Need some help with a financial aid question?

cptofthehouse
Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:11:34 +0000

First of all, your household includes your mother, her husband and any dependents living with them, unless you are age 24, have a dependent yourself, married, are a veteran of the armed forces or have a court order severing your ties with your parents. That you moved out and live on your own and don’t get or take a cent from your mother/dad, nor will they help you at all makes no difference for college aid. So unless you are in any of those categories, you are dependent on your family.

If you are independent, you do need to fill out the FAFSa, and see how it comes out. I don’t know off hand how assets will be handled for an independent student. Also how did you get this money? If you got it this year, will you have to report it for tax purposes? Is it something that the FAFSA form covers in terms of income? It didn’t “poof” just appear. It is income and depending on its source, if you go it this year, it may have to be a line item on the FAFSA you will need to fill out available 1/1. If you are filliig out FAFSA forms for this school year already in session, and the money came to you in 2011, you have the same issue. If you got it this year, it won’t be an issue for FAFSA currently being used for the school years running Fall 2012 through the Summer 2013.

So now if you are not independent now or in 2011, again this depends on for what time period you are filing, you need to get your custodial parent’s information. Did your mother fill out a FAFSA this year? Is your information also on it? The FAFSA requires two PINS, one yours and one your parent’s. Sometimes the two parts are done together with both people agreeing on this. If you are talking about the FAFSA that was or is filable in the 2012 calendar year, you need to find out if one was filed and what is on it. All this has to come from the financial officer of your school with whom you have to run all of this info.

IF your custodial parent (the one defined as either the one you spent the most time with, OR the one who makes the most money) has an income that does not make your familiy eligible for the Simplified Needs test, yes, 20% of your money as of the date the FAFSA was filed is added to your student EFC. Your total EFC is equal to your Parent’s EFC plus your student EFC. There is no EFC generated unless BOTH parent and student has their spaces on the form filled in if the student is does not meet independent critera.

So you need to know what is on file for you and if it is correct. If it totally wrong, it has to be corrected and you do that with the financial aid director at your school who is permitted to make those corrections.