sybbie719

Does not matter. They live with their mom, she is the custodial parent. It is not unusual for the non custodial parent to carry his children for health/dental insurance, if he has insurance. After all it is in his best interest because mom could take him to court to pay for half of any unreimbursed medical expenses. HE's their father, he should be helping to pay for their clothes/shoes especially if their mom has fallen on hard times (it doesn't mean that he is doing anything special, that is what he is supposed to do).

Still this does not mean that they get to be listed as part of your household on the FAFSA because again, unless they live there 51% of the time, they are not.

sblake7

Sybbie-

Household number can include dependents not living in the household, if the applicant's custodial parent is providing more than half the support. You're confusing custodial parent requirement (living there more than 50% of the time) with number in the household, which has entirely different requirements.

romanigypsyeyes

sblake is correct, it's who is providing half of the support:

Who is included in the parents' household size?

sybbie719

sblake, welcome back. Haven't seen your posts in a while.

Op said that her step-dad really "does not have a job" . She said he makes ~ 15k/year and pays 10k in child support for his kids who live with their mom. where is the $$ coming from to pay for dental/health insurance (unless her mom is carrying the step kids through her employer), shoes and the rest of the stuff she said that he is paying that provides half support for the kids? OP said her step sibling's mom collects unemployment. THeir mom is paying for the roof over their heads and the day to day expenses.

her bio dad pays child support for 2 of her siblings (Op is over 18 and has a 3rd sibling who lives with their dad). Her mom must also include this on the FAFSA.

IIRC, child support is neutral, dad does not get to write it off on his taxes and custodial mom does not declare it as income. I know that it has to be reported on the FAFSA. Just because step-dad is paying support, does not necessarily mean that he is paying more than half of their support.

sblake7

Yeah, things aren't clear. But the point is that in order to determine which of the applicant's siblings can be included in the household number (and thereafter the number of household members in college), the test isn't where they live, it's which parent provides more than half the support.

OP says that's the step-dad. So on it's face, they can be included as household members, per FAFSA guidelines.

sblake7

(I've filled out my last FAFSA since my kids are getting older, so I've not been contributing for a while--)

mom2collegekids

I think the FAFSA rule about minor-aged kids is that they are counted in the household where they live regardless of the amount of child support paid by a NCP.

I think the 51% rule is really more for when you have a grad student or other adult (granny or adult-aged sibling not going to college) living in your home, so to count them you have to provide 51% of their support.

I do not think that the step-siblings that live with their mom get counted in your household. If there was a college-bound child in THAT other household, then those kids would end up being counted in your household and their mom's household...and that's not right.