<p>Totally new to this stuff. Whose income/assets will they look at for aid? All four parents, or the ones the student lives with (and can a kid change residences to improve his chance of receiving aid?), or the bio parents? </p>
<p>What if bio mom and dad are relatively low income (a teacher and an artist) while steps- are relative high income (an engineer and a lawyer), but steps- don't want to be paying into the college fund?</p>
<p>Lots of people must have been through this before, any ideas?</p>
<p>For schools that are FAFSA only, your custodial parent and spouse only will be asked for income and assets (mom and stepdad, for example). For schools which use the Profile, EVERYONE's income and assets will be asked for. The custodial parent and spouse (e.g. mom and stepdad) will complete their info on the Profile, and the non-custodial parent (dad and step mom) will complete a non-custodial parent form.</p>
<p>Steps will be expected to contribute. Their income will count. Of course, no one can force them to cough up the money but the College Board looks at their info too.</p>
<p>If you apply to FAFSA only schools ONLY the custodial parent and spouse info is used to calculate financial aid. It's the PROFILE schools that look at everyone. The reality is that while steps may not be inclined to contribute to your college education, they DO contribute to the household expenses for the family. Remember..it's Expected FAMILY Contribution. Steps are part of your family...part of the income producers. They should be offsetting some of the costs your parent would have been paying if not married.</p>