I’m a single parent and my son just got accepted to college in another state beginning this fall. Because I have a low income status, he has been given financial aid - thankfully. His father (we are divorced) lives abroad and is not a custodial parent. Going forward, I am really concerned if he’ll get financial aid. I have a partner and we’d like to get married, but while he doesn’t make a huge salary, once our incomes are combined & submitted to FAFSA, I fear he’ll get stuck paying for my son’s education - and I don’t want that burden to be put on him because it is my son, my son will technically be an adult - and having put his now adult children through college in the past, he shouldn’t have that responsibility in his late 50’s. Has anyone here delayed re-marrying because of a child in college? I don’t know what the threshold for income is - but it is worrying to me. Any help or experiences to relay would be a big help.
Any chance you would be willing to wait a while? If you can wait until 2017, you should be fine.
The 2017-2018 FAFSA and Profile forms will use 2015 tax information. That will be yoir son’s sophomore year. The 2018-2019 form will use the 2016 info. That will be your sons junior year.
The 2019-2020 form will use the 2017 tax info. This form can be filed in the fall of your son’s junior year in college.
Get married sometime after that.
Adding…does your son’s college meet full need?
You might want to run a net price calculator like you are married and include your SO’s income and assets now. See how much difference there is in the net cost at your son’s school IF you were married now. That will give you an idea.
Compare the pretend net price to,your actual net price for the freshman year.
I’m not sure that it will be so easy as to just wait to get married. If you fill out FAFSA in 2017 and you are married, will it not ask for current marital status, current assets? Will it not then ask for the income tax info for both parties from 2015?
Currently, if you change status (get married or get divorced) you have to do the extra work of combining income or separating income if a joint return was filed. If a student gets married and changes status, he/she doesn’t have to keep using the parents’ income from the prior year but can use his/hers income and the new spouse’s income from the prior year.
I don’t know how the new fafsa forms will read or what they will ask for as far as current marital status and prior prior income.
I’d wait until his senior year of college to get married.
You don’t have to,wait until his senior year. You can get married after you file the FAFSA and Profile for his senior year. Thes will be available for filing in October of his JUNIOR year in college. Get married after that filing.
That way, you will never be married for any tax return year used for,your son’s financial aid forms.
Some schools have forms for non-custodial parents…does he need a CSS Profile?
What kinds of aid did your son receive at UIUC? Did he get need based grants as an OOS student? Or did he get merit aid?
I just wanted to say congrats to OP for her impending nuptials, and to her son for getting into a great school that has provided sufficient financial aid.
Many schools financial aid officers will be helpful if you explain the situation to them. They appreciate the families who don’t create an adversarial relationship with them, but instead want to see the FA office as partners who share the same goal - making the college affordable for the student.
How does the OP’s fiancé feel about the idea of postponing a wedding?
Are you getting Pell? institutional aid? merit/scholarship. It is certain that if you marry you will be dealing with combined income for the EFC calculation. How much will it effect you we can’t say since we don’t know your numbers. It is a personal decision of you and husband-to-be who pays what, the schools doesn’t care. They can’t give you a Pell if you don’t qualify under federal guidelines. If it is institutional aid, the income will affect the formula and the aid most certainly. You can pay all the difference yourself, they won’t be asking who is doing the paying. If it is merit aid/scholarship then it may not be affected.
Did you ever run a NPC for the school and if so was the aid you received similar to the estimate? I have to add I am very surprised UIUC giving need-based aid to OOSer. Merit yes.
That’s what the “for richer or poorer” vows means.
Why not run the school’s NPC to estimate what the impact will be.