<p>So I got my finaid offer from vandy and basically everything that my full tuition scholarship didn’t cover, I got covered with need based because my mom is only substitute teaching and was mostly in school last year. My parents are divorced and both remarried, and my mom has custody. My step dad is unemployed but still receives a lot from investments, but they have it in their prenup agreement that he isn’t paying anything towards my college. At the time I did my FAFSA my mom and stepdad were separated but now they’re back together and when I turn in all of this year’s tax returns, do you think that the school will take away my financial aid offer or reduce it dramatically?</p>
<p>It could affect it. They do not care what a pre-nup says. A step parent is treated the same as a parent by FAFSA and there are no exceptions because of pre nups.</p>
<p>which sucks…</p>
<p>Well, depending on how much “a lot” of investments means - and what form they’re in - it might not be too terrible. First, not all assets are reportable, ie. retirement accounts. Then, FAFSA has an asset protection allowance based on the age of the older parent/step (see pg 19 of doc below). The remaining reportable assets above that level are assessed at a fairly small percentage of their value. If you or mom can “guesstimate” what those assets are, you can run them through the FAFSA estimator and get an idea how much it will impact you next year.</p>
<p><a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf</a></p>