<p>I'm in somewhat of a unique situation. My parents are divorced, and legally, to make things easier rather than working out a custody agreement, I live with my dad, while I really alternate weeks at both of my parents houses. When it came time to do the FAFSA, we figured I should do it by my dad's income, which is significantly lower than my mom's (who owns a successful restaurant and has a good income). The EFC ended up being 0, with my dad. </p>
<p>Is this good in my situation? I'll get aid, and actually be able to pay for college using the money I have with my mom, where most people with a 0 EFC would not be able to pay. </p>
<p>I'm still waiting to hear back from UNC wilmington, and appalachian state university. Will this hurt my chances?</p>
<p>Wow, I detect a whiff of panic – if the financial aid officer came zooming down to your house with a microscope, would they find that you misled them? That’s your problem.</p>
<p>What if the financial aid office requests the tax returns for both your parents? You may have to supply them as a condition of enrollment. </p>
<p>It is not the EFC of 0 that is a problem. Low income students are admitted to college all the time. The problem is if you have misrepresented your situation. If the college finds that you “lied” or “omitted the truth” of your situation and ability to pay, then they can rescind your acceptance. </p>
<p>You do have a chance to come clean. You can pick up the phone or email the financial aid office of the respective colleges and say “I may not have done the FAFSA correctly. What do I do now?” You can also go to the FAFSA website and amend the FAFSA on line to reflect your mother’s situation. You can carefully read EVERYTHING on the FAFSA help section on divorced families and make sure, sure, sure, you are doing things right.</p>
<p>For instance, the FAFSA help section tells us:
If you did not live with one parent more than the other, answer only the questions about the parent who provided most of your financial support during the last 12 months. </p>
<p>So, be honest. Which of the two provided “MOST” of your financial support during the last 12 months. If the answer is “mom” then you need to make corrections, fast.</p>
<p>The above situation is why I don’t think it’s right that FAFSA only includes one divorced parent’s income when both parents are actively involved with the child’s life. Divorced or separated parents (especially separated parents!) who are involved with a child’s life are no different than married parents.</p>
<p>If anyone thinks that the way Emily filed FAFSA is a rare exception in such cases, they are kidding themselves.</p>
<p>Time to sit down and talk it over with Dad. Tell him that financial aid officers are experts at finding “cheats” and “hides” (they are). Think about it. If you were reviewing an application and it said “Dad is divorced and really poor”, wouldn’t your FIRST question be “So, is the mom in the picture? Who is supporting this kid if Dad is really poor?” Sometimes the answer is “Mom is really poor too” but, in your case, it is not the truth. </p>
<p>You have time to fix this. Don’t panic. If your Dad is reluctant, have him call or email a financial aid officer from some local college (where you are not applying). Have him ask some “what if” questions. “What if the mom had money and was the parent that supported the kid financially but the Dad put down his income for the FAFSA?” So then you would know the drill. </p>
<p>I suspect they would point out the signature page of the FAFSA, which very clearly asks the signers (you and your Dad) if the information supplied is complete and truthful. </p>
<p>I don’t want you to panic, but I do want you to take this situation seriously. If a college finds that you have lied to them to get financial aid that you do not qualify for, then they can dismiss you for that lying. It will be part of your permanent record there. “Yes, Eden Eden was an admitted student, but she was dismissed for lying in 2010.”</p>
<p>Right now, before letters of acceptance and financial aid are sent out, you have an opportunity to correct what has been submitted. "We didn’t read the rule on divorced parents carefully and we need to let you know this is our situation . . . " – you can clean up your file and go on with a clear heart. </p>
<p>Times are hard and money is tight – an excellent time to learn the lesson that money isn’t everything. Your honor and your future are worth more. If the change means you pay more for college, get a job at mom’s restaurant! You’ll appreciate her hard work even more.
Good luck.</p>
<p>I am not so sure that you have done anything horrible. The college may ask a few more questions and make a decision, so just call them, as the other folks have suggested, and ask for assistance. These are public universities, not private ones.</p>
<p>It seems to me that one parent may indeed have more custody than the other (legal or physical). Check this point. It would be in the divorce agreement. It sounds like your dad has custody.</p>
<p>Which parent claims you as a dependent for tax purposes?</p>
<p>Does your mother pay child support?</p>
<p>They may ask about these things.</p>
<p>Basically, it sounds like your dad has legal custody and that you spend every other week with your mother. I personally do not know if this changes your financial aid situation, but you are certainly not the only student in this situation and I am sure that the financial aid officer will help you sort it out.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m not sure you did anything wrong either. As has already been posted, the first criterion is who do you live with most of the time. Even if you spend time with both parents, if you live with your father even just a bit more than with your mom, then he is the parent whose information should be included on the FAFSA. If it is truly is 50/50, then you go to the next criterion; who provided more than half your support? You haven’t given us enough to go on to know the answer to that.</p>
<p>If your father is the correct parent to provide information for the FAFSA, you may well have to submit verification of his income. If he has none, you may have to explain how he and you have been managing. That’s not a trap or a “gotcha” it’s just a question, and if the answer is that your mom helps with money, then you will just tell them that. A student could live with a lower income parent most of the time, use that parent’s information on the FAFSA, and receive money from the other parent… and not have violated any rules in any way. Just be honest. That’s the main thing.</p>
<p>And, no, an EFC of 0 will not keep you out of public universities such as you have mentioned.</p>
<p>It probably won’t hurt your chances. However, how do you plan to pay for college since only 2 public universities – UNC and UVA – promise to meet the full demonstrated need of all students? I hope you have a financial safety – a school you know you’ll be accepted to and can afford. For many, that’s their local community college.</p>
<p>I don’t think this girl really needs a financial safety. They are gaming the system. By using dad’s income, they’ll get full free fed aid. Then, whatever isn’t covered, her mom will pay for with her income from her successful restaurant.</p>
<p>It really demonstrates how crazy the system is that students can get free fed aid when they have a parent who is willing and able to pay. It’s nice to know that my tax dollars goes for situations like this.</p>
<p>We actually don’t have enough information to assume the OP has done anything wrong. If she lives with her dad even one day more per year than her mom, then she is supposed to use her dad’s information for the FAFSA.</p>
<p>Maybe the rules should be different, but it may not be fair to say s/he’s “gaming the system.”</p>
<p>Agree that it is unclear if this OP has done anything wrong. If she technically spends more time with the dad than the mom then the spirit of FAFSA would say that the dad files. However mom would come into play if mom were giving money to the ex and/or OP for child support etc. At the very worse situation I think the OPs FAFSA would change sophomore year as the dad can probably not contribute much to college, the mom will I’m assuming be making the college contributions and would then be supporting more than 50%…but I’m not clear on the technicalities of the 50% support rule. Regardless OP make sure your dad can back up the numbers he put down with tax returns, etc. in case you are selected for verification.</p>
<p>Oh to answer your original question will the zero EFC keep you out of college, that depends. As one poster pointed out very few colleges meet total need, so if your college doesn’t meet your need with loans and grants then someone will have to pay the difference for you to attend, either by actually paying cash or by taking out loans. If it’s an in-state public there may be state grants or aid for which you may be eligible. You may be able to get some general information on the college websites regarding how they package their financial aid.</p>
<p>I don’t think the OP did anything wrong nor is she abusing the system. Her case is actually very common with kids who have divorced parents. </p>
<p>To the OP - Don’t forget when you file the FAFSA next year you need to report any money you received from your mom or expect to get from your mom.
This will likely raise your efc and it will probably no longer be 0.</p>
<p>Tuition at Appalachain State and UNC-wilmington are very cheap if she is in-state - and I assume she is.
The EFC for instate at App State is only about $10,000-$11,000. Her pell grant will pay for half of that.</p>
<p>It may be <em>wrong</em> - however as long as she is following the rules - she is good.
It’s also why many private (and a few public) colleges ask for more information, via the Profile and/or other financial forms.</p>
<p>It is indeed true that many kids from divorced families qualify for much more financial aid than those from <em>intact</em> parents. It’s just the way it goes.</p>
<p>To me this is a classic case of following the letter of the law as opposed to the spirit of the law. Our family has a similiar situation. My ex wife technically is the custodial parent and I pay child support. In reality our son spends as much time with me as he does with her. Using her information alone the EFC is about $16k, if you include my information the EFC exceeds the total cost of attendance at any school we have seen.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why people are having such a hard time with this. The federal government requires the custodial parent’s information. If the custodial parent (frequently the mom, and unfortunately that frequently means the lower income of the two parents) earns less than the non-custodial parent, then that’s just how it is. In the OP’s case the genders are reversed, but that’s the only difference.</p>
<p>Should the federal government expect both parents to contribute? That’s a good question, but we all see how this impacts kids of single parents trying to pay for private colleges that do require the non-custodial parent info. What does everyone jump up and down and say to them? “What are you thinking??? You have to apply to some FAFSA only schools where only your custodial parent’s information is required!” And then it all progresses to the sad fact that the gov’t just doesn’t give that much aid even to the neediest students. Throw in the income of a more affluent non-custodial parent who refuses to contribute, and now the kid gets nothing.</p>
<p>Can’t have it both ways.</p>
<p>An earlier poster was correct in saying that if the OP’s mom pays college bills for her in 2010-11 that will get reported on the FAFSA next year anyway, and it will increase the OP’s EFC.</p>
<p>swdad1 - your wife should file a fafsa. In that she would also include any child support and alimony she receives from you.</p>
<p>There are a lot of so-called loopholes in government programs. It is impossible to make a program that is one-size-fits all. If you look at the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch program - it only asks for income. Could care less about money in the bank. Conceivable a
parent could get laid off and have $1,000,000 in the bank and qualify.
This young woman may be eligible for a federal grant (or two). IF she receives any help from the other parent then that must be reported and she might not qualify in another year.
There are lots of examples where if circumstances were just a little bit different a family would or would not qualify.</p>