<p>Others have cited the letter of the law, which is that the physical location of the child the majority of nights spent at the parent’s house in a given 12-month period determines the custodial parent for FAFSA. Per the IRS, the child is considered to have lived with her custodial parent during periods of time when she is temporarily absent due to special circumstances such as going to college. </p>
<p>If you can’t identify the custodial parent for FAFSA based on residency, then the next criterion is support. However I would argue that you can identify the custodial parent based on residency and thus don’t need to move down the list of criteria to determine who the custodial parent is. I believe the residency requirement has been met.</p>
<p>My two sons have been in college for the past 3.5 years and have chosen where they’d stay every summer and during breaks. My ex and I haven’t counted nights at either place. Since they were both living with me when I first filed FAFSA, I have continued to file as the custodial parent. I have no idea whether this was advantageous for financial aid or not since I don’t know my ex’s income.</p>
<p>For completeness, here are the FAFSA criteria for determining custodial parent:</p>
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