Hello!
I’m a divorced and remarried parent, and my oldest is applying to colleges for Fall 2026 enrollment.
How does one determine which parent is the contributor in situations where support is provided to more than one child?
My child support payments, which cover two children, are a higher dollar amount that what my ex-wife earns. When determining which parent is the contributor, does one consider the contributions to the household in total, or only to the student?
I pay $2000 a month in child support and my ex-wife makes $1500 a month. Since my child support covers two kids, does this mean I “support” my college-bound son at $1000 (that is, half the total support) or would support to the FAFSA student be $2000 a month?
BTW these are all made up numbers.
AFAIK there’s no direct guidance on this when calculating which parent contributes the most financially and is the FAFSA contributor (simply because there’s very little guidance on how to calculate which parent contributes the most.)
But, just to talk about your example, if you were to divide the child support by number of kids, then you would have to do the same for your ex’s/mom’s salary and take home pay. So, sounds like you would still be the contributor.
Note if you are the FAFSA contributor, your new spouse’s financial info must be included on FAFSA.
If you all decide your ex is the contributor, they will report 100% of the child support received from you on FAFSA…that is never divided by the number of kids in the household for FAFSA purposes.
@kelsmom?
Also remember to make sure the proper FAFSA parent has the student claimed as the dependant on their taxes.
Which parent claims the student as a dependent on taxes has nothing to do with who is the FAFSA contributor. For example, some divorce settlements include plans to alternate each year which parent claims the kids as dependents. And this would not impact FAFSA contributor at all.
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In the OP example, I believe the OP would be the parent on the FAFSA (and yes, the wife’s income and assets would be reported as well). @kelsmom can clarify, but I believe it’s the parent who provides more of the support for the kids…and it sounds to me like this parent does this.
The OP is the parent contributor for FAFSA; if remarried, the new spouse is also a parent contributor for the student. Note that the FSA Handbook states: If one parent pays child support to the other parent, the child support paid counts for the payer when determining which parent is a required contributor on the FAFSA form. It appears from your scenario that you provide more than 50% of your child’s support. This is also from the FSA Handbook, Parent Contributor section: Once the parent who provides more than 50% of the financial support for the student has been determined, that parent (and their current spouse, if applicable) should report their income and asset information on the student’s FAFSA form as a contributor.
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Thanks for sharing the FSA handbook verbiage. I do wish it was much more specific with regard to calculating which parent provides the most support…it is not always easy nor straightforward to figure this out.
And many families want to do what OP’s thought was…divide the child support whether paid or received by the number of kids. I tell those families same as I said above, if you want to divide the child support by the number of kids, go ahead. But then you have to do the same for the other spouse’s salary/take home pay.
Sometimes people are going to do what they are going to do. In those cases, when I can’t help anymore, I tell them to be consistent from year to year.
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It’s very difficult. The frustrating part is that the FSA Handbook basically states that it’s easy to determine the parent contributor. Uh, not so much in practice. I like your analogy about why it doesn’t make sense to split the contributions if there are multiple kids. That’s helpful. And I agree that people are going to have to make their best determination, so consistency is key.
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Thanks for the update. I got bad info from my accountant!
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Yes, sorry to hear….and all too common. So many accountants, investment managers, etc don’t understand FAFSA and financial aid!
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