<p>My mom is recently divorced (2nd) time. She receives no child support from either my dad or my stepdad. She earns 20,000 a year but has no spending money (can barely pay the bills) since she is a single mother taking care of a four person household (3 kids). She relies on my social security benefits (dad is disabled) and those go away in April. We are not even middle class.</p>
<p>Problem is, my mom and stepdad purchased a broken down home in a bad neighborhood a few years ago. Once they split, I helped my mom fix the house and we have been able to rent it to help with the finances. Without renting the house we would be unable to pay the bills. </p>
<p>Now however, she legally owns a fully-payed home and the house I live in is not under my mother's name. It's under my grandma's name but my mother pay's it.Thus, when I fill out the FAFSA I assume it'll come off as my mom making almost pure income with barely any expenditures. The fact that I will still be getting some cash from social security at the time of FAFSA also worries me..</p>
<p>Will this negatively affect my EFC? Because my mom cannot pay a penny for college and we don't have anything saved up. I can't even bank on my stats because I have average stats 28 ACT and 3.5 GPA.</p>
<p>Your social security income does not have to be reported on FAFSA.</p>
<p>Your Mom will have to report any income from the rental house as income. As she is not living in the house, it will have to be reporred as an asset (an owned primary home that you are living in would not have to be reported).</p>
<p>How much impact it will have on your eligibility for financial aid will depend on how much her total income is (earned plus from the rental property), and the net value of the property. A parent has a certain amount of asset protection based on their age. Unfortunately it is not very high for a single parent. Up to 5.6% of assets over the protected limit goes to the EFC.</p>
<p>Sometimes low income families are able to omit asset information from FAFSA. To be eligible for this you have to meet the income criteria (AGI less than $50k) and meet at least one of the other criteria - be eligible to file a 1040a/z tax return, be a dislocated worker, someone in the family gets means tested benefits. If your Mom has rental income she is probably not eligible to file a 1040a or ez, if she works she is not a dislocated worker. Does anyone receive means tested benefits such as food stamps?</p>
<p>Only if she is a member of your Mom’s household (lives with your Mom) and your Mom provides more than 50% of her financial support (which sounds unlikely if your Mom is earning $20k a year and your Grandma owns the house you are living in).</p>