^^^
no
@mom2collegekids At 30 hours a week I could make about $2160-2700. At 40 hours $2880-3600
Your EFC probably won’t go down…but her tax liability will if she claims you, I believe. One of the tax experts would need to answer that. Also, I don’t know enough about it…but maybe one of the tax folks here can explain if filing as head of household would help too.
So…you are saying she still has some asset someplace that is earning $1500 a year in interest, and she still has the business, and she still has the property. What was the capital gain on the 2013 return, or was it a loss?
To folks who might be more knowledgable…can this kid apply for reduced lunch now…and have it as the criteria along with AGI to be eligible for the simplified needs test? Or is it too late for her to do so!
I understand that CS was reduced when you turned 18, which is unfortunate, but I assume that a reasonable portion (ie, less than half, but not $0) of the $29k is intended to be for your benefit. Your mother has costs associated with you that exist regardless of whether you’re living in a dorm or at home, but it is not reasonable that no portion of the CS be contributed by your mother. It is child support, not alimony.
I might have missed it earlier in the thread, but are you on good terms with your father?
@thumper1 I believe it was a loss, we put 0 for it. And I am a guy, lol
@ixnaybob I know she should help me, but she won’t because she claims she doesn’t have enough money for it. And I’m not on good terms with my father
@IxnayBob
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understand that CS was reduced when you turned 18, which is unfortunate, but I assume that a reasonable portion (ie, less than half, but not $0) of the $29k is intended to be for your benefit. Your mother has costs associated with you that exist regardless of whether you're living in a dorm or at home, but it is not reasonable that no portion of the CS be contributed by your mother. It is child support, not alimony.
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That doesn’t make sense. **The CS has ENDED for this child, **so there is no CS dedicated for this child that the mom could dedicate towards college. the remaining CS is for younger kid(s)…not for THIS child. She isn’t using it for spousal support, she’s rightfully using it for younger kids support.
The student is in high school and his CS has already ended (in Dec). It is $0!!! It wasn’t “reduced” for this child, it was completely eliminated. It is $0
WHY are you assuming that some of that current CS is for this child’s benefit??? That makes NO sense since the obligation for CS for this child ended last month.
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Your mother has costs associated with you that exist regardless of whether you're living in a dorm or at home,
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Yes, she does…and she’s having to shoulder ALL OF IT, since the NCP dad was able to have CS end at 18. Sounds like she’s going to be struggling the next few months paying all for this child while he’s still in high school, while DAD paying nothing. DAD is the bad guy here. Any parent worth his salt would AT LEAST continue to pay thru graduation!!!
That said, this child needs to ask mom if he can have the money from taking the tuition tax credit.
@Mom2collegekids, settle down please. I did not interpret “yes, in fact child support got reduced (I don’t know how much) in December when I turned 18” to necessarily mean that CS for OP was stopped. That might well be the case, but in such a cockamamie divorce, anything is possible. You’ll note that OP didn’t say “cut in half” but says reduced and OP doesn’t know by how much.
My comments assumed that some ongoing, albeit reduced, CS was still coming in for OP’s benefit. Perhaps OP could clarify if any of the $29k/year is on OP’s behalf.
As I mentioned, I had not carefully read the entire thread. I might have missed something that would have made the situation more clear. For that matter, you might have made assumptions that might or might not be justified (eg, divorce settlements sometimes use tax treatment differences between spousal support and CS creatively, and the intent of payments does not always correspond to how they are characterized).
I don’t think that anything in my post warranted as energetic a response as you unloaded.
Hmmm…something isn’t right. Our EFC was a little lower but assets much higher. I do have a spreadsheet another parent on CC gave me, and I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me passing it on. PM me, and I’ll send it to you. It makes changes to your EFC in real time, so you can see exactly what is causing the changes up and down right as you type in each blank. It was a lightbulb going off for me!
I don’t know if child support for me was reduced or entirely stopped. The original $29k did go towards me (and my brother).
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.. I don't know if child support for me was reduced or entirely stopped. The original $29k did go towards me (and my brother).@IxnayBob
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Your child support has very likely stopped.
CS doesn’t often “cut in half” when one child ages-out, because there are certain costs that exist whether the CP is taking care of one child or two.
It’s not usual to see support situations such as:
3 kids = CS of 1500 a month
2 kids (same family) = 1200 a month <= this does NOT mean that the 3rd child is still getting support!
1 kid (same family) = 900 a month.
So, if your mom was getting $29k for two kids, then now that you’re 18 and the 2015 amount has been reduced. Now that only one child (your younger sibling) is a minor, the CS order may be something like $18k for one child.
@Rdtsmith
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Our EFC was a little lower but assets much higher.
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??
Your EFC is not lower than this student’s. This student’s EFC is $12,500. That is significantly LOWER than yours.
If you’re looking at the $29k figure that is being mentioned, that is the child support that the dad was paying the mom in 2014. That amount is being reduced in 2015 because this student is now 18.
Ok… so good news. My mom included her retirement funds when she was filling out her portion of the FAFSA and made a few minor errors. When retirement savings were taken out, our EFC was reduced to 9622. Still not perfect, but at least this number is manageable.
But EFC doesn’t not mean what you think it means. No schools guarantee to meet full need based on FAFSA!
When will your sibling start college?
@madison85 That’s true, but it will still help me out. I did the net price calculator UCSD and the number came out to around $9k, whereas with the previous info it was like $14k.
My brother would start college in 2018 but we’re not sure if he is going to go or not.
@jsies11 The UC’s wil meet FAFSA EFC for incomes under a certain level, which is why it’s crucial for you to ask your school about applying for free/reduced lunch ASAP.
If your EFC becomes $0, the parent contribution @ a UC would be ZERO. You’d still have an expected student contribution of fed. loans & summer earnings, but that should be manageable.
@lillianna330 We don’t qualify for free or reduced price lunch. Child support + alimony is about $42k a year and the cutoff is around $37k
@jsies11 Ahh I see. Well, you said you got an estimated net price of $9k for a UC? Did you mean before or after loans?
@lilliana330 Before loans
@jsies11 Good. You can use your fed. loans & work earnings to cover that. You get $5500 in loans for frosh year, leaving about $3500 in costs. At this point though, this only represents personal expenses + books, so you should be set to pay the university bill with the grants+loans they give you. Your summer earnings would cover your books + personal expenses for the year.
Of course, you could also try applying for small local scholarships. These would be helpful so that you don’t have to work as much during the summer. These would reduce the expected student contribution, in the sense that they wouldn’t expect you to take out loans. However, you’re still entitled to them, so you could still borrow. Thus…
Grants + federal loan + small local scholarships (big enough to “reduce” student contribution, small enough to not reduce grant aid) + summer earnings = entire UC cost of attendance 