<p>Recently I was selected for verification. I provided the necessary documents, such as W-2 forms, transcripts for both me and my parent, and the worksheet. Under the worksheet (and my FAFSA) I answered that there were 4 people under my household in which 50% of my parent's income is used for support. A few days ago I received an e-mail telling me that an FAA had corrected my FAFSA, so I checked to see what their corrections were. They had changed my household size from 4 to 2, completely ignoring my sister (who is 27) and my grandmother. </p>
<p>As far as I know, my sister only works a part-time job and pays for no rent, utilities, food shopping, etc. I've been reading that grandparents are difficult to include in the household size, especially if they receive social security, which my grandmother does. Still, I put her because I know my mother does spend money on my grandmother because she has Parkinsons, also my grandmother doesn't live here the entire year, just about 6 months or so which is why I think my mom didn't claim her. I had no way of definitely knowing whether it's "50%" or not. Perhaps I should not have included her. But what about my sister? My mom did not claim my sister on her 2011 tax returns, even though she told me she regrets it because she probably could have but she wasn't sure if she was allowed to. My sister only made about 10-12k in 2011, definitely not enough to support herself, especially when she lives in my house for free, essentially. My mom pays for most things. I've read that exemptions don't necessarily have to reflect household size, so. </p>
<p>I'm going to head over to my college's financial aid office tomorrow but I was wondering how I can possibly prove that my sister receives over 50% of my mom's income in support, what kind of documentation could I expect to be asked for? I'm not sure how I can necessarily prove that. All my mom can do is estimate expenses but it's not like she can give documentation that says she pays for this, this, and this, unless it's a letter from her (which I'm not sure is okay?). How can I go about changing my household size to about 3 and proving that change, if need be. I'm not sure if it was a mistake on their part who knows. This is important because my EFC has been increased because of that household correction, which is a correction that is wrong and I'm not sure what the basis was for that change. Any quick help would be so appreciated!</p>
<p>If your sister makes $10-12k a year, it is very unlikely your mom provides more than 50% of her support. If your sister makes 12,000, your Mom would have to be supporting her to the tune of at least $12,001 in order to be providing more than half her support. </p>
<p>As for taxes - for your Mom to be able to claim your sister as a dependent as a qualifying relative, your sister would have to meet several criteria. One of them is the gross income test. To meet the gross income test, your sister would have to have made less than $3700 in 2011. If she made over $3700, your Mom could not have claimed her on her taxes. (she is not a qualifying child because she is over 24 - unless she is permanently disabled). She also would not be able to claim your Grandma because of the gross income test and because she does not live there all year.</p>
<p>From what you have said here, I think it is highly unlikely that either your grandma or sister will qualify as members of household for FAFSA purposes. You can ask the school what documentation you would need to provide. I would be quite surprised if you can convince them to add your sister back though.</p>
<p>If your mother could claim your sister and grandmother for 2011 taxes, then the school would likely consider then dependents, in fact, most certainly. If your already filed her return, she can amend it with a 1040x, but as Swimcatsmom has given the criteria for dependency, it does not appear that they qualify.</p>
<p>I have two grandmothers living with us and under our care, but they get too much in social security and pension to qualify as dependents.</p>
<p>For Grandma. the way it is usually done when several family members share the responsibility, and if she does meet IRS dependency critera if she were just being cared for by one person, is that everyone takes turns claiming her has a dependent. That is permitted.</p>
<p>Again, repeating Swimcatsmom’s advice, ask the school what they need for proof of dependency. My guess is that they have to be dependents on the tax return, but do verify this.</p>
<p>You probably are not going to be able to claim Gma or sister.</p>
<p>If Gma has SS income, then your mom would have to demonstrate that she’s paying more than HALF of what your Gma gets for SS. If Gma gets $12k per year from SS (an any other sources), then can your mom demonstrate that she is paying more than $6k per year for Gma? i doubt it…especially since Gma only lives with you 6 months a year. Where is she living the other 6 months? Is she living with one of her other children then? If so, then THEY are also contributing to her support. </p>
<p>If your sister is working part-time and earning $12k per year, the same issue applies.</p>
<p>Your mom would have a hard time showing that she’s spending $12k per year ($6k each) on Gma and sister. How much does your mom earn? If your mom has a modest income, then no one is going to believe that your mom is spending that much on Gma and sis because her money is really going to provide for you and her. </p>
<p>As for documentation, if your mom can give you receipts for Gma’s meds and other expenses that exceed $6k per year (unlikely if Gma is on medicare). Speaking of medicare, I think you have to also add that amount into Gma’s “earnings.” The same goes for sis. </p>
<p>It’s unlikely that Gma and sis will remain as being counted in your household.</p>
<p>Mom2 - How are you coming up with $6,000? If the sister has 12000 income and Mom supports her to the tune of 6,000 that would mean her total would be 18000 (12000 + 6000) and the 6,000 Mom is providing would be just 1/3 of that. In order to be providing > 50% of her support, I think Mom would have to prove she is providing more in support than the daughter - so $12000+ in support for the sister, not $6,000. (she doesn’t have to show she is providing half again what the sister earns but half her support).</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Very good point! I was dividing the $12k by 2…but you’re very right! It would be sis’s income + mom’s contribution divided by 2!</p>
<p>So, that even more so indicates that the mom can’t claim that she provides over 50% of support! The mom would have to have a substantial income in order to afford providing so much money to two other adults. </p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>Thank you both very much! It seems as though you guys are correct. I think my lack of understanding of numbers and this whole process might’ve made me jump to conclusions in terms of the whole " > 50%" rule. My mother’s AGI is about 34k and some change. Her and I divided it by 3, for me, her, and my sister, and it only came up to about 11k (pretty upset we’re only about 1k short, hah) or so. According to swimcatsmom my mom would have to pay more than 12k in order to show that she supports my sister more than she does herself (if I’m understanding everything correctly). I tried crunching numbers using the Support Test Form on FinAid.org and things weren’t adding up to the +12k swimcatsmom was saying needed to be proven, we kept being just shy of about a thousand or so in order to surpass my sister’s income. Though (hopefully one of you is familiar with the Support Test Form so I don’t sound crazy) I’m not sure what the form meant by “amount used for support” and “amount used for other purposes” for my sister, I wasn’t sure what numbers to put there seeing as how the form says they need to be equal to her income? Maybe I was doing something wrong because of this? I didn’t finish the full form but as we were doing it the “total cost of support for the year” for my sister wasn’t adding up to the 12k so I figured it was useless?</p>
<p>I guess I jumped the gun on this because I figured since my sister does not pay for any household expenses (rent, food, utilities, cable/internet, etc) that somehow this would have been a substantial amount of “support” for my sister to make a case for adding her into my household like I did for last year (then again, my mom claimed her for 2010, unlike for 2011, so). Thank you both for your input! You have been a great help!</p>
<p>e. Her and I divided it by 3, for me, her, and my sister, and it only came up to about 11k (pretty upset we’re only about 1k short, hah</p>
<p>It doesn’t work that way. you don’t just divide your mom’s income by 3.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Right. It was more of a guide really, we weren’t taking the number seriously. On the Support Test Form we added up all of the household expenses and then divided that number by all the persons in the household (like it told us), which came up to about 9-10k or so for “each person’s part of household expenses.”</p>
<p>My D worked at Starbucks her first year after college, and she earned less than your sister. She paid all of her own bills … rent, food, car insurance, gas … so I can tell you that $10,000 - $12,000 per year for a young person living at home rent-free will definitely not be considered as a member of mom’s household for FAFSA purposes. I worked as a finaid officer, and I would not have included your sister or grandma in the HH size. That said, it doesn’t make all that much difference in the EFC, anyway. What was the resulting change in EFC after verification?</p>
<p>kelsmom -</p>
<p>It wasn’t a drastic difference or anything. I attend college in NYC and so my tuition and fees are basically paid in full and I am given the remainder of the Pell that is unused for my own expenses such as books and transportation, etc. My EFC was adjusted to 0618, I think, so I would be receiving $815 in pocket Pell money rather than $1315~ had my sister been included in the HH. I’ve gotten used to receiving the full Pell for my first four semesters of college but seeing as how my mom did not claim my sister and grandmother for 2011 as she had done before this caused things to change, and the rules for this kind of stuff is always being adjusted yearly so. It’s definitely no biggie, but that extra cash really does come a long way for me throughout the semester for my expenses. I’m grateful and fortunate to be getting any aid, regardless. </p>
<p>Thank you for letting me know about your D, it seems I’m out of luck in this situation!</p>