So I’m trying to fill out my FAFSA and it’s asking about my parents. My parents broke up when I was little and never married and I never lived with my dad and he barely pays child support. So do I put him on my FAFSA or do I leave him off?
You only include your custodial parent’s info on FAFSA, but whatever child support your dad pays does have to be included.
If you are applying to schools that also require CSS Profile, he will need to fill out his non-custodial parent part. If he won’t do that, you will need to request an NCP waiver from each school…and it may or may not be granted…it’s difficult to say that he is completely absent if he is paying any child support.
As noted, if you live with your mom only then your mom’s info only goes on the FAFSA. She will be listed as single or whatever it says on the FAFSA for marital status.
Your dad’s financials will not be on the FAFSA.
But as noted, some colleges ask for non-custodial parent info either because they use the Profile or they have their own form.
You sign the FAFSA with your information and she signs for her sections. Yes, you will pay the price by not getting FA is the form is false, but there is nothing you can do except not sign or not accept the FA.
If she won’t tell you how much child support she receives, how do you know what she is entering is wrong?
I’m caught in a very bad issue. I keep trying to tell my mom to put in how much child support we get and she gets crazy and belligerent when I do. She has taken over my FAFSA account and I already got my phone taken away for trying to explain to her that we could get in serious trouble. She refuses to accept the truth and won’t tell me how much we got in child support during 2018. What do I do? Will I get in trouble along with her even though I have proof of telling her not to lie?
If he doesn’t pay, why are you now worried about it?
That’s the thing. She has told me they (my dad and my little brother’s dad) have paid in 2018 but she wants to leave it blank and I don’t want to. She has threatened me over this and I don’t want to get in any trouble now I’m scared I’ll never go to college and now my life is ruined.
refer to the comment above. I forgot to quote
I said “barely” as in he DID pay it. As in I HAVE TO put in on there. It wasn’t much. If he didn’t pay that year in 2018 I wouldn’t have made this post.
The income received in child support is in your parent’s section to fill out. I would let her fill that out and sign for her section.
I’m guessing if she didn’t get paid much and it was sporadic that she just didn’t keep any records and doesn’t want to deal with it. Not an excuse I know, and personally I would guesstimate in that situation, but if she refuses, she refuses. Not much you can do but not file. But really, that’s why they have the separate sign offs. You don’t know if she’s filling out any of the asset sections truthfully either.
When the student electronically signs the FAFSA form, it is not just for the info the student fills in…it is for the whole form. In reality the FAFSA is the student’s form…and their electronic signature is there to state that the information reported is accurate.
If I’m wrong…I’m sure @BelknapPoint or @kelsmom will chime in.
The best thing is for the parent to be honest…a guesstimate is better than saying $0 if in fact child support was received.
The student certainly cannot force the parent to be honest, but getting financial aid by knowingly providing inaccurate information is considered fraud. That’s a crime. The student, if this is discovered, runs the risk of losing their aid, offer of admission, and possibly a fine.
Read this:
This is from FAFSA .gov
Okay, I would like to apologize for getting snappy with one of the commenters I wasn’t in the best mood.
And thank you for the responses and suggestions. I contacted FAFSA about it and they said I could leave it blank/clear and I wouldn’t get in any trouble. I will probably contact them again about it just in case.
Checking for clarity…someone at the FAFSA helpline told you it was OK to leave a field blank when you know it should not be? Really?
What exactly did you ask them?
It’s not complicated. You don’t use dads info. Your mom lists her income based on her income. If there was some paid and some not. Alimony is taxable to your mom. Child support is not. It’s paid by your dad. So let her fill that out and go from there. It will be fine.
I told them my mom didn’t want to put anything on that question and I asked if I could get in trouble for leaving it blank. They left for a few minutes or so and then they came back and said that I would be okay with leaving it blank. I asked them to clarify and they said yes. I don’t even know at this point, because this question isn’t that common, you know?
Don’t worry. You’re not responsible for what your mom does.
You don’t even know the amounts. Maybe it was just $50 here or there.
Stop arguing with your mom. You’re going to need her and your phone.
Just move on.
It is up to the parent to fill out the parent part of the FAFSA. Often the student has no idea what should go in there. If a parent puts in an incorrect amount, it is highly unlikely the student will know that.
Unfortunately, however, if the FAFSA come up for verification, which happens about a third of the time, if it is discovered that a parent did not enter correct information, the aid numbers will change and, yes, the student will be affected.
That puts a student who knows that info a parent is submitting is false into a bad situation. But the student is only certifying that his/her info is correct—not expected to vouch for the parent’s, who certifies her info is correct. It’s one of the imperfections of the system. I’d personally put the veracity of the info completely on the parent, but that still would not shield the student from the consequences of incorrect information.
Read the way the questions are worded in the FAFSA parent section.
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/sites/default/files/2020-21-fafsa.pdf
The questions are directed to the student, and predicated on the idea that the student will obtain the information from a parent and fill in the answer.
UPDATE: I got a second opinion from another FAFSA worker and this person says that it is required to do it. I don’t know what to do. So many different opinions on this topic.
Can you ask your dad what he paid?