<p>Ok, I’m looking at forms to figure out expected family contribution and need-based financial aid possibility so I can go to the University of Michigan. I’ve got a complicated family situation.</p>
<p>My father makes $55,000-$60,000 a year. His girlfriend is a nurse (they’re not married) but they have a kid together. My father has two kids from his previous marriage (one of which is me), and his girlfriend has two kids from a previous marriage, also. Do I count his girlfriend’s income as my family income? Do I include all 7 people in my family size?</p>
<p>Most importantly…what kind of shot do I have at need-based aid?</p>
<p>Projected family contribution I calculated to be around $14,000, actual family contribution is $2,500/year…what do I do this is stressing me out.</p>
<p>I can’t answer all your questions, but if your father is not married, then his girlfriend’s income cannot be included as family income in the FAFSA calculation.</p>
<p>And if he has no legal responsibility for his girlfriend’s children, they are not listed on any of the forms. He lists only his children.</p>
<p>What about your mother? If she is alive, you need to list her income too, for the Profile. Do you live with your mother? If so, it’s her income that counts for FAFSA.</p>
<p>I live with my father, and he’s not remarried so from what I understood I only report my father’s income (custody holder). Regardless the EFC is $11,500 above what my actual family contribution will be per year…so unless I want a ton of debt…I’m out of luck.</p>
<p>kkei08, an EFC of $14k on $60k of income seems very high unless there is a ton of assets.</p>
<p>I would estimate it closer to $4-8k with average assets. I think you may have made a mistake unless you omitted information on significant assets or unless your mother has income about equal to your father’s.</p>
<p>As Chedva said, if your mother is alive, her income would be included even if you don’t live with her unless there is some very extreme situation. But if it’s the usual divorce, child living with one parent, the income from both parents is considered to calculate EFC since even the non-custodial parent is expected to contribute to college expenses.</p>
<p>Only those children who are considered your father’s dependents would be listed.</p>
<p>For FAFSA you only list the income of the parent you are living with - in the OPs case his father. The mother’s income does not have to be reported. $14K EFC does sound high for $60,000 income unless there are some assets. According to finaid.org If your father’s girlfriend and children live with you and he provides more than half their support it is possible they can be included in the family size
Not sure how that actually works but it may be worth looking into.</p>
<p>For profile both parents income would be reported but I do not think University of Michigan requires profile.</p>
<p>Just want to agree here with SCM–if the parents are divorced, only the custodial parent’s income counts on FAFSA. The GF’s income does not count–it only would if she and the dad married.</p>
<p>Number of dependents would include anyone that was supported by the dad, I think. Actually, here’s the explanation from the current FAFSA worksheet:
</p>
<p>Just change the years to reflect the later time period (since this is this year’s FAFSA, not next year’s which hasn’t been released yet.)</p>
<p>$200,000 in assets (including house, savings/checking account)</p>
<p>Is a $14,000 EFC still high? I don’t have a shot going to UofM-AA without financial aid…what kind of need based aid would you say is likely with those numbers?</p>
<p>For FAFSA the value of the house is not included in assets so if that accounts for most of the asset value you are ok. The value of savings/checkings is included in assets but there is a certain amount of asset protection depending on your fathers age. Unfortunately a single parent gets much less asset protection than two parents would.</p>
<p>My income is a bit over 60K, divorced, and my EFC is also 13K. I do not have much equity in my home nor have any assets to speak of. So, I do believe Kkei’ EFC sounds right.</p>