<p>I'm thinking about moving in with my biological dad (well grandparents really, since he still lives with his parents) because it's closer to my school and I can commute. Also, I'm having problems at home and just want to get away from my family for a little bit. Will i need to change my Fafsa? Someone told me if you're "too poor" (my dad has no income) then you'll get no Financial Assistance, and I'm barely getting enough as is with my parents at home "making too much", which is ridiculous. They barely make enough to buy groceries. Anyway, will a change in location hurt or help my Financial Aid?
Thank you </p>
<p>Are you a college student now? </p>
<p>Your custodial parent for financial aid purposes is the parent with whom you reside the most in the 365 days prior to filing your FAFSA. So…come January when you file your FAFSA, if you lived with your dad the majority of the time in the 365 days prior to filing, he will be your custodial parent and your mom won’t be listed at all. If your mom is the custodial parent, you won’t list your dad.</p>
<p>But really, if your dad has no income, this won’t decrease your financial aid. BUT you will most likely be targeted for verification. A $0 income would certainly beg the question of how your dad pays living expenses and he will need to document this.</p>
<p>@thumper1 yes I’m in school now. And I THINK he makes some money fixing computers with some company but it’s not alot, I just know he doesnt pay rent, for food ect because my nana does it for him… And how do I go about proving I’ve lived with him for 365 days? It’s not his house and he really won’t be taking care of me. </p>
<p>You would,have to show evidence that you resided with him the bulk of the year…or really someone could easy question this change. Will he be assuming any costs for you?</p>
<p>Really, at this point…it’s mid September. Did you love solely with your mom until now? You might not actually reside with your dad. 51% of the time by the day you file your FAFSA.</p>
<p>@thumper1 what evidence is what I mean. What will they want from me to show I’ve been living with him other than mail addressed to me form my grandmas house? And I’m not planning on doing this yet. Just planning for the future </p>
<p>Yes. They will want some kid of proof that this has happened. </p>
<p>You can start having mail there, or you can simply get a calendar and mark where you 've been staying each night. You just have to stay one more night with your dad than you mom to be able to claim him as your custodial parent for FAFSA. It’s not usually hard evidence needed; it just can’t be disproved like some kid who might so claim when one parent lives near the school, and the other out of commuting range. My friend who had her oldest live a day more with his dad , though she had custody, simply checked it off by calendar. That way the FAFSA was completed using her Ex’s financials. </p>
<p>I don’t know how schools handle the situation where a parent has zero or very low income and can make due because that parent is living with a SO or parents who are subsidizing his cost of living. Like that person does not have to pay rent and is eating out of the house fridge and pantry without contributing. Whether that in imputed, unearned income or not, I don’t know . I do know that FAFSA and the colleges may ask for verification, and at that time will ask specific questions on how someone making so little can make ends meet. From what I have seen, I don’t think the subsidization is heavily in the picture. There is an auto zero EFC if a parent makes under $20K or so anyways, and assets are then not counted, so imputed, unearned income from other’s support probably is just looked at as below that number. Perhaps Sybbie or Kelsmom can comment on how that situation is viewed by fin aid officers.</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse He makes ends meet by living at home with his parents. And all I need to verify I have been living there for a year is mail? If so, can I start doing that now or is that illegal?</p>
<p>You are committing federal fraud if you state that you were living there more than with your mom’s when you were not. Your proof is not going to be that important as much as if you mess up somewhere lying , and it’s easy to do, and it comes out you are not telling the truth. Lies have short legs, and yes, you can get caught. Just mark it on a calendar, have your mail and things sent there instead of to your mom’s place , but most importantly make sure your backside is in bed there one night more than at your mother’s. </p>
<p>You won’t need to CHANGE your FAFSA,most likely for this current year if you already submitted it. If you already completed the FAFSA for the school year beginning Fall of 2014 and going through the spring 2015 term, and where ever you most lived the 365 days before that date you filled out that FAFSA is a done deal. IF you have not yet filled out this particular FAFSA, you need to count up the days you lived with your mother and come up with one day more that you were with your dad to be able to say he is your custodial parent for this year. But you cannot change what you already filled out as custodial parent unless you made a bonafide mistake and change of custodial parent is probably a flag. If you truly did live more days with your father, and this was truly an error, you would have to be prepared to discuss this when questioned. How much of an investigation this would be, I don’t know. </p>
<p>But your FAFSA for the school year beginning fall of 2015 and running through spring of 2016 is the the 2015 FAFSA that comes out Jan 1 of 2015 and you can start counting the days back from when you decide to complete it Though the income will be for the calendar year of 2014, your custodial parent is determined by which one you lived with the most (and one day more suffices) 365 from the day you fill out that firm, not the calendar year. Assets are also to be input as of the day you fill out the form, not 12/31 or any other date. </p>
<p>Do your grands have a bedroom for you? Do they want you to live with them? They may already feel burdened supporting their adult son.</p>
<p>I would like to respond with an important aspect of this that I haven’t noticed anyone else mention…and that is the 1040 that your mom files.
If she includes you on her taxes, this idea that you proposed is NOT going to fly. If dad has no income, it is not likely that HE is going to file.
IF you state that your mom is barely making ends meet now, it is highly unlikely that she is going to agree to giving up this pretty valuable deduction of YOU on her tax return especially if NO one else is going to use it. </p>
<p>If you live with dad more than you live with mom, she still might be able to claim you since ‘time away at school’ in some circumstances still counts as time living at home.
Again, if Mom is not on board with this it is going to cause MAJOR problems for you that go beyond red flags if you don’t mention this to her NOW. If mom files her federal taxes Feb 1 she might have already spent the money from her return (assuming that there is one) before you even find out. If by some odd chance they rule in your favor, she will have to repay the amount (plus interest).
I am not suggesting don’t do this, as only you know the complete situation, but I am saying investigate this as it is not as simple as moving and getting a new driver’s lic. </p>
<p>Divorced parents can ‘trade’ the personal deductions for there children even if the child does not meet the residency requirement (more than half the year). If if OP moves in with her dad, her mother can claim the deduction if the court ordered it or if the parents agree. </p>
<p>Often courts order that one parent gets the deduction, that they swap it, that one takes one child and the other parent another child. It is an exception to the tax code definition of qualifying child.</p>
<p>Whatnot answer…um…you are wrong. It doesn’t matter which parent declares this student on their taxes for FAFSA purposes. The mom can still declare the student. If the student resides 51% of the time with the dad for the 12 months prior to filing the FAFSA, the dad would be the custodial parent per FAFSA, even IF the mom provides most of the support and the mom puts the kid on the taxes.</p>
<p>@twpinanddone, it appears that one of us has made assumptions that the OP did not state. We don’t know if the parents are divorced or not but we DO know that there will be no “swapping” since Dad has NO income. So either Mom takes the deduction or no one takes it. </p>
<p>IMO, OP needs to sit down with her mom and have dialogue with respect to how this will impact Mom’s finances.
My point is simply that if Mom wants or needs the deduction AND she claims it, Fafsa is going to request information from THAT 1040 for the OP, so if all other things remain the same in Mom’s household, OP’s financial aid package will not change. If Mom’s financial situation is been properly stated by the OP, it is not likely that she is going to let this deduction go without some discussion (and notice) . </p>
<p>WhyNotanswer…listen again. The mom CAN still take this deduction even IF the student sleeps more than 50% of the time at her dad’s.</p>
<p>I did say divorce, because it can be ordered in a divorce, but marriage is not really necessary and the deduction can be awarded in a custody or other court order, or just agreed to. My point was that only in the case of two parents not filing together (never married, divorced, married filing separately) the requirement that the one taking the deduction must provide more than have the support and the child must live with the parent more than half the year do not apply. A parent has different rules (qualifying child) than someone else claiming a dependent (qualifying relative).</p>
<p>FAFSA does not require the parent claiming the deduction to provide a tax return if that is the non-custodial parent. It requires the tax information for the parent with whom the student lived the most in the 365 days before filing (not the tax year). Since the FAFSA doesn’t have to be filed until months after the tax year is finished, the student could very well live with the claiming parent for the tax year and with the other parent for the FAFSA year. But it doesn’t matter. For tax purposes, the child never has to spend one night with the parent who claims him if it is court ordered or agreed to.</p>
<p>I just looked it up and both you and Thumper1 are correct. I am wrong. </p>
<p>While it is not excuse for posting bad information as fact. My explanation is that my neighbor’s grandson attended a school that required a CSS profile. (Which is how I got to this board in the first place). I am the one that made the assumptions as I ASSUMED that they all did. (I only made the ‘ass’ out of me)</p>
<p>The (large?) list of colleges that DO require CSS profile in addition to Fafsa can be found here.
<a href=“CSS Profile Participating Institutions and Programs”>CSS Profile Home – CSS Profile | College Board;
<p>The school where the aforementioned neighbor’s son went DID require information from BOTH parents despite the fact that he lived with a parent who (from what the OP stated) is in the exact same situation as the OP’s father which (I hope) explains why I so aggressively defended my incorrect position. The move that he made did NOT help his financial situation at all because the child’s mother’s info was mandatory in the Css profile that was required WITH (but now I know that it was not a part of) the Fafsa. </p>
<p>It’s ok…mistakes happen.</p>
<p>Many Profile schools do require info from both parents. But some don’t.</p>