<p>I am thinking ahead to this fall when S goes away to college. When I fill out the application for free/reduced price lunch for my younger kids I believe I still count my college student as a family member. Anyone know for sure if this is correct? He will be living on-campus at a private school in another state.</p>
<p>Assuming S counts as a family member, does any of his college financial aid count as "income" to him? Merit scholarship from the school? Need based grant from school? Pell and SEOG? Federal Work/Study? </p>
<p>I have searched the web and it looks like I do count him as a family member, but I haven't been able to find anything about these particular income sources.</p>
<p>For tax purposes grants and scholarships used to pay for qualified education expenses (basically tuition, fees, required books) are not taxable income to the student. Grants (including need based ones like pell and SEOG) and scholarships used to pay for non qualified expenses (such as room and board) are taxable income. WS is taxable income. Whether any tax is actually owed will depend on the student’s total income (whether is is more than the standard deduction).</p>
<p>I understand work/study is taxable income, but it is not counted as income on the FAFSA. Shouldn’t this federal program exclude it too? Its not like we can use that money to feed our other kids. Does the FAFSA count the room & board portion of his aid as income too? Ouch.</p>
No, FAFSA doesn’t. The taxable incomne has to be reported as part of the AGI. But there is another question that asks for any scholarships/grants/WS that was included in the student AGI. That is deducted from the AGI in the EFC formula.</p>
<p>I have no idea how the means tested benefits programs would treat this. On the one hand you would expect it to be not used as part of the family income. On the other hand - well, it’s the govt - does the left hand know what the right hand is doing?</p>