<p>I have three students ages 24 - in grad school; 21 - senior in college; 17 - senior in high school. My 21 year old will graduate in May 2010 and is planning to go to grad school but has not yet applied. When I complete financial aid forms in January 2010 for my high school senior, how many students can I list as in college?</p>
<p>for the most part, students who have received their first bachelors will not be considered for FAFSA as they are now independent students. </p>
<p>As far as insitutional aid is concerned it will vary from school to school.</p>
<p>I would double check with FAFSA on this. I had a client a few years ago in this position. When I talked to the folks at FAFSA, they told me we could count the grad students on the undergrad’s FAFSA.</p>
<p>The FAFSA instructions for question 76 are to include anyone enrolled at least half time who was a member of the household (question 75). To be a household member they must receive at least 50% of their support from the parent(s) OR be able to answer no to the independent qualifier questions. So it would seem that a grad student who receives at least 50% of their support from the parents is considered counted on the undergrad’s FAFSA.</p>
<p><a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/CompletingtheFAFSA09-10.pdf[/url]”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/CompletingtheFAFSA09-10.pdf</a></p>
<p>But the grad student is 24 and therefore independent. I would say the answer is 2 in school</p>
<p>That was exactly the question I asked. Brother is independent and filing own FAFSA. Can we still claim independent brother on dependents FAFSA as another sibling in college. The answer I received was “yes”.</p>
<p>That does seem to be correct, scott, from reading the actual instructions. It doesn’t make sense but the word OR does imply that if the grad student receives more than 50% of their actual support from the parents then they are included, regardless of their own FAFSA status. I would always take the word over the FAFSA folks!</p>
<p>This is a very controversial question. We remove the grad student from the household size. A grad student is independent according to federal aid guidelines & as such is his own household. And yes, other schools do allow grad students to be counted in the household size. I suggest asking the school. It wouldn’t be fun to find out at the last minute that your aid package has been significantly adjusted.</p>
<p>Ok, Sandy at the DOE just told me the following:
“An independent student is considered to be in their ‘own household’ and would not be counted toward the number in school.” Based on the information provided, the answer is two students.</p>
<p>One approach might be to put two students on the FAFSA, but make sure the financial aid officer at all the schools being applied to knows about the third student.</p>
<p>What I find frustrating about this issue is that the instructions on the FAFSA are not at all clear. I wish they would explain who can be listed right in the instructions. It can make a HUGE difference in an EFC when an older student is removed from the household. If the family knew they couldn’t list that student in the first place, they would know the correct EFC right off the bat.</p>