Poor nontraditional student filling out FAFSA, need help on one question

Paying for College
1

I’m in my late 20’s and until this last year I was stuck in a kind of bad living situation, unemployed and living with my parents. Last year I decided I needed to get out of this situation and settled on going back to school as a way to start fresh, but my parents were not supportive of the idea. (They are in a religion that discourages higher education.) Tensions were getting high, and they kind of kicked me out, but set aside money to help pay rent and utilities for a few months.

So for the past few months I’ve been scraping by on that, food stamps, and very little money that I make working odd freelance jobs. I’m filling out FAFSA, and came to the question about “Money received or paid on your behalf” and am not sure exactly how to figure this.

Essentially my parents just set aside a lump sum of money to cover rent for a few months. This support is only temporary, and I will not continue to receive any support from them for school. Altogether in the 2015 year, a bit less than $3500 from this lump sum went towards rent and utilities. Is this a small enough amount that I don’t have to worry about it adversely affecting my ability to qualify for aid? Would it be honest to consider the money that they made available to me as a one-time gift rather than “support”, and not include it under “Money received or paid on your behalf”?

I really appreciate any advice you guys can offer in helping me through this.

2

You definitely don’t want to have it count twice, so put it in only one place. As you are not a dependent of your parents, I don’t think this would be ‘support’. But you can call and get help with this question to make sure you put it down correctly - call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243) from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday. http://www.finaid.org/fafsa/help.phtml. Good luck to you -

3

If your parents gave you the money, this is money received or paid on your behalf, which you are to report on the FAFSA. From the FSA Handbook: Money received (45 only). The student reports any cash support he received… Cash support includes money and gifts and housing, food, clothing, car payments or expenses, medical and dental care, college costs, and money paid to someone else or paid for on his behalf. For example, if a friend or relative pays his electric bill or part of his rent, he must report the amount as untaxed income. If he is living with a friend who pays the rent and the student’s name is on the lease, the rent paid on his behalf counts as cash support because he is responsible for payments that his friend is making.

It may not affect your aid, but that really depends on your other financial info. Even if it’s a gift, money that you receive must be reported on the FAFSA.