<p>Chedva, thanks. </p>
<p>My question is really this: if one parent is the custodial parent for the first year of college, must that parent be the custodial parent for all the college years, regardless of changes in who supplies more money, more time, etc.? From what you post, it appears that a change in circumstances would indeed make it okay to change the custodial parent from year to year.</p>
<p>We share things evenly, and it would get down to the “$1 more” determination if it came to that. For last year, I’d probably win the “contributed more” contest if we’re getting into counting pennies; for this year, exH will likely win it, so next year, he probably needs to be the one filing FAFSA if the custodial parent can change from one to the other. (It’ll take him that long to get the necessary paperwork organized anyway…) Looks as though that’s the case; thanks! </p>
<p>I just wanted to make sure that this does not follow the “once this, then for the duration” rule that some things involved in college money matters follow.</p>