Survivor Benefits and Financial Aid

Paying for College
1

<p>I am a HS student receiving survivor benefits. I know this topic has come up in other forums before, but there is some conflicting information I think should be clarified.</p>

<ol>
<li>Do you have to report these earnings in FAFSA and/or CSS Profile?</li>
<li>Does this money greatly impact financial aid?</li>
</ol>

<p>As a side note, I don't have any of the money collected through these benefits, as I used it to help my mom with rent, bills, debts, ect. With medical bills we are pretty much broke, but i'm worried that colleges might use the benefits against me since they don't care about expenditures. I really need the financial aid money!</p>

<p>Any answers would be much appreciated!</p>

2

<p>If your survivor benefits is untaxed Social Security benefits; no, you don’t have to report them on FAFSA.
See <a href=“https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1314/help/faadef21.htm[/url]”>https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1314/help/faadef21.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>What about the CSS Profile?</p>

4

<p>Will these benefits end when you turn 18? If so, you need to mention that.</p>

5

<p>Yes they will end when I turn 18/graduate high school.</p>

6

<p>Hopefully Kelsmom can chime in here on how it’s best to make sure that some adjustment is made since the benefits end at 18/graduation. </p>

<p>That said, if your mom’s income isn’t high even when adding in your benefits, you may still have a low EFC anyway. If your mom’s income is very low, then I don’t think your income/benefits will even count…but I’m not sure about that.</p>

7

<p>I’m going to link this from an old thread. Look at post #8 and then confirm it with current instructions for 2013-14. Best wishes.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1097643-css-profile-survivor-benefits-minor-child.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1097643-css-profile-survivor-benefits-minor-child.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>ps. Don’t forget to run each college’s Net Price Calculator. If Mom’s income is low, as Mom2 says, with or without the benefit may not make much difference in your EFC. But you’ll want some idea whether the particular colleges will be supportive and to what degree.</p>