<p>Hi Stef,</p>
<p>Yes, you know off the bat that IM schols will want the income assets of both parents and stepparents. First and foremost they will consider the income/assets of the natural parents as far as financial aid.</p>
<p>There is really no hard and fast rule for looking at stepparents. some schools will only look at the stepparent to the extent that the natural parent is "benefitting" from the marriage. </p>
<p>I would suggest running the numbers through a FA calculator to see how every thing pans out. I beleive that there are going to be 2 separate sets of EFC's one from each set of parents. Overall, you can ask the FA office how they look at stepparents and contributing to the education.</p>