Step-Parent's Income & FAFSA

Paying for College
41

<p>I love my son, but enough is enough. I put myself through college as have many others before and after me. The government should not have a say in this.</p>

<p>But if your son is expecting gov’t aid, why shouldn’t the gov’t have a say? He’s free to do it without gov’t help if you’d like to avoid gov’t “say”.</p>

<p>No one has to fill out a FAFSA.</p>

<p>But, I agree that bio parents should have the obligation. Too many parents don’t think to include such in their divorce decrees. Did you?</p>

<p>*
I put myself through college as have many others before and after me. </p>

<p>My son will probably have to drop out of college since they are counting his step father’s income. *</p>

<p>You’re contradicting yourself. If you think kids should put themselves thru college like you did, then why does your son have to “drop out”? Why doesn’t he do what you did?</p>

<p>I’m still trying to figure out who you think should pay for your child’s education? Your child? the government (who you don’t want to have any “say”)? the bio dad? Who???</p>

42

<p>My son is working and buying a home,</p>

<hr>

<p>So why does he need the taxpayers’ assistance in going to school? He obviously has enough disposable income to buy a house. Why is it MY job to pay for him to go to school?!</p>

43

<p>I can understand that folks may not realize how financial aid works. It is pretty complicated. I was surprised to learn that the biological non custodial parent is not included on FAFSA. So I can see how someone might feel that the biological parent, not the step parent should be on the hook for college. Many colleges, especially those using PROFILE, have all parents, two steps and both biological if that is the case, report their finances and expect them to pay. Something to consider when discussing marriage at a time when either party has kids going to college and applying for financial aid. </p>

<p>The fact of the matter is that there is not enough money to go around, and the rules are in place. It’s our business to learn them. It does put stress on the situation when a step parent who has the money does not want to spend it on a step child’s college costs. The problem is that it prevents the child from getting financial aid because he may not meet the need requirements, and yet the child cannot get money from a source that he is expected to get. So it is with natural parents who refuse to pay and have the funds as well. Such kids are pretty much stuck in a gap, and have to look at other venues such as merit money, less expensive schools, loans. Or the natural parent has to find a job or other sources of money for the venture.</p>

<p>As for the young man who is working, the step dad’s funds are not going to be the primary impediment for his getting financial aid. Anyone who is working and has enough money to buy a home, is expected to pay for his college first. The income of the student is hit very hard in terms of what is expected to go towards college. The student’s assets are also more heavily considered than the parents’ in the financial aid formulas. So before the step dad’s financials come into play, someone who is making a large sum of money, is going to be expected to put it towards college. I think it’s about half the amount earned, is it not?</p>

44

<p>To give you an idea of how much the student’s financial info counts …</p>

<p>I was verifying a file yesterday & the student had checked that the parent could file a 1040A/EZ. This allowed the family to skip the asset info, because the AGI was low. The family was an automatic 0 EFC. When I verified, though, I had to update the info, because the family had schedule E rental income … meaning the parents could not file a 1040A/EZ. I had to collect asset info to finish the file.</p>

<p>The parents own several rental properties, with a worth of $65,000. I put the asset info in, expecting to see a change … but I was astounded when the EFC changed from 0 to $13,000+. With the parent asset protection, I didn’t expect to see that big a jump. I asked my boss to look at it with me, because I just knew it had to be wrong. Turns out I put the info in backwards … I put the investment worth on the student side instead of the parent side (duh). When I switched the numbers, the EFC was 142. In other words … that’s a pretty big difference! And this was a dependent student. So yes, student income/assets are expected to be put toward college.</p>

45

<p>One of the reasons that a step-parent’s income is considered is because there’s an assumption that the natural parent “shares” that money in some way. </p>

<p>For instance - say the natural parent chose not to work or chose to work for a lesser paying job because the spouse (step-parent) earns a lot of money. Would it be right for schools to think - hmmm - the natural parent has NO or little money? Even if the natural parent makes good money, it can’t be assumed that her income is all that she has for her own support. NO, the natural parent has extra money - either through direct access to the spouse’s money or by having to contribute less to the household because there’s someone else contributing, too. There’s an assumption that married people share assets/money. </p>

<p>That said, I also think bio non-custodial parent (NCP) info should be included unless the NCP has never been a part of the child’s life or hasn’t been for - say - 5+ years. Any bio parent that is in a chid’s life should be included in FAFSA. </p>

<p>It’s rather offensive to think that a NCP be a part of a child’s life even through the college years, can proudly show up at a college graduation, but not have been considered to be part of the financial scenario.</p>

46

<p>The NCP is considered for most PROFILE schools. It’s FAFSA that excludes the NCP. It leads to some unfair situations. I know kids getting Pell money with NCPs that are very well to do. But nothing is completely fair.</p>

47

<p>I think that the whole FA system needs reform. Either both bio parents should have to submit their taxes, or steps should be out of the formula. IF the states can’t make the bio parents accountable, why should the steps have to pick up the slack? The student shouldn’t have to suffer because of their parents’ choices, which seems to be the case in each of these situations… and the choice of school shouldn’t matter… the school’s will make the need-based decision off of the info on the fafsa… but it should be the bio parent’s info that is taken account for not the steps. IMO
I had to deal with this as well and we are in debt $75 for an in state because it was based on the step’s income… Good luck to all those with this problem… hope that the rules change sooner than later.</p>

48

<p>No once cares who writes the check.</p>

<p>My husband has to report his income for my children’s FA. He has no responsibility to support them as their stepfather. But quite honestly his income makes more of mine available to pay for college.</p>

49

<p>mom2collegekids wrote “But, I agree that bio parents should have the obligation. Too many parents don’t think to include such in their divorce decrees. Did you?”</p>

<p>It’s not that simple. I brought it up in my divorce process and was told (by my very good attorney) that it’s unenforceable in my state because it was a future expense. I couldn’t get speech therapy for my kid with a diagnosed disability either. I was told I would have to incur the expense, then sue for half of what I paid. That was years ago. Even without college expenses, ex owes me tens of thousands in back child support.</p>

50

<p>^^^</p>

<p>At least you tried. Many don’t even think about it. I can understand that - during the stress of divorce it’s hard to think of everything. It’s really the atty’s job to bring up such issues and fight for them (in the states that allow them) - like future orthodontic bills or future medical bills.</p>

<p>My point was really that this mom is “all over the place” as to who she thinks should be paying for her son’s college education. Is it her son’s responsibility? hers? the bio dad’s? the government? whose???</p>

51

<p>I have a moral response to the stepdad who won’t pay for the stepchild’ s college or at least HELP. Down the line, it won’t be fun having a less educated step child, of course. I guess I would not know how to deal with this situation personally. I would take it as an affront. I would divorce this guy’s sorry ass unless, of course, there were other circumstances, like he was already paying tuition for his own kids or supporting his aged parents. </p>

<p>JMHO.</p>

52

<p>^^^</p>

<p>I completely agree. Frankly, I’m a little shocked by women who actually marry men who have made it clear that they won’t help with such things. When you marry, you become a family…and that includes the kids - yours, mine, ours.</p>

<p>Children come into families through various ways…through birth, through marriage, through adoption, …they all deserve to be treated like their your own.</p>

<p>*But quite honestly his income makes more of mine available to pay for college. *</p>

<p>And, that’s why FAFSA includes both.,</p>

53

<p>I have a moral response to the stepdad who won’t pay for the stepchild’ s college or at least HELP. Down the line, it won’t be fun having a less educated step child,</p>

<p>That really is an excellent point! :)</p>

54

<p>There are many who are locked into certain life styles and commitments to a point where paying for an expensive college education just disrupts too much. We’re not talking about a few thousand dollars help here, in many cases. When you are talking about private college for a number of step children, I can see why someone would balk. That could just about wipe out someone financially. I know that as a family, we are supposed to be able to afford our kids’ college costs, even the most expensive ones, but there simply are other priorities in our lives, that the financial aid formulas cannot take into account. I don’t blame anyone for our own priorities; we have our reasons, but they are mathematically incompatible with paying for 5 private school tuitions at this time. </p>

<p>It does not necessarily mean having a less educated child or step child either. My closest friend and her daughter were hit hard when her well to do ex husband refused to pay for college after paying years of lip service that he would do so. It was not so much the refusal as the change in heart when the time came to pay, after creating the expectations he did. In that state, once a kid is 18 or out of high school, the parents’ obligations are ended. Though court avenues were sought, it was found futile. </p>

<p>The ex did end up helping out with college. Just in unexpected spurts and pieces, and far less than what it took for his daughter to go the Oberlin which was her first choice school that accepted her. They would not give her any financial aid, given her father’s fianancial situation. So she commuted to a state school, worked part time and summers and graduated summa cum laude from there. No, it was not the LAC experience she wanted, and in my opinion, should have received, given the father’s encouragement and assurances along with his financial wealth, but that was the way thing turned out. And he loves his daughter. Guess he just loves his money a whole lot more.</p>

<p>I know his reasons. He is retired and is scared of that big hit on his assets. Paying the estimated $130K for her and then her brother thereafter, and possibly law school for her and flight school for him, was more than he could bear to put out. And this is a natural father who has been involved in his kids’ lives. </p>

<p>I cannot imagine remarrying, as I’ve become more selfish in my old age, but if I did, I would not want my assets committed to a private college education for stepchildren. We are painfully budgeting out what we have for our kids, and coming up short when we list our priorities and see what is left. And even then financial experts like Orman, RAmsay, really any of them would say that we are spending more than we should on education, and that we should be putting more away for retirement, given our situation and the economy.</p>

55

<p>mom4college if you remarried a man with young children or teenagers, would you expect to help put his kids through college after you’d already paid for yours?</p>

56

<p>That’s a tough question, Vballmom. I know women who were divorced or widowed, left with a nest egg that is supposed to go the children of the first marriage. Any second marriages in such cases most often have some sort of prenuptial agreement so that financial arrangements are not turned upside down suddenly because of a marriage. It can be complex when both parties have families, obligations and assets going into a marriage and this is quite common in marriages subsequent to the first.</p>

<p>The problem is that FAFSA and financial aid forms do not recognize those prenuptial agreements. That your new husband might have money, property, assets that he inherited from his former wife that is to go to children from the marriage doesn’t mean a thing to the financial aid process. The assets are there, and CAN be used towards college. That does not mean that it is the best way to use them for the good of everyone in the family. The hurt and resentment doing something like that is most often not worth it. The same goes for a drastic change in lifestyle to pay for a step’s education may not be worth it. These things need to be discussed and decided upon BEFORE the marriage and it might be a good idea to hold off on the marriage until the college years are done if it is so important. </p>

<p>In actual cases, this does not come to a whole lot of actual money. I know a woman who did hold off on marriage due to financial aid expectations of a set of twins she has. Her intended also had a child soon to go to college. Well, none of the three kids got any substantial aid anyways. They were not Pell eligible which means there was no guaranteed federal money. And all of the private schools take the none custodial parent and spouse’s assets into account. So what that one other parent was not in the picture? It was not as though all of the schools were meeting full need anyways. It didn’t amount to spit in the end. Bad advice someone gave them at some financial aid seminar. You need to not only work the numbers but look at the colleges where the kids want to go. Yes, there are some families affected, but no many.</p>

<p>I have another friend who truly would have been affected since her income/assets made her kids Pell eligible which opened up some state funding and other monies. Marrying anybody with even a little income or assets would have quashed all of that. But if she had made a little bit more money, she too would have been over the amount herself. Being on the border like that, she had to be careful. But this really does not happen very often at all. If I should remarry and have half our family assets, I don’t think it would make a bit of difference to the financial aid any new spouse’s kids would get or not get. Not unless I marry someone with that is PELL eligible.</p>

57

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<p>This wasn’t directed towards me, but I’m going to reiterate what I said a few months ago. YES. You don’t just marry the man, you marry the WHOLE family. You are those children’s new step-mother, they are now your step-children. If you don’t want to take on the responsibility of these children, then you don’t need to get married yet.</p>

58

<p>I would not want my assets committed to a private college education for stepchildren.</p>

<p>Who says that it has to a private college education? Many parents can’t afford a private college education for any children - bio or step. By putting up that straw man argument it ignore the issue…helping with a college education. That can include going to the local public U or wherever. </p>

<p>*if you remarried a man with young children or teenagers, would you expect to help put his kids through college after you’d already paid for yours? *</p>

<p>Absolutely! If I married a man with young children, I would be agreeing to help parent those kids in the best way I could…and that includes their education all the way thru. I would be ashamed of myself if I didn’t do that.</p>

59

<p>^But that would give the government’s “approval” to the financial aspect of the divorce and lead to the arguments that the state court-approved divorce decree, or even pre-nups, should be a factor. Most divorced custodial parents have great difficulty getting the agreed upon health and support benefits for their children and, frankly, the states generally do a lousy job of enforcing these agreements unless the family is collecting state benefits. Why, after years of struggling to feed, clothe, house, and raise their children single-handedly, often while qualifying for federal means-tested benefit programs, should the custodial parent have to worry about being denied the chance to receive federal aid due to a non-supportive NCP’s income? These are the very people that the Pell program was designed to help!</p>

<p>What I don’t understand is the endless teeth-gnashing over why people, who clearly have more income, can’t get the government to turn a blind eye to it. Folks, the Pell grant is by far the largest source of federal student aid, other than loans, and it’s a maximum of $5550 per year for those with an EFC of 0! There are legal ways to structure your income and assets in order to minimize your EFC, if that’s the goal, but Pell is clearly meant to aid those with little/no other alternative source of funds, not those who simply choose not to access those sources.</p>

60

<p>When you marry…you now have a two income FAMILY…not a single income family. That second income supports your family’s lifestyle, rent, utilities, food, clothing, etc. Presumably the biological parent will have less to spend from just their single income and therefore, money can be available for college.</p>

<p>BUT REMEMBER…NO ONE is forced to pay for college…there are married biological parents who have financial limitations and for one reason or another do not contribute or contribute less than the FAFSA or Profile schools determine.</p>

<p>This issue is NOT just confined to step parents.</p>