to even get unsubsidized direct student loans. </p>
<p>I believe there is a way if the parents sign something saying they refuse to do FAFSA that enables the student to at least be eligible for the unsub loans. But I seem to remember Kelsmom posting that it was not as simple as that. Hopefully she might see this post and explain more.</p>
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If your Dad should be filing taxes and is not, then you will have problems doing FAFSA with his information.</p>
<p>From a recent Federal Student Aid (the authority) presentation, regarding the ability to borrow unsub loans if a dependent student submits a FAFSA without parent info:</p>
<p>A dependent student whose parents refuse to financially support him or her may be able to receive unsubsidized Stafford loans only
• Documentation required
Parents refuse to complete FAFSA
Parents do not, and will not, provide any financial support, including date support ended
If parents refuse to provide signed documentation you need 3rd party to document
Student statement not sufficient
Teacher, counselor, cleric, court document, etc</p>
<p>Refusal to support includes ALL support, even carrying the student on their health insurance. In my experience, the student would need the signed statements from the parent — if documentation from another source is acceptable, that generally means there is a greater issue at hand — and in such a case, it is more beneficial for the student to have a dependency override than just the ability to borrow unsub at a dependent student level. I say this because just a simple counselor statement saying the parents won’t help out is not going to be enough to document that the parents are refusing to assist in any way (including insurance, spending any time at home, etc), and there would be more at play if the reason was acceptable.</p>
<p>OP, have you gone to your financial aid office and asked to speak with an aid officer about your situation? I would suggest doing that as soon as possible. I am not sure if the counselor you mention is academic or financial aid. If it was a financial aid counselor who told you that, I think it is a good idea if you schedule an appointment to talk with someone a bit higher up in the office (associate director, if there is one). You need to get some real answers so that you can move forward with an understanding of what is going to happen.</p>
<p>OP, you can’t just choose which parent to have fill out the fafsa. You have to use the parent with whom you lived most in the 12 months preceding filing the fafsa. What are your living arrangements now? Do you live at or near your college or are you living with a parent and commuting to school? If living at school who do you live with during breaks/summer? Some schools can have a fafsa deadline in April for continuing students but that would still be too late to move in with your Dad now and have him be the custodial parent for fafsa unless you have already lived some with your Dad this year.</p>