Proving Household Size ?

swimcatsmom
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 02:19:55 +0000

If your sister makes $10-12k a year, it is very unlikely your mom provides more than 50% of her support. If your sister makes 12,000, your Mom would have to be supporting her to the tune of at least $12,001 in order to be providing more than half her support.

As for taxes - for your Mom to be able to claim your sister as a dependent as a qualifying relative, your sister would have to meet several criteria. One of them is the gross income test. To meet the gross income test, your sister would have to have made less than $3700 in 2011. If she made over $3700, your Mom could not have claimed her on her taxes. (she is not a qualifying child because she is over 24 - unless she is permanently disabled). She also would not be able to claim your Grandma because of the gross income test and because she does not live there all year.

From what you have said here, I think it is highly unlikely that either your grandma or sister will qualify as members of household for FAFSA purposes. You can ask the school what documentation you would need to provide. I would be quite surprised if you can convince them to add your sister back though.