Calculation of divorced parent’s income re: college financing?
Saturday, September 26th, 2009 at
6:57 pm
shadowriches asked:
I am divorced with three children. Next year the eldest will be heading off to college. How, if at all, is the income of the non-custodial parent figured into needs formulas for college financial aid/loans/grants?
I am divorced with three children. Next year the eldest will be heading off to college. How, if at all, is the income of the non-custodial parent figured into needs formulas for college financial aid/loans/grants?
Tagged with: College Loans • Custodial Parent • Financial Loans
Filed under: Student Loans
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Only the income and assets of the custodial parent are considered.
Shadow:
Suba’s response is only partially correct – the actual answer depends on FAFSA regulations, and even on the specific school.
When an applicant completes the FAFSA, he/she is required to provide the financial information for the parent that they lived with most frequently during the 365 days immediately prior to completing the form. If that parent has remarried, the applicant must provide income information for the step-parent, as well, regardless of whether or not the step-parent provides financial support.
In the rare event that the applicant lives with both parents equally, he/she must provide the financials for the parent who provided the greatest amount of financial support over that 365 day period.
So – from the perspective of FAFSA, the non-custodial parent’s income is generally not taken into consideration – though it’s possible that a child could voluntarily choose to live with the non-custodial parent, making that other parent’s income countable and relevant.
It’s also important to recognize that certain schools DO look – independently – at the financials of the non-custodial parent when the biological parents are divorced. I don’t know of any public, state universities that do this, but there are quite a few private schools that use the CSS/Profile financial aid application to supplement the FAFSA.
The CSS/Profile has a “Non-Custodial Parent” section that must be completed, and many of these schools take the information reported in that section of the application quite seriously. The non-custodial parent is required to provide income info, bank statement info, mortgage info, business info, just like the custodial parent.
So – yes – as Suba has told you – the “general” rule is that the non-custodial parent’s financials are not used to determine financial aid eligibility by the US Department of Education, but if you’re looking at private schools, they very well may take the other parent’s income and asset information into account in evaluating the need for financial aid.
Good luck.