Tax and FAFSA Experts

Oh, this is a sore subject with me. I did not get ANY help from my Dad for college. He basically kicked me out of the house at 18 and told me to make it on my own. Once I started working and going to school, I tried to complete my FAFSA paperwork on my income alone since I was receiving NO support from my Dad (my mother was deceased). I was 19 and they told me that I could not do that unless I was either 24 or had a child. I had to use his income regardless. Granted, this was 20 plus years ago, but it doesn't seem like it has changed.

Hello! Two very different questions here. I cannot answer about taxes, but I CAN confidently answer about the FAFSA (I worked in a college Financial Aid office for 6 years).

While the FAFSA does look at taxes in determining eligibility, a student is considered to be DEPENDENT (meaning they have to use their parent(s) tax information whether they want to or not) until one of several things happen. 1.) They turn 24 (NOT 22...it's 24) by Dec 31st of the award year, OR 2.) they have a child they support, OR 3.) they are a veteran, OR 4.) they are an orphan/ward of the court, OR 5.) they are married, OR 6.) they have a dependent (other than a child) who they support (roommates and boyfriends don't count...and yes, I've seen people try that one on their FAFSAs before). :)

Whether the parents claim the college student on their taxes or not, the student must still use parent tax information on their FAFSA until one of those above criteria are met. It was not uncommon at all for 'dependent' students to not be listed on their parent's taxes. By the way 'dependent' and 'independent' are the official terms used by the government with financial aid.

In the 6 years that I worked at this financial aid office at a very reputable 4 year college, I can only think of maybe a handful of situations which we were legally allowed to change a student from Dependent to Independent. As in it is almost impossible to do.

SO, plan on having your financial information listed on your child's FAFSA for a while.

Other note: The FAFSA is set up in such a way that they are using the previous year's data as a predictor on what a family can contribute in the upcoming year (whether or not the family actually contributes at all doesn't matter). *IF* you had a situation last year that makes your income look significantly higher than you anticipate it to look in this upcoming year, you can file paperwork for a Professional Judgement to have your income (for FAFSA purposes...not tax purposes) adjusted. For example say you or your husband lost their job recently, but last year's taxes would show two incomes...this would potentially be grounds for a Professional Judgement, and you could talk with a financial aid counselor to help you navigate this process.

Otherwise, plan on DEPENDENT for the status (whether you plan on helping your child or not).

Last thing...While the FAFSA can be filled out just about any time, there ARE priority deadlines that can make a difference in eligibility for limited funded items. If you think that your child will have any grant eligibility, then I would strongly encourage you to get your taxes done ASAP and get the FAFSA submitted online ASAP. Some aid is guaranteed if you are eligible. Other aid is on a first-come-first-served-IF-you're-eligible basis. When I worked in this office, the difference between a Feb 15th FAFSA submission date and a March 15th FAFSA submission date could potentially be the difference of about $3000 in grant eligibility. NOTE: Pell grant funds don't run out, so I am talking about other grants here. Loan eligibility will always be there, as well.

Go to fafsa.ed.gov to fill out the paperwork. :)

ETA to Julie S: Yes, that is one thing that I forgot to mention. The dependent vs independent status will also change once a first bachelor's degree is completed (they have several very small loopholes, and that is one of them!). :) That is why Julie's daughter was able to switch to Independent status for her Master's degree, but before turning 24. Also, in case any of you are curious, any GRANT eligibility no longer exists after a first bachelor's degree is completed. SO...if your child is working on a double major and they have grant eligibility, make sure to have them finish both degrees in the same semester, or they will lose any potential grant eligibility after the first bachelor's degree is awarded. Probably not surprisingly, LOAN amount eligibility actually increases for a 'graduate' level student. Fun stuff...student loans... ;)

Ah, all the ins and outs of this process. Sigh. :)

Yes, no

Seriously I do not know the cut off but even a child of 22 who has lived on their own since they were 18, who can prove they self support, cannot claim they support themselves so far as a FAFSA goes. Does not matter if you claim them as a dependent or not.

I assume this has grown from parents who can't afford to help their kids but if they distance their income their child can qualify for financial aid...

I was 38 when I went back to college, they didn't look at my father's income.

A coworker was cut off from child support at 18 so could not support her kids. When they claimed they were independent they were kicked out of the system.

There are some stupid things they don't catch like I was getting child and spousal support when my older two were in college yet they qualified on my income alone.

Anyway if you have any specific questions please feel free to message me. I have, not by choice, become a bit of an expert on this subject.

Did I answer you can claim them? Full time student, up till 24 years old

Amber has some good information but I wonder if there is another caveat in there. My daughter graduated at 22 and started her grad work, she did not have to use my financial information at that point even though she was not 24 so perhaps graduation makes you independent?

question 1 is yes. Do you provide at least 51% of the income.
Question 2 is no. question 1 is the definition of a dependent child, so thus no to question 2.
You can't have your cake and eat it too.

We definitely claimed our child as a dependent through college. In the year they graduate, you have to look at their income to see if you, or they, provided 50% or more of their support. The cut-off is not 22, it's higher.

1) Yes, you can claim your child as a dependent until age 24 if they are a full time student. But then the child can not take the dependent deduction if they are employed 2) No, you cannot omit the parents' income off the FAFSA form . The government "assumes" the parents will contribute to the education of the child (even if they won't) Good luck!

No expert here......

To answer Question 1.... according to our CPA, yes our daughter is claimed as a dependent now at age 20 until she is out of college. I need to double check but my understanding is also that she can stay on our insurance plan until she is 26.

She is currently a sophomore in college and plans on at least 3 years post graduate school. There are a lot of details we will have to figure out as well down the road a bit.

She is an employee/owner of our company as well which will help when it is time to sign her up on her own for health care.

Question 2.... I don't know. We don't do the FASFA

Questions #1:
Yes, as long as they are not filing for themselves with their own income.

Question #2:
Handy flow chart:
http://tinyurl.com/ob2xp5j

A "dependent" student (FAFSA's definition) needs to include their parent's income, an "independent" student does not.

It stinks, I was in a similar situation to Tracy (not as contentious, but no help whatsoever from my mom and still had to claim her income on my FAFSA).

FAFSA's pretty wacky about that. our boys who were on their own, self-supporting and going to school on their own dimes STILL had to laboriously collect all of our financial data, which was figured in and thus they got way less. this is the first year my 23 (almost 24) year old has been able to get the FAFSA on his own.
i don't think it carries over into the tax arena. we claimed our kids when they lived here, but when they moved out they started claiming themselves, and we lost our happy little deductions as WELL as the boys.
:::::sniffle::::::::
khairete
S.

My husband was in a similar situation as Tracy M (25 some odd years ago). Only his mother (adopted, who was also his bio grandmother) was not supporting him b/c she herself was in a nursing home.

He was told he had to go to court to become emancipated (even though he was already 18) in order to apply for financial aid without using his parents' financial information.

I just did my Fasfa aand until they are 22 OR married OR has dependents they are considered dependents of their parents. I am 99% sure of that at least.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p501/ar02.html#en_US_2014...#

See the 5 test a qualifying child must meet I. The IRS publication above

24 or younger at the end of the year, a full time student for at least 5 months of the year and you must provide more than half of their support. So if their part time job and scholarships provide 2/3 of their support you can not claim that child

I have friends who were having issues with their adult daughter and her financial aid. She was married and had a child and the FA people were still counting her parents income against her since she was under 21. They had to co-sing each student loan and send in their paperwork with her application. I think she was 25 when they finally stopped counting her parents income.

I thought that was crazy and they had to be misunderstanding that they were just helping her get extra loans or something but then I actually saw them doing the tax papers, they had not been claiming her in several years either, and I finally believed them.

I think it's crazy for them to count the parents income until a certain age or something. When a child is no longer living at home and they've started their adult live they need to have only their income count when applying for financial aid.