Married but living on my own. Fafsa help!

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi all: </p>

<p>I am married but my husband and I are no longer together since he walked out on me and moved in with someone else. We are not divorced or legally separated. I filed my taxes as "Married filing separately" and now am attempting to complete my Fafsa but it is asking for my spouse's income and won't let me proceed unless I put a figure into the box. </p>

<p>I don't know what to do and there is no option for married but living alone or something along that line.</p>

<p>Can anyone advise on how to handle this? I am transferring to University and cannot afford to pay the tuition. I really need this.</p>

<p>Please advise!!!</p>

2

<p>You need to indicate on FAFSA that you’re separated. It sounds like you’re indicating that you’re married.</p>

<p>*Can anyone advise on how to handle this? I am transferring to University and cannot afford to pay the tuition. I really need this.</p>

<p>*</p>

<p>Does the school that you’re transferring to “meet need.”</p>

3

<p>I can’t indicate that I am separated because I am not legally. We are separated physically but not legally.</p>

4

<p>FAFSA does not require that you be “legally separated”. Put down that you’re separated.</p>

5

<p>Do not file your FAFSA as married - you will not be allowed to update it. You are separated, and you should put that as your status.</p>

6

<p>Thank you guys for the responses. </p>

<p>“Do not file your FAFSA as married - you will not be allowed to update it. You are separated, and you should put that as your status.” </p>

<p>This is a problem because my previous Fafsa application already has my status as married and my taxes were filed as “Married filing separately”. Now I really am confused. They should understand that these things happen and cater for that in the system. I really don’t know how to proceed. :(</p>

7

<p>Do you mean your previous year’s FAFSA or a FAFSA that you already filed for 2012-13? If it’s the previous year, you should have no problem changing your marital status. Married filing separately is the correct tax method for separated individuals without dependents (if you had children, Head of Household would apply).</p>

8

<p>It doesn’t matter how you filed FAFSA last year. It doesn’t matter how you file your taxes.</p>

<p>So far, you haven’t submitted FAFSA for this year, right? At this point, you’re in process…right?</p>

<p>If so, then change your marital status to “separated” or however it’s worded. </p>

<p>Do not submit as married, you won’t be able to change it.</p>

<p>Since you’ve been stopped at the spouse info, it sounds like you haven’t submitted. So, go back and fix your marital status to separated.</p>

9

<p>Thanks for the advice. I think I will do as you all suggested. For those who asked, no I haven’t submitted the Fafsa yet so I am still ok in that regard. I guess I was somewhat scared because I don’t want to do anything that might be deemed illegal.</p>

10

<p>Don’t worry too much, people make errors on FAFSA all the time. They’re not going to convict you of anything. My best friend’s grandparents filed as his legal guardians and then found out they weren’t actually his legal guardians. Oops! No harm done though.</p>

11

<p>Thanks! :)</p>

12

<p>Do not file your FAFSA as married - you will not be allowed to update it.</p>

<p>While many errors are correctable on FAFSA, it looks like this one isn’t. So, don’t submit as married. </p>

<p>Kelsmom is an expert since she was FA officer at a university.</p>

13

<p>Your spouse broke your relationship when he left you. For FAFSA purposes, you are absolutely “separated.” Students are unable to update marital status after filing, and you don’t want to be expected to get financial information from someone who will most likely not be willing to provide it to you. Plus, he is not likely to give you any money for school, so you won’t want to file in such a way that there will be an expectation that any of his income or assets will be available for you to use.</p>

<p>Do not worry if the school asks you questions about the separation. It won’t be difficult for you to prove.</p>

<p>I am sorry for your situation. I hope that you are hanging in there okay.</p>

14

<p>Thank you guys for all the valuable info. You are all awesome!</p>

<p>Special thank you to kelsmom for the encouragement. I do appreciate it. :)</p>

15

<p>I am in the same situation and talked with both the FAFSA people and the colleges. You should mark “separated” on the FAFSA. The Profile will want non-custodial parent info if your kids are going to college.</p>

<p>You can have taxes filed “Married separately” and still have a FAFSA that says you are separated. It may be that you could also file taxes as Married filing jointly if your husband was in the house for part of the year and it is hard to divvy things up. Or, you could see if you can file as head of household, which is what the colleges advised me to do (though I ended up doing married filing jointly).</p>

<p>I will have to explain everything on paper to the colleges and on the Profile explanation section, because taxes and financial aid apps have different statuses for me, but they said that is fine.</p>

<p>The colleges told me to go down to the bank and split everything into separate accounts for me and my husband. They said the FAFSA reflects the situation on the very day it is filed, so that would help them see the picture.</p>

16

<p>You are allowed to split the bank accounts and other assets half-and-half for FAFSA reporting if they are held jointly.</p>