<p>Hi. My household situation is a little complicated, and I'd really appreciate any help sorting it out.</p>
<p>I currently live with my father, mother, and "step-mother," as well as two brothers. My father and mother are legally married in the US, and had me and one of my brothers. However, we also live with my "step-mother" (in quotations because she's not actually married to my dad) and my half-brother.</p>
<p>Combined, my mother and father make around 65k/year, but with my step-mother that bumps up to around 85-90k. I don't know how to go about this on the FAFSA (and on college applications in general)-- do I include her, or leave her out, because she won't be helping to pay for my college education? And if I leave her out, should I leave out my half-brother as well? Should I only consider my mom, dad, and full brother as my "household"?</p>
<p>Well, I have known a family with near same configuration but they did not call It polygamist–advise you don’t either!</p>
<p>So for aid, it is likely simpler than you think. All this stuff about who lives where and who pays doesn’t matter. On all college applications you use legal and tax info. So for applications you list your mother and father only. Now for aid, who files taxes of your mother and father? Do your mother and father file joint return? If so, then simple, take the info from the tax return and use it on fafsa. How many dependents are claimed? Is there child support paid or recd? Your ‘stepmother’ does not have a legal relationship with you so she is not part of this process.</p>
<p>BrownParent. The tax filing status doesn’t matter. </p>
<p>This student lives with both her mom and dad…so both would be put on the FAFSA. The other adult in her household is not a family member. </p>
<p>I’m going to guess on the step brother…if the dad is providing more than half of his support, then I would guess this child would be listed as a sibling. </p>
<p>I forgot to mention, but my half-brother is also going to college the same year as I am. So would that help me out in the realm of financial aid, since I wouldn’t be listing my step-mom as a family member (and my dad is helping to pay for him too)?</p>
<p>But otherwise, I guess it <em>is</em> simpler than I originally thought, I just wanted clarification as to what constitutes a “household.” Thanks again!</p>
<p>When it comes to your half bother, on his FAFSA he will have to include his mother’s income as well as his/your father’s income because dad and his are unmarried and living together.</p>
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<p>Just like you when it comes to his mother, any monies paid by your mother on his behalf (to support the household) must be included on the FAFSA </p>
<p>I see from one of your other posts that you are half - Filipino; you may want to consider the Gates Millennium Scholarship program (and possibly also Questbridge since your parents earn 65k or less.</p>
<p>while OP should definitely apply for questbridge and Gates, please be reminded that OP must be pell grant eligible for Gates. With parents making 65k, it is possible that she is not going to be Pell grant eligible.</p>
<p>but it is not that simple (which is the crux of OP’s question); for bother and sister to be counted as part of each other’s household, 'stepmom’s contribution to the household must be included on both FAFSA (because “stepmom” is contributing to the running of the household).</p>
<p>For op, it would be 65K for Op + Brother + portion of support stepmom is paying</p>
<p>For bother for 2 in college it would be his mom’s income + dad income + monies paid by Op’s mom because she is paying to support household.</p>
<p>I disagree that all the adults contributing to the household must be included. If a student lived with his parents and grandparents, you wouldn’t count all the income even if all 4 people worked and contributed to the household. Gramma may pay the electric bill but it is higher because there are more people in the house. Is she really paying the student’s portion? If the parents rented a home with another family and split the bills, you wouldn’t count the income of the other family. That is not money paid to the student or on behalf of the student. If the grandparents gave the parents(living in a different home) the money for the electric bill, that would not be considered income to the parents on FAFSA or money paid on behalf of the student, even though the student used some of the electricity.</p>
<p>I think the OP has a straight forward situation (mother, father, one sibling going to college too). The sibling has a more complicated situation as he lives with unmarried parents, and I’ll guess is a dependent of his mother so that she can claim head of household, although he lives with his father 365 days per year and his father’s income is going to have to be separated out of a married tax return for FAFSA.</p>
<p>Twoinanddone, I don’t believe that is correct. It’s my understanding that if your grandparents are living in the home and contributing to household expenses, that they ARE counted, at least in the CSS profile. OP is applying to profile schools, so I’m pretty sure that you are required to disclose ALL household income. In fact, as I recall, it even asks about people outside of your home who might contribute to the support of the family. I think that all of the household income will need to be disclosed, but with two college students being supported by Dad, there will be some credit given to both students in FA calculations. I could be wrong, but that’s my recollection.</p>
<p>OP asked about FAFSA. FAFSA asks about income and defines who the family members are who are to be included. FAFSA doesn’t ask how much you pay for rent, so it could be $1 or $1000. The OP’s mother and father are supporting OP; the other woman and father are supporting the sibling.</p>
<p>I think CSS schools can ask anything they want, and consider it in any way they want because that’s for their own money, not federal money.</p>
<p>Yes, OP asked about FAFSA and college apps, in general. It was clarified in a PM that she is applying to some profile schools. I can’t remember the specifics of FAFSA vs. CSS, but I’m pretty sure she’s going to have to declare all of the household income. I suggested that she might call a similar school that she isn’t currently planning to apply to, explain her situation to the FA office, and see what their advice might be. I just don’t know if any of us know how to advise her as well as a college would. </p>
<p>Honestly, I don’t think her situation will be the first of its kind for the schools she’s applying to. Pretty sure they’ve “heard it all”, though I understand the hesitancy some might feel in advising her to disclose the situation in a letter. However, having had to bare our own insane story to FA officers, I felt like giving them a clear understanding of our situation gave us a better FA outcome. Of course, everyone told my DS not to disclose his LD and he disclosed it in every way imaginable. I don’t feel like that hurt him, either, but who’s to say. If a school would discriminate against a student for parental decisions, OP would probably have bigger problems there than FA. Just my opinion. I think her situation is different than it would be if only FAFSA were a factor.</p>
<p>How fin aid officers are going to work through all of that, I have no idea. There are a number of people who are living on the largesse of family members in ways that are difficult to figure out what the dollar amount of support is. My DH was in that situation many years ago. Lived with grandparents. Mom worked for grandparents in some made up job and was given so much a month which she did declare as income and pay taxes, etc on, but she did not make enough to make ends meet much less pay for college. Grandparents made up the gap, and they lived quite well. DH got full costs met through fin aid for college since his mother’s income was so terribly low and he and his mother qualified for all kinds of low income programs and benefits. </p>
<p>The person in the house hold is NOT the OP’s step mother. She is of no relationship to the OP, but is treated as anyone who might be living with the family, a cousin, a friend of the the family, whatever. Her child is a half brother, and, yes, is part of the house hold, as the OP’s father’s son. </p>
<p>The problem is not that the family is polygamist, but that the finances may all be enmeshed and it may be very difficult to attribute who is paying what towards the household expenses. </p>
<p>I don’t know how I would begin to advise anyone on how to fill out the forms in such situations. Perhaps Kelsmom or anyone who is a financial aid officer can chime in .</p>