<p>Hey-- my parents are divorced, and basically my whole trying to get the financial aid forms done has become a huge hassle.</p>
<p>Anyway, I was just wondering is it beneficial financially to just turn in one parents tax return information (custodial) rather than both? Or are both parents' tax forms required regardless? These are just some straighforward questions that if you could answer for me, would save me lots of headache and argument. Thx in advance.</p>
<p>if you are applying to schools that only require FAFSA then one parent income- other wise they will want to see everything.
<a href="http://www.finaid.org/questions/divorce.phtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.finaid.org/questions/divorce.phtml</a></p>
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Completing the FAFSA</p>
<p>If your parents are separated or divorced, the custodial parent is responsible for filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The custodial parent is the parent with whom you lived the most during the past 12 months. (The twelve month period is the twelve month period ending on the FAFSA application date, not the previous calendar year.) Note that this is not necessarily the same as the parent who has legal custody. If you did not live with one parent more than the other, the parent who provided you with the most financial support during the past twelve months should fill out the FAFSA. This is probably the parent who claimed you as a dependent on their tax return. If you have not received any support from either parent during the past 12 months, use the most recent calendar year for which you received some support from a parent.</p>
<p>Note, however, that any child support and/or alimony received from the non-custodial parent must be included on the FAFSA.
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<p>If custody and support are split pretty evenly, do an estimate to see if one parent's numbers work better than the other and use their numbers.</p>
<p>Most private schools will require the profile which may request the non-custodial parent to complete a form online. Several profile schools do not request this info but I found that 8/10 did.
Each school's policy differs. For example, Emory required 05 and 06 tax returns for both parents in additional to the Profile w/non custodial parent form and FAFSA.</p>
<p>FAFSA will not ask detailed finanacial info regarding non custodial parent.</p>
<p>Only about 350 private schools want the profile. This is a long way from most.</p>
<p>I was referring to the top 100 or so universities and colleges. I am unfamiliar with the majority of other colleges pertaining to their financial aid policies. Thank you for the correction.</p>