<p>I'm not sure if this has come up before,
but I recently realized that my mother (as my parents are divorced and I filed my mom's information as she's my custodial parent on the FAFSA) will not be receiving a significant portion of her total income next year (09-10) as I will be 18 and thus my father will no longer pay child support for me.
I have two other siblings, and thus my mom will be no longer receiving one third of her child support income.
Will the colleges account for this once I matriculate and receive my official FA package? I'm just worried that this skews my EFC since my mom is essentially a homemaker and thus her income is mostly alimony and child support when it comes to taxes.
Thanks!</p>
<p>You’ll need to contact the college to see if they take this into account in the coming year. FAFSA is generally based on prior year’s earnings since there is an assumption that some of that will be saved for college.</p>
<p>You will have to report the child support received in 2008 on FAFSA. Then contact the school and explain the situation. They may be able to make an adjustment to reflect that this income will be going away. Loss of income and benefits is one of the reasons they are allowed to make adjustments but this is completely at the discretion of the financial aid offiecer at each school.</p>
<p>Perhaps the non-custodial parent would be willing to put (at least a portion of) the child support that he/she is no longer required to pay into college expenses. Worth asking.</p>
<p>In many states, child support can continue past the age of 18 (until the max age of 23) as long as the child continues his/her education full-time (without any break). However, if you take a year/semester off, for example, at any point, then the child support payments would stop. I believe the parent providing support can petition to have proof shown that you are attending college, if there is any question about continued payments. </p>
<p>I am not sure if this is true in all states. And, it could also be how the custody/child support arrangement was set up. I am not a lawyer, but I would suggest that your mother look into this if your father is not willing to contribute without being “forced to” by a child support order.</p>
<p>Our school policy is to count the prior year’s child support even if it will not continue into current year.</p>
<p>Child support in most cases stops when the offspring reach HS graduation or age 18. I’m glad if this is changing in some states, as is certainly an unrealistic picture of both parental obligation and the most expensive time in raising kids. Back in the day I got my divorce, I was looked at as if nuts because I wanted college addressed in the divorce settlement. </p>
<p>Regardless, yes, child support makes the income look higher than it will really be on the FAFSA. As most schools have a supplemental form, you can include that information when you fill that out. I seem to remember some of those forms asking something about when child support stopped, as this is such common practice.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies!
My parents are by no means on bad terms, but I am still unsure of what will happen to my dad’s child support payments for me once I graduate. The assumption is that it will go directly to me for living expenses, but that’s just my personal speculation.
As you guys mentioned, I’ll most likely contact the FinAid officer once I enroll (wherever that may be) and figure it out then.
As for now I’ll just have to wait until I figure out where I’m going I suppose. Thanks for all the help!</p>
<p>if you go to school, child support doesn’t stop until 22. (in NY)</p>
<p>The child support thing is another area of FAFSA that needs addressed by Congress or whoever decides what to count.
In 2008, we got about $7200 in child support for my stepdaughter. In 2009, it will end on graduation day in June. So for 2009, we’ll get about $3000. This is money that we know will be gone and unlike a job where you can get another one, will not be coming back. Yet this $3000 will be counting against the 2010-2011 school year. The logic of using income that ceases in mid 2009 to factor into college payments in 2011, 2 full years later escapes me. I’ve seen stated many times that the college assumes that you will save some if for use, even though they know the income stream is gone. Fine, that’s why FAFSA looks at parental assets (savings). Counting it as income seems really out of whack.</p>