<p>I have a feeling this is wrong and against the rules, but I've been hearing some really odd advice from some of my friends and a few family members who are in college. I told them about my FAFSA situation and how my mother's income makes me ineligible for federal aid, despite the fact that's she's not willing to pay. Quite a few of them told me how they had someone else claim them on their taxes and used their information for the FAFSA, such as grandparents and aunts. </p>
<p>If I had heard this from one person, I probably wouldn't believe it. But I've been hearing this from various people. A little more info on this would be great.</p>
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I told them about my FAFSA situation and how my mother's income makes me ineligible for federal aid, despite the fact that's she's not willing to pay. Quite a few of them told me how they had someone else claim them on their taxes and used their information for the FAFSA, such as grandparents and aunts.
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<p>"People" are setting you and themselves up for some serious fraud which could mean rescinding of your degree, jail and hefty fines.
The FAFSA requires information from your custodial parent.</p>
<p>It is not about who is simply filing you as a dependent on their taxes. The only way that you can report the income of your grandparents, aunts, etc is if these people are your legal guardians (usually because the parents are deceased).</p>
<p>Schools often want verification which means signed copies of 1040 forms and W-2s.
Schools also have legal access to tax records and can change FAFSA if they need to for it to be as accurate as possible.
Our FAFSA has been changed for instance & I didn't know it until I checked on line ( in our favor actually ;) )</p>
<p>Fraud, Fraud. I know. As tempted as I was, I'll continue the lovely policy called being honesty, despite how much it hurts me.</p>
<p>I know schools can check all the records or whatnot, though I doubt they'd ever change it in my favor. Ever. I'm going to be mad when I'm living in my studio apartment if none of these "people" get caught and are better off than me. It's plain unfair.</p>
<p>Majesa - stick to you honest choices. 30% of FAFSA's are automatically selected for verification - fraud on FAFSA can lead to all sorts of unpleasant consequences. Who claims you on their taxes is not relevant for FAFSA - we do not claim our son as a dependent but he is still a dependent for FAFSA. </p>
<p>It also sounds as if some tax fraud is going on if they are having aunts and grandparents claim them as dependents for tax purposes when they are not in fact their dependents. Personally I hope they all get audited by the IRS.</p>
<p>I actually know a person that is involved in exactly what you’re talking about. He is in his mid 20’s, his parents make well over 100,000 dollars a year and they support him fully, (i.e., giving him a place to live rent free, paying for all his food, gas money, insurance, etc). However, he applied for FAFSA and is receiving the maximum amount of money one can recieve. I was wondering how this could be. I’ve come to the conclusion that he lied on his FAFSA application and is frauding the system. Does anyone know the rules on this? If he is recieivng full aid of his parents (what I listed above) doesn’t that disqualify him from recieving financial aid? Won’t he have to be claimed by his parents (who make well over 100,000 a year and support him fully) thereby making him ineligible for the aid?</p>
<p>If he is aged 24 or over (or turning 24 by the end of this year) then he is automatically considered independent for FAFSA purposes and his parents income and assets are not reported. Even if they were reported on FAFSA they would be ignored as his age automatically makes him independent.</p>
<p>IRS dependency rules have little to do with FAFSA, so being claimed by his parents would not make him ineligible to file as an independent. But, he is supposed to report the value of cash support he received from others to his untaxed income…dependent students do not report parental support, but I believe that independent students do. This is the FAFSA instruction that applies:</p>
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<p>That doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t be Pell eligible (though it would seem difficult to have an EFC of 0). If he has no other income, he may have reported some untaxed support and still qualified.</p>
<p>Actually it is if he is 24 by the end of this year. My son turns 24 in August and he is independent for 2010-2011 FAFSA.</p>
<p>But I think you are right he would have to report assistance from parents. However it it might fall within protected income alloances and have little affect.</p>
<p>Agreed…unless these are court appointed guardians, the students are required to put the parent (and spouse) with whom they reside on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>Even if these friends are LIVING with these other folks, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if these folks are declaring them on their taxes even.</p>
<p>Mind your own business and deal with your own situation. If you turned your head each time you hear a story about how someone beat the system, you’ll get whiplash. First of all, a lot of kids lie. Many don’t tell all of the facts. Many dont have the story straight. Many have unusual circumstances. Unless you want to get a private detective to sniff out the story, it isn’t worth investigating.</p>
<p>I’ve heard of full scholarships to ivies, when they don’t give merit awards, athletic scholarships from schools that cannot give them, full rides at schools that don’t tend to give them, and more kids waitlisted at Harvard than they have wait list spots. If you believe everything you hear, you are naive. </p>
<p>Also, yes, of course you can lie on the forms. Yes, you can cheat. You can steal. You can be a criminal. There are plenty of them out there and many of them do get a way with it. Like shoplifting. There are folks who don’t pay for a lot of what they take out of the store. They take that risk, which anyone can take if they so choose. </p>
<p>FAFSA is a federal form so you are not just messing with the college. The federal government is notorious for going after those who cheat them out of a nickel, even if it costs millions to nail them. Not something I would want to chance.</p>
<p>I just noticed that this is a three year old thread!! Maybe it would be better to start a new one so folks give advice to the recent poster without info about the 3 year old posts being included.</p>
<p>So even though this guy recieves full support in every aspect of his life and has no job, he’s still elible for FAFSA just because he’s 24? That doesn’t make any sense. How does being 24 years old make him less dependent upon his parents? The guy is seriously a lazy sloth, makes no effort to have an income and I feel that he’s cheating the system by getting aid from the government when his parents pay for everything he has. I think there are tons of other people out there that truly do live on their own that genuinely need government help.</p>
<p>First…anyone can complete a FAFSA…it’s a financial aid application form but FAFSA doesn’t GIVE anyone a nickel. Money is disbursed by the colleges either in the form of federally funded aid or institutional aid…or both.</p>
<p>Why can he be considered “independent” for FAFSA purposes? Because those are the rules. That is the way it is. There IS a spot on the FAFSA for “money paid on behalf of the applicant”…where things like rent, utilities etc amounts should be listed if someone else is paying them.</p>
<p>But agreed with cpt…why is this YOUR concern? Be concerned about you own financial aid application form and forget everyone else. Often what you know about what other people is not the whole story…it’s only the part they choose to share with you.</p>
<p>And you dredged up a three year old thread to “discuss” this. I agree…not your business.</p>
<p>The government expects parents to support their undergrad kids that are under 24 and bases financial aid on that expectation by asking for and using the parent’s financial information. Once the “kid” reaches 24 the government does not expect parents to support them anymore so does not require parent financial info. There has to be a cut off somewhere or parents would be expected to still be supporting their kids in their 30s, 40s, 50s etc. The cut off the govt has selected is 24 which is reasonable considering most undergraduates start college at 18 or 19 and, if they finish in 4 years, will be done by the time they are 22 or 23. </p>
<p>Everyone (assuming they meet citizenship criteria etc) is eligible for FAFSA. Some will be considered dependents of their parents, others will not, all based on a strict set of criteria established by the government. Heck I’m eligible for FAFSA and I’m in my 50s. My mother would be eligible for FAFSA and she is in her 80s (well actually she wouldn’t because she is a non US citizen or resident but otherwise she would be). If your acquaintance is 24 or over he is independent for FAFSA so is doing nothing wrong. Stop worrying about his business and focus on your own business.</p>
<p>No one uses other relatives’ income on FAFSA anyway. It’s either parents’ and students’ income or a student is an independent and only uses his own. </p>
<p>And just having someone else claim you on your taxes does not change the situation.</p>