<p>Has something changed on those forms? As I recall, there were spots for two parents to indicate their incomes…not three.</p>
<p>It’s not an issue of the half brother’s mother’s income that has to be reported. SHE does not even half to be reported on the forms. It’s that her support to her household which would be unearned income in category that is of issue.</p>
<p>It would make it very easy, if a person joined the household and pays rent. That’s rental income But if that person is living with a family, and instead of formally paying rent, say s/he pays the electric bill and buys most of the groceries. Say on a regular and consistent basis, there is money from that person’s income/assets that are going towards the support of the household and the student. That’s where that gray area comes into play. </p>
<p>These situations occur a lot. What if you charge rent and other expenses from your older child who’s living at home while your younger one is going to college? A situation we were in for a few years. For us, it was a not an issue since we don’t qualify for financial aid. But we did get a check from DS1 every month while he was living with us for a couple of years. Frankly what he used in utilitiy costs, food, amenities that we subsidized, probably made it close to a wash. But the reality of the situation was that he was paying room/board to us each month via check clearly so marked. He was certainly not a dependent as he was not of age and was making enough that he clearly was supporting himself, and he was paying US money. But we could have also, not had him pay so clearly and had him pitch in here and there, for instance.</p>
<p>I have a friend whose daughter has a cousin and friends staying at her house. They’ve been there for several years ,and they basically help out with expenses sporadically when they can. Cousin A babysits a lot, and drives the kids around and throws money in the pot every so often. One pays for the internet and cable, because he wants it , but then everyone partakes, and picks up groceries and the tab for things. My friend has been harping on her DD to get some formal agreements and payments, but come to think of it, it might be beneficial this way as they don’t have to declare what the get as rent as they would if there were such a documented stream of regular payments. Figuring out who is paying what and benefitting what would require a forensic accountant and personal judgment. They don’t even know themselves who is paying what. They just make it work.</p>
<p>Hi guys,</p>
<p>I did ask for FAFSA, but it’s true that I’ll need to fill out the CSS Profile as well. Basically, I know that CSS requires full disclosure, so I wasn’t really worried about that. It’s only the FAFSA that I’m stumped on, because as someone pointed out, there’s only two spots for parental income so any other income could potentially be disregarded and there’s that huge gray area that everyone is talking about. I’m mostly concerned with looking like I’m lying to get more aid if the information from CSS and FAFSA don’t line up because of my step-mom’s income.</p>
<p>Calling a school and asking actually sounds like a really solid idea, because the information I’m getting from this thread is pretty conflicting. I did learn a lot of stuff, though, which helped a LOT. So thanks again to all of you!</p>
<p>I wonder how the college students of the Brown family from the * Sister Wives * TV show fame complete their financial aid forms? </p>
<p>Adalayde, your half brother’s mother does not show up on the FAFSA form, but if she is paying “rent” to live there or any money she is contributing to the house hold, like paying the electric bill should show up as unearned income for your father (or mother). It would be like having any boarder in the house paying expenses. Her relationship to you, your father is irrelevant unless she is legally your mother or stepmother. </p>
<p>It makes it easy, if she were paying regular rent , since the consistency of the payments would be easy to see and add up. As I said earlier, my oldest who is 30 moved back home, and he paid us rent every month. Very easy to see on our bank statement as that check was given to us within a day or so of the first of the month, and anyone looking at our accounts could see that as clear as anything. That he probably consumed at least half of what he gave us in term of food, utilities, etc, not so evident. If we had not had a structured arrangement and he sporadically bought groceries or ran errands or paid for things, tracking what he contributed would be much more difficult. I wouldn 't remember more than a year later that he picked up shoes for his brother or did some grocery shopping for us, for example. There is a gray area in all of this, as you can see. </p>