@austinmshauri it might be too late for the 2017-18 school year that current HS seniors are applying to, but I was asking if it might not be too late for the sophomore-senior years of college, presuming the child wants to attend a 4 year school.
If the child applies to a FAFSA only school AND the ex-spouse is amenable to changing the overnight living arrangements for the rest of 2016 AND the remaining 2 months of 2016 might make it enough to allow the child to apply for FAFSA claiming living 51% of the time with the OP during the 12 months prior to filing (they can stilll file FAFSA in January, correct?) then it might not be too late for the 2017-18 school year.
I am sure that some divorced families play games, fudge the numbers and claim the child lives 51% of the time with the household that earns significantly less income. I don’t know how a school would ever verify this, but I applaud the OP for not wanting to cross that line.