<p>Does anyone know the general living allowances given to people in a household/dependants of a person when determining the EFC of a parent? For example, I hear that parents have a larger ‘allowance’ the older they get, but what about other members or adults or even supported people by one person? </p>
<p>If one parent is supporting themselves, their significant (unmarried) other, and that person’s child, as well as paying [ex]spousal support/alimony and child support for three more people, is an ‘allowance’ factored in covering all 6 people, or just 3? </p>
<p>Does anyone know what those allowances for people generally are, or is that determined differently from school to school? </p>
<p>As for the household size … it would be 3. You are going to report the money you pay in alimony & child support, but you can’t claim them in your household.</p>
<p>Kelsmom: I know it’s only 3 people in that household…obviously I don’t live there. Haha, I meant is there the ‘allowance’ of child support and alimony included, or can they count that as part of his spendable money?</p>
<p>There is a question about how much is paid out for alimony & child support. The money that is paid out would not be considered money a family has to put toward education. What I mean is, something like pretax payments to retirement savings are considered a choice. Therefore, this money is considered available to be spent for college - that is why the info is reported on FAFSA/CSS even though it’s not reported on taxes. But alimony & child support payments are not a choice, generally speaking. That’s also why they are reported on the FAFSA/CSS - the formula takes these payments into account when determining available income.</p>