<p>What is “other income” in terms of Financial aid?</p>
<p>My parents and I live with another family, would “other income” be like the bills they pay?</p>
<p>Go to fafsa.ed.gov & look at worksheets A, B, and C. The worksheets tell you exactly what to enter. Bills are not part of the FAFSA … that is, the FAFSA does not consider your expenses. If someone shares your family’s bills (or pays them, for that matter), it doesn’t come into play. FAFSA looks at other income such as social security income, child support, tax exempt interest income, tax exempt payments to retirement plans, etc. They are listed on the worksheets.</p>
<p>Thanks for reply.</p>
<p>I’m actually trying to respond to a request by UCSB to clarify my income.
They think my mom’s income is low. And the form they sent me to fill out has “other income.” </p>
<p>This video says to include “bills paid on your families behalf by another individual,” as other income. So I’m guessing yea they want me to list the amount the other family pays as our income?</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.finaid.ucsb.edu/Forms/Tutorials/0809/ParentIncomeClarificationWorksheet/ParentIncomeClarificationWorksheet.htm[/url]”>https://www.finaid.ucsb.edu/Forms/Tutorials/0809/ParentIncomeClarificationWorksheet/ParentIncomeClarificationWorksheet.htm</a></p>
<p>Basically, keltix, they are asking you to explain how you and your family are surviving on the income reported. You will need to explain the living arrangements, who is responsible for what bills and whether they supply your family with any monetary funds. Depending on the living arrangements, some of the money the other family pays towards household expenses MAY need to be reported on the FAFSA…if any of those expenses are in YOUR name. Worksheet B does ask about money received or paid on your behalf by someone else (last question on the worksheet). The parent side doesn’t require this be answered, so only disclose funds paid on bills or expenses that are in your name.</p>
<p>I’d be hesitant to call bills paid by the other family in a shared living situation “income”. It’s not-- and it will hurt your aid to list it as income.</p>
<p>Perhaps the key here is whether the bills the other family pays in the shared living situation are paid “on your families behalf”. They aren’t-- they’re paid on their behalf. It’s the other families income and the other families expense.</p>
<p>I agree with sblake. The other family has to pay the bills, anyway. Your family is being allowed to live with them. That is not income. </p>
<p>If the school wants to know how the family can survive on the reported income, I understand that. However, the fact that this family can survive by living with another family does not translate into receiving an income from them. The portion of the bills paid that would benefit the student does not have to be reported … you wouldn’t split your own family’s bills by the number living in your home & call it income paid by others on the student’s behalf, so why would you do that with the bills of the family you are living with? Maybe NikkiiL is referring to some other bills the family might be paying in the student’s behalf … I just can’t think of what she might mean. She may have “for instances” for you. I haven’t had any actual experience with anything like that.</p>
<p>Write the financial aid office a letter that explains your situation. If you are unsure about anything, please call & talk to them. They will be able to tell you everything you need to know.</p>
<p>Should I include in the letter that my mother has a child with the house owner??</p>
<p>It’s complicated at this point, because I’m not sure what to say and how to say it. They are not married so he is not my stepfather, at all. My mother is divorced from my dad so she gets child support and I definitely included that in the form.</p>
<p>I don’t want to include the bills paid by him (father of my half-sister) as our own income, because it’s not and he will NOT support my education. Nor do I want to omit relevant financial information and add superfluous family history.</p>
<p>How should I go about this?</p>
<p>Bills paid on the student’s behalf would include his/her cell phone, car payments, insurance on the student’s car, etc. IF the other family is paying any portion of these, the amount would DEFINATELY have to be included on worksheet B. Also, at the institutional level for institutional aid, the school CAN choose to assess part of the household bills that are paid by the other family as income for the student’s family. If this other family is just allowing the student’s family to share the household, or if the student’s family is paying rent to the other family, it is a totally different situation. BUT, again, IF the other family is paying ANY of the student’s living expenses, it MUST be reported. Worksheet B clearly states “Money received, or paid on the student’s behalf (e.g., bills), not reported elsewhere on this form.”</p>
<p>You definitely need to tell all relevant facts to the aid office. I thought that you were living with the other family because you would be homeless otherwise (we have a lot of those cases at a high school where I sub). That may or not be the case for you … but it seems more like a marriage in your case, just without the legal documents. You would not need to use your mom’s boyfriend’s income on the FAFSA (Profile schools might want his info, though … not sure about that). However, the fact that your mom has a child with the man with whom you live puts the situation in a different light, I would suspect. Basically, the aid office wants to know how your family can live on so little reported income. They want to make sure you aren’t neglecting to report anything. They need all the details in order to provide you with a fair & equitable aid package. Just give them all the details. Don’t leave anything out … if they don’t need that info, they won’t hold it against you just because you brought it up.</p>
<p>" Higher Education Act defines untaxed income and benefits as “cash support or any money paid on the student’s behalf, except, for dependent students, funds provided by the student’s parents”. Since this definition is limited to money paid to or on behalf of the student, gifts to the student’s parents are excluded.) "</p>
<p>[FinAid</a> | Parents | Budget Cutting](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org/parents/budgetcutting.phtml]FinAid”>http://www.finaid.org/parents/budgetcutting.phtml)</p>
<p>I guess this college wants “bills paid on your FAMILY’S behalf.”</p>
<p>Be up front, but they’re paying the bills for themselves. When I called and talked to the FAFSA people about this, I was asked “Are the bills in question in your name?” For example, the power bill is in my partner’s name. He pays it. As a result, he is not paying a bill “on my behalf” or “on my son’s behalf” – he is paying his utility bill. We just happen to get the benefit of his electricity. On the other hand, the cable bill is in my name. I usually pay it. If he does, that’s a bill paid “on my behalf” – because it’s a bill in my name, but someone else paid it for me.</p>
<p>And because of this, I was told that unless bills are in my son’s name, and others are paying them, that my partner’s payment of household expenses was not “on behalf of” my dependents. </p>
<p>When I was asked to explain the same thing you’re asking about, I explained I share space, and what I paid. I emphasized that my income went almost entirely to the direct support of my dependents – for school, clothing, books for classes, things like that. All the schools in question and the feds seemed fine with that explanation. The concern is that a parent is <em>hiding</em> income, not that they’re living with others to share expenses.</p>
<p>keltix: By the way, our family has a lot of the same situation, except I don’t have a child with my partner now. I spent a lot of time researching it and talking to college financial aid folks and the federal financial aid reps. The overarching principle that was explained to me is that because an unmarried partner has no legal obligation to support you, and could be gone tomorrow without legal penalty, no one expects to include that person’s income in your aid. (It will be different for your half-sibling, because the partner does have a legal relationship with her. )</p>
<p>The questions can be really scary, I know, but schools are for the most part not looking for excuses to take away your aid. They just have a responsibility to figure out if there’s money missing from your statements, as I said before. Explain who pays for what in your household, and you should be fine.</p>
<p>Thank You TrinSF.</p>
<p>I’m going to follow your advice and just be up front and write a detailed letter with expenses and income. I’ll update when I get a reply. I appreciate all the answers.</p>
<p>I knew a girl in your same situation. Her mother lived with a man that was quite wealthy. She lived with them. On her FAFSA she declared her mothers and her divorced father’s income. She ended up doing quite well be her account. She went to a state school.</p>
<p>Why did she include the non-custodial parent’s income? (since they were divorced: parents=mom)</p>
<p>I have a feeling the person was talking about the Profile. FAFSA doesn’t include non-custodial parents, but the Profile does.</p>