<p>Ok i have a question... im trying to start school but i have problem... my dad makes way to much money to get any kind of help from the government. He wont help me pay for school but my mom and him file taxes separately. They are still married but she claims me on her taxes he doesnt. Can i use her income and not his since they filed separately and she claimed me???</p>
<p>No, because they are married, you will need to report your household income, which will include your father. If your parents are not willing to pay for school, you need to look at schools where you won’t need their help.</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>The above is correct. Tax filing status has nothing to do with whose income is counted for FA. Your entire household income and assets will be counted. No way around that. The fact that your father won’t help won’t be taken into account either.</p>
<p>I knew that the fact that my dad wouldnt help didnt matter Thanks for that…</p>
<p>You may find that you have to work part or full time, and attend school as you can afford a class at a time. I’m sorry. Our government should be more willing to help tax paying citizens. Good luck.</p>
<p>What are your test scores and GPA?</p>
<p>What is your major?</p>
<p>Your parents are married, but file taxes as “married filing separately”. That will show that they’re still married. </p>
<p>That said, will your MOM help you pay for college? If so, then “indirectly” if your mom helps YOU, then would your dad be helping support your mom? Or, do they keep all money separate and each pays 50/50 for everything? Do they split the mortgage and other bills totally in half…or does your dad pay for more things because he earns more?</p>
<p>If your dad is paying for things for your mom, then your mom may be able to help you with college. Kind of a “rob Peter to pay Paul” situation. Your mom helps you, but then your dad is helping your mom. </p>
<p>Has your dad said WHY he won’t help pay for college?</p>
<p>Teachandmom, what?! Our government (meaning tax dollars out of my wallet) should do more to help a father that makes good money but either did not save or just refuses to help? Sorry, no. The help should be for those who truly need it. </p>
<p>Please get your hand out of my wallet.</p>
<p>Dude get off my thread you dont know anything about my family. We have quite a few people in our house and two of them small childern and he pays all the bills and makes sure we have a roof over our heads and a car to get us back and forth to work. So its not the fact that he refuses… he CANT help. My mom is willing to help me but she doesnt know how to go about doing it. And everyone has to pay taxes regardless … so even if they didn’t help people with parents “that refuses” to help they would find another bills on something to raise taxes on so more money comming out of your pocket…no ALL of our pockets is inevitable! So take a step down from your pedestal cuz you shouldnt be that high.</p>
<p>Djmqu2012,
You’re using totally inappropriate language and tone. That’s not the way we communicate on CC. If you come here asking for assistance, be polite. And you need to read posts more carefully: Iron Maiden wasn’t replying to you, but to teachandmom, whose post suggested the government should contribute to every taxpayer’s education. And YOU’RE the one who posted “my dad makes way to much money to get any kind of help from the government. He wont help me pay for school”–so it was perfectly reasonable for the other posters to assume your family could afford to help with college but was refusing to do so. And with “quite a few” people in your house, it sounds as if your family has made choices about how to allocate its resources, choices that are perfectly their right, but which don’t figure in financial aid calculations.</p>
<p>If your family won’t qualify for financial aid (and have you run any Net Price Calculators to see if this is actually the case?) but can’t or won’t help pay for your education, you’ll have to do what many others do–start at a community college, work, and take classes as you can afford them. With a better attitude and more attention to detail, you’ll do fine.</p>
<p>Are you starting college NOW. College starts VERY soon for the fall term. I’m surprised you didn’t reconcile these financials issue long ago…like when you got your acceptance!</p>
<p>Having said that…did your family file a FAFSA? If so, you are able to take a $5500 Direct Loan in your name. If they didn’t file and submit a FAFSA yet…the 2013-2014 one…that needs to be done ASAP, and submitted to your college. </p>
<p>Another question…if you did file the FAFSA, and submitted it to your college, did you receive any need based financial aid award from the school? If so, what is your shortfall?</p>
<p>If this is a four year college and you cannot reconcile the finances before,the term starts, see if you can defer your enrollment either a term or the full year to give yourself time to figure out how the college bills will be paid.</p>
<p>If this is a question about college in FUTURE years…you would file the FAFSA and any other required financial aid application submissions to the schools you apply to. Need based aid is determined largely by FAMILY income…so your mom and dad’s total income would be considered. Their tax filing status doesn’t mean anything when it comes to college financial aid.</p>
<p>Another thing to remember is that there isn’t much aid from the government anyway.</p>
<p>Everyone, regardless of income, can get federal Direct loans. Federal Direct loans are loaned to the student. You can borrow up to $5,500 for your first year, $6,500 for your second year, and $7,500 for subsequent years after that - for a maximum limit of $31,000. If you are low-income than some of that amount may be subsidized - which means the government pays the interest while you are enrolled in school - but it doesn’t make a huge difference in the amout that you owe.</p>
<p>Most parents can also qualify for Parent PLUS loans. These are loans guaranteed by the government at relatively low rates with better repayment schedules than private banks (usually). Parents can borrow up to the cost of attendance at the college. These are not based on income, but based on the parents’ creditworthiness; they’re much easier to get than private bank loans, though.</p>
<p>The only “government help” that you’d be missing out on are Federal Pell grants, which are typically given to families who make less than around $40,000 a year. Pell grant amounts range from ~$400-5,000.</p>
<p>Most aid comes directly from schools, and depending on your parents’ income you actually might be eligible for quite a bit. For example, some really top schools meet full need for families who make less than $60,000 or $80,000. I put my family’s info into some NPCs at top places (Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, etc.) because I was curious and found that these places would have awarded my family (which had an income of about $65,000 for a family of 5, just 1 in college, when I applied) around $40-50,000 in scholarship/grant money. The leftover costs were usually about $3,000 to $7,000 a year, which can be covered by a combination of out of pocket expenses, loans, outside scholarships, and work-study. Of course, you have to get IN to one of those schools. But as pointed out, there are less competitive schools with full merit scholarships.</p>
<p>You haven’t specifically said if your Dad lives with you and your mom or are they informally separated and that’s why they file taxes separately? If he is not living with you then for fafsa you would only report your mom’s income and assets. But support he is providing to your mom would have to be included.</p>
<p>If your parents aren’t separated, then wouldn’t they get a better tax break if they filed jointly? If so, then maybe the money that they save by filing together can go towards college. </p>
<p>You have to understand, your thread seems a bit odd if your parents are “a couple”. If they are, then it would seem strange to many of us that your “mom can help pay,” but your dad can’t. In most intact homes, those kinds of statements would sound odd. </p>
<p>Anyway, ask your mom how much she can pay each year towards college. It does sound like your dad is supporting your mom, so maybe a good bit of her income can go towards college costs. Talk to her. </p>
<p>If your parents “aren’t a couple” and they live at separate addresses, then you would use the parent’s income where you live. But, you’d have to include all that money that your dad contributes to that household’s support. </p>
<p>How many adults and children are in your household?</p>