<p>My mom is currently receiving welfare benefits (TANF and food stamps) under hers and my names. My father is employed full-time and makes about 29,000 (before taxes) a year.</p>
<p>My question is do I have to report the welfare income, little that it is? I'm worried I won't qualify for as much financial aid, like the Pell grant, if I report it. We've only been receiving benefits for about 6 months. Also, my mom probably won't file any taxes due to being unemployed. Can stuff like this still be checked on?</p>
<p>The income gets reported but if your mom qualifies for welfare, you will also qualify for a Pell grant. </p>
<p>You can use the calculators at <a href="http://www.finaid.org%5B/url%5D">www.finaid.org</a> to get an idea as to how much aid you will qualify for. Assuming your parents are divorced or separated, and you live with your mom, then your dad's income will not be included with the FAFSA, but may be considered by private colleges that also ask for the CSS Profile. However, the colleges won't expect much of a contribution from someone who makes under $30K/year. </p>
<p>Since your mom is unemployed and on welfare, you also qualify for fee waivers when you apply to colleges and to have test scores sent to the colleges -- be sure to ask your high school guidance counselor to help you get the waivers.</p>
<p>My parents are married. I plan on completing the CSS and FAFSA next year after my dad files his taxes. I know Collegeboard waives the CSS fee if you make less than a certain amount. Would I qualify?</p>
<p>just an FYI -- If your parents are living together and married, your household usually wouldn't qualify for TANF or food stamps if someone in the household was making $29,000/year. That would only work if your mother filed separately and didn't acknowledge your dad's income or there was some extraordinary circumstance.</p>
<p>Make sure everything is on the up and up that your parent's filed -- I don't what kind of communication there is between different government agencies, but information on the FAFSA should match the information on the food stamp and TANF application, especially regarding household members and income. I know that social services does do a lot of cross checking to verify information.</p>
<p>If your parents are married and you all live together in the same household, I don't understand how your mom can possibly qualify for TANF when your dad is making $29K. $29K isn't a lot of money, but its well above the federal poverty line.</p>
<p>^These are the poverty levels for this year. </p>
<p>If there are 6 to 7 people in OP's household, then I guess they are in the poverty line. But, OP's post reads like it is just the parents and OP. </p>
<p>I agree with hsmomstef. Someone filed for certain things, and received certain things without taking the daddy's income into consideration. But, this is not OP's fault- exactly.</p>
<p>I think my mother filed for TANF under her maiden name and didn't report my father's income at all. This is probably illegal, huh? How will this affect my recieving financial aid?</p>
<p>If your mother was a single parent ( which she isn't) and was on assistance/didn't file taxes, she would file a paper indicating why she wasn't required to file and how she was paying her bills</p>
<p>Does your father file taxes?
More time is being put into cross referencing taxes and benefits recieved from disparate agencies, its only a matter of time until the fraud is discovered</p>
<p>lgriffin, welfare fraud is a serious crime. All you can do is for financial aid is to file a FAFSA truthfully showing all the income -and essentially that is going to be a document than it itself would expose the fraud -- so I would be surprised if your parents are going to be willing to sign off on a FAFSA. If you file a FAFSA, it has to be truthful, or else YOU will get in trouble as well -- and its a federal offense to make false statements on the FAFSA, so you definitely don't want to risk hiding something that can and will be easily discovered. </p>
<p>So basically, the situation leaves you seriously messed up as far as financial aid for college. Your mom's best course of action is to talk to a lawyer right away, in order to try to put things right. YOU haven't done anything wrong, but your mom has and it puts you in a difficult position in terms of applying for aid.</p>
<p>calmom -- the reason I cautioned lgriffin on checking with his mom is that I know for certain at least two states that are cross-checking welfare applications with FAFSA applications (Kentucky and Colorado) and several more, I just don't know the specific states. I was warned about this when I applied (I filed my info correctly, but others had taken action similiar to that of the OP's mother).</p>
<p>lgriffin -- this is something that definitely needs to be discussed with both your parents and settled. You have a few months to work it out before you need to file the FAFSA, so perhaps your mother can stop accepting aid and amend her application? I will tell you that the information on the FAFSA needs to be accurate or it will trigger some action, also. For instance, I know someone who reported that their parents were separated so that they only had to report their mother's low income, but information sent with the student's school record's indicate that both parents lived together. the student was asked for information to verify that the father lived outside the family home (they wanted a signed lease or mortgage and three months of utility bills dated back to when the student claimed on the FAFSA that they were separated.) He couldn't provide the verification (because it wasn't true) and the student ended up suspended/banned/etc (I don't know what it is officially called) from receiving federal financial aid for 5-7 years.</p>
<p>Thank you everyonve for your advice. Good thing I looked into this now, huh?</p>
<p>My father does file taxes every year. My mother was only released from prison this January and hasn't earned any income besides TANF which I believe she started receiving in June. I also think all of my school records have only my mother listed as my guardian so that I would recieve free lunch. </p>
<p>It's really unfair that after working so hard I might be really screwed for financial aid due to my mother's greed.</p>
<p>Oh, and I'm a girl, just to clear things up.</p>
<p>lgriffin -- it is unfortunate that you are going to pay the price for your mother's misdeeds. </p>
<p>Could you fill out the FAFSA correctly and have your dad sign-off on it? Your mother might sign off if she doesn't realize that the facts will most likely be cross-checked. That way, she would be the one paying for her misdeeds and not you. (honestly, that is what I would do). With such a low income ($29,000), you will qualify for aid and you will need it to attend school.</p>
<p>Frankly, I am surprised that you mother would lie on a government agency application after getting out of prison. If she is on parole, that might be in jeopardy if she gets found out.</p>
<p>If your father did not sign any paperwork associated with your mom's welfare application, then he will probably not get into any trouble, simply because it would be difficult to prove that he knew about or had a part in what she was doing ... so it's unlikely that authorities would attempt to prosecute him. But as a practical matter, it seems like he would have known. If there is evidence that was involved or benefitted directly from the fraud, such as if your mom deposited one or more of her TANF checks into your dad's bank account, then he could get in trouble. I think he must bear some responsibility, as I don't understand why he did not do anything to stop your mom. </p>
<p>I can see that you are in a tough situation. The welfare mess is something that the adults in your family -- yoru parents -- need to deal with and straighten out. As you are thinking about college and your future, please do not make it your problem as well -- if you file a FAFSA, then make sure that it is filled it out fully and truthfully.</p>
<p>My understanding is that the person who fills out the application is the one responsible for the fraud. If she claimed she was not married, then I do not think they will hold your father liable for her welfare application. At most, he would be "investigated" but I sincerely doubt that anything would come of it. The money was sent specifically to your mother. </p>
<p>FAFSA is filed in January at the earliest (you have to have 2006 tax info) so see what happens in the next few months, fill out the FAFSA correctly and just submit it.</p>