1.Move out with the student. Get their own place to live. Then OP becomes the custodial parent for FAFSA and Profile purposes. Oh…and then look for schools that don’t require the non-custodial parent.
Parents need to put aside their financial sharing differences for the benefit of their student...and just deal with this issue...IF they need and would qualify for need based aid.
Look for schools with merit aid or schools which are at the price point that only this poster can afford.
I believe question 45j on the FAFSA is referring to bills (rent, utilities, etc) paid on the student’s behalf. OP should read what the FAFSA website has to say about the question so they understand what they’re required to include. @kelsmom is a financial aid person. She may know.
If this is for real, if you doubt the dad will give accurate information, you may be setting yourself up to be selected for verification, which will require more documentation and tax forms. Good luck.
Yes, some reverse engineering of each other’s income and assets is possible once the parents see the FA offer. This is also the case with divorced parents doing the CSS Noncustodial Profile.
@YikesAlready - Here is a link to the PDF of the FAFSA formula for 2019-2020. Next year’s formula will be released sometime soon, so watch for it in case there are changes that matter for you. https://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/1920EFCFormulaGuide.pdf
Print this out and work through the numbers for yourself. The EFC result would be the minimum that your own home-state public university is likely to expect you to pay if you and your child weren’t living with the father. You will also find out if your child would be eligible for some Pell grant money if you weren’t living with the father.
Have you even asked your partner how much he’s going to pay towards your child’s college costs each year? I would start with that.
Then I would explain to him that with the current way that you handle financials, your child will probably not be able to apply for FA since both parents’ income/assets would need to be on FAFSA…and the parent with the FAFSA ID could access that info at any time …which would end privacy at that point.
And explain to him that if he does decide to provide details for FAFSA (and CSS), then he must be perfectly honest and forthcoming otherwise your child will still not get need based aid (if qualified).
Perhaps your partner will just say, “we’re not applying for FA because we’re going to pay for college” or “child will have to apply to schools that will give him merit and then we’ll split the remaining costs.”
The student with the FSA ID also would have access to the completed form.
In addition, please keep in mind that your kid signs with their FSA ID that the info presented is truthful and accurate. If the other parent is not honest…and your kid gets need based financial aid using dishonest information…that is considered fraud. Look that up. It is a crime.
If you plan to do the financial aid forms, at all…the info on them needs to be accurate…and that means HONEST.
Otherwise your kid runs the risk of losing aid, their admission spot, and could be fined.
Honest! Colleges and financial aid frown on dishonesty in a big way.
^^^THIS from @mom2collegekids is essential. OP now knows how things work. Parents of a college applicant living together, whether married or not, whether filing joint returns or not, must file FAFSA together with income and assets revealed. The 2020 FAFSA is linked to the 2018 federal tax returns. That is a crucial first step to most ANY financial aid. For schools that tend to give a lot of their own money, an additional Form, the CSS PROFILE, is required and that requires both parents to fill it out, regardless of whether the parent is supporting the child or living together.
Before the student can even begin to make realistic college plans, he needs to know how much money his parents can pay for college. He also needs to know how much he can get from the government and colleges. The parents are the only ones who can tell him what they are willing and able to pay, and the only way to get an idea of what sorry if financial aid is available at given colleges is to run NPCs on them using both parents’ financial, as it now stands with both parents living together and for many private schools even if one parent is absent.
Yep…and the parents don’t want the student to know their incomes or assets either! If they can’t use the IRS DRT, the numbers are entered in…and will be clearly visible to that student.
Even if it is, parents who do FAFSA usually know their kid’s FSA ID because in many/most homes, the parent fills the whole thing out (even if that’s not the way it’s supposed to be done.)
A non-custodial parent buying a car for the student (assuming the purchase is an outright gift) is neither “money recieved” by the student nor is it money/bills paid on the student’s behalf. It would not be reported on the FAFSA as untaxed income to the student.