<p>Alright so here’s the situation: My mom is remarried with my step dad. My mom makes only like 30 thousand. But my stepdad made around 100k the last year. My dad who has been single makes about 50-60k. The thing is my parents split custody, i think, I mean I know my dad has to pay my mom child support but I get to see him whenever I want. I have always had my mom as my residence. </p>
<p>So here’s the problem (hold on it gets messy): A) my step dad has just retired. Thus this won’t show on his papers and will inflate the value of my household. B) My step dad has said that he will not be helping to pay for my college. C) My dad just got married, today! </p>
<p>Questions:
Can I just put my dad as my residency or is it too late for that to be legal?
If I can, will my dad’s new wife inflate the income of the household. She just came from Russia, has only been here for a month and works as a babysitter. She basically doesn’t have an income.
What can I do to show that my stepdad won’t be making money this next year?
What can I do to show that my stepdad won’t be helping to pay for my college?</p>
<p>Thank you to any brave soul who attempts to figure out this mess!</p>
<p>No you can’t just “put” your dad as your residency…unless you LIVE with him more than 50% of the time. If you split your time EVENLY between your parents households, you are required to put the parent who contributed MOST to your support…which would be the parent who had the higher income.</p>
<p>If you LIVE with your MOM…your residency is with your mom (and stepdad). It doesn’t matter if your dad pays ALL of your costs if you LIVE with your mom and stepdad more than 1/2 of the time.</p>
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<p>Well…I don’t think you CAN use your dad…but your dad’s wife’s income and any assets she has would have to be listed IF he became your custodial parent. The rule is…on the FAFSA the Custodial parent AND SPOUSE must report income and assets.</p>
<p>But I do have a question…if she doesn’t HAVE an income…how would that “inflate the income of the household”?</p>
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<p>Well…a couple of things…First of all…colleges assume costs will be paid out of current earnings, past earnings (savings) and future earnings (loans). Your stepdad has current earnings, and past earning…and probably will have a retirement income too…which ALSO counts if it is a pension of some sort. AND mostly, the income from 2009 will be what is used to determine your financial aid for the upcoming school year. </p>
<p>I believe there is a place on the FAFSA where you would indicate “retired” for your step dad. If your income will be substantially reduced (because the pension/retirement income is much less), you should contact the college to see what they might do for you. But I wouldn’t expect them to make huge adjustments for this.</p>
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<p>Sorry…that doesn’t matter at all. The FAFSA is used to compute an Expected FAMILY contribution and the reality is that your stepdad is a member of your family. While he may not be contributing to your college costs, he IS contributing to the living costs for your mom, and presumably you. Your step dad IS contributing to your household costs thus reducing the amount your mother and you must contribute to these costs. </p>
<p>Even if this were your biological parent…the colleges are not concerned with what the parents say they WILL or WON’T do…they deal with what the FAFSA formula says they CAN do. What the family will or won’t do is a family issue, not a FAFSA or school finaid issue.</p>