<p>I'm 21. I am recently living with my parents, and they barely be able to support me. I am living mostly on Pell Grant and Work Study. I have been awarded full financial aid package for the last 3 years. Now, I am planning to get married, and my fiancee is an international student. Since I can barely support my family, I will need a co-signer to sponsor my marriage to get my fiancee here. The aunt of my fiancee will be the co-signer for me.
My questions are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If I get married under that situation, my financial aid will be determined according to my income or the income of the aunt of my fiancee? From my knowledge, if I am married, I will be determined as independent and only my income and my fiancee's income will be considered.</p></li>
<li><p>In the case the income of the aunt is what financial aid considers, say her income is around barely $30,000, and she has a house to pay off. With that, will my financial aid will be decreased or cancelled? Cause she will be the co-signer, but for some family's reasons, she's not gonna support my whole family or even just my fiancee...well, of course. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you guys so much for reading,
Looking forward for answers,
W.L.</p>
<p>Once your get married, if you are married on the day you file the FAFSA, you willb e an independent student. Your EFC will be determined by the income and assets of you and your wife. keep in mind, that as an independent student with no dependents other than your spouse, you are not eligible for an automatic 0 EFC. In addition, because you are young, with many years til retirement, you will probably have very little if any income protection. Yes, this can decrease your financial aid (However you will be able to borrow an additional 4k as an unsubsidized loan).</p>
<p>Any monies from your aunt,( even given in support of your soon to be wife), given to you/your wife or bills paid by your aunt for you/wife, will probably have to be listed as income on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>In a word, no. Your aunt’s income and assets are not needed. However, as Sybbie has noted, any money your aunt gives to you or your spouse is supposed to be listed. Perhaps, it should be a loan so it does not. You and your spouse’s incomes and assets are what make up the numbers that will determine your EFC (and your spouse’s if a student with green card), Now that is for FAFSA. What a school requests on PROFILE is up to the school.</p>