<p>i currently live in my father's house with my sister and her 2 kids (my father moved out of state a decade or so ago). she recieves food stamps and a bit of money from the local social services office, however, the majority of it ($500) goes to my father to pay rent and i also send a small amount of money to him for that purpose. i help her out by taking care of the utilities (cable, gas and electric, and water), and by giving her some money to take care of clothing and other emergencies.</p>
<p>the question is given this situation, and even though i collect both ssi and ssdi, should i claim her on the fafsa as a dependent? </p>
<p>i intend to file the fafsa for the 2008-2009 year so a response is urgently requested because i don't know for sure what the answer to this one is.</p>
<p>I'm not a tax expert but I seriously doubt that you are supporting your sister. If you are not doing this than you cannot declare her as a dependent.</p>
<p>Do you declare your sister as a dependent when you file taxes? Do you provide more than 50% of the support for your sister? It doesn't sound like you do -- and if not, then she isn't a dependent.</p>
<p>FAFSA asks a series of yes/no questions to determine whether you're a dependent, or independent, for purposes of the financial aid process. One of these asks whether you "have dependents (other than your children or spouse) who live with you and who receive more than half of their support from you, now and through June 30, 2008? " If you answer "Yes" to that question, you'll be classified as an Independent student for purposes of financial aid. That doesn't appear to be your case, though.</p>
<p>FAFSA also asks for number of exemptions (and for this purpose, you use the number of exemptions you claimed on the IRS 1040, if you filed).</p>
<p>Finally, you might be thinking of the "household members" question. For this purpose, your sister and her two kids probably qualify as household members, which will help your potential aid somewhat.</p>
<p>ah...the voice of reason from sblake7! yes, i was thinking of the household members question on the fafsa when i first posted the question. perhaps i was not too clear.</p>
<p>i think that i will put them down on next year's fafsa and explain things to the financial aid folks at my school if they have any questions about it.</p>
<p>if they say that i have to remove them, so be it!! </p>
<p>however until i see otherwise, i will surf the web and see if i can find out some more information on it.</p>