<p>I’m in sort of an interesting situation. I started school in 2013 at 22 years old. In 2012 I lived with my mother and stepfather in Colorado for the first two months and on a Job Corps center in Montana for the other ten. I moved to California in summer 2013. I moved into my grandmother’s house, and do not pay rent. When I did my FAFSA I used my mother and stepfather’s 2012 information, since I lived with them for a bit in 2012 and still technically lived with them when I was at Job Corps until I changed my address on file there to my grandmother’s house in California in May 2013. On my California state financial aid paperwork I claimed independent status (I have an AB540 out of state tuition waiver that also grants me access to state financial aid, and under California regulations I am independent even though FAFSA considers me dependent). Now I have to do my FAFSA for this year, and it’s complicated. I did not step foot in my mother and stepfather’s house at all during 2013 even though it was my home according to Job Corps until late May. They did not provide financial support. My grandmother provided room and board starting in July, but she is not willing to pay for college and never had legal custody of me when I was a child. My father and I were estranged from right before I turned 13 until I arrived in California last summer, and has provided some financial support like clothes. I will be moving in with him as soon as we find a lease on an apartment.</p>
<p>My main quandary is whether to report my father’s income or my mother and stepfather’s income. My father provided more direct support in 2013, but my mom and stepdad were my legal address for months even though I wasn’t physically present there. Either way my financial aid would be the same, because my mother and stepfather had a 0 EFC in 2012 and haven’t gotten into a better financial situation, and my dad makes very little money, too. I don’t think I have to report grandma’s income because she is not a parent and has never been a legal guardian and is therefore not viewed as responsible for my education, and I hope that’s the case, because she makes quite a bit of money.</p>