FAFSA. Divorced parents.

cptofthehouse
Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:50:07 +0000

First of all what kind of financial aid have you gotten? If your filed FAFSA with your mother has the primary parent and she has very low income, and you are getting a lot of financial aid, you do need to be careful when your father pays any of your tuition as it does have to be reported as money received or paid on your behalf, as Kayf points out. The best thing to do is to have your father Lend you the money, complete with a notarized loan note for anything he gives you with market value interest, so that you are covered for this contingency. Repayment to begin when you graduate. IF he decides to forgive the loan upon graduation that is his business, but this way it is a loan, not payment given on your behalf.

The reason I am asking you about particulars about your financial aid is because if you aren’t getting aid beyond some loans anyways, it might not make any difference.

These things are not usually audited or verified, but you do want to have them in place in case they are. Also make sure that you spend as much time and a bit more with your mother, document it, so that there is no question as to who your custodial parent is, if keeping your mother as primary will make a difference.