Filling out your FAFSA properly helps you obtain financial aid for college.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, is the form that you are required to fill out to obtain federal student aid (grants, loans and work study) for post-high-school education. The FAFSA is used to calculated an expected family contribution (EFC), which is the amount that your family is expected to contribute to help pay for your education. Therefore, it is important to know which family members' income should be included on your FAFSA. Divorce and remarriage do have an effect on how you fill our your FAFSA and may ultimately affect the amount of financial aid your receive.
Reporting of Parental Income
Whether or not you are required to report your parents' income and assets on the FAFSA depends on whether you are considered an "independent student" or a "dependent student" under federal financial aid regulations. If you are an independent student, you only report your own income and assets, whereas dependent students are required to report the parents' income and assets as well. Thus, if you are an independent student, your mother's remarriage will not affect your FAFSA. However, if you are a dependent student, it is possible that you will need to report your stepparent's income and assets on your FAFSA form.
Independent Students
You will be considered an independent student if at least one of the following conditions applies:
• You are at least 24 years old on January 1 of the current year
• You are married on the day you apply for financial aid
• You are enrolling in a master's or doctoral degree program
• You are active duty military
• You are a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces
• You have children or other legal dependents who will receive more than half their support from you
• When you were 13 or older, both of your parents were deceased and you were a foster child, or ward of the state
• You are in legal guardianship on the day you apply for financial aid
• You have been determined to be a homeless youth by your high school, an emergency shelter program, or the director of a homeless/runaway youth center
Effect of Divorce
If you are a dependent student, and your parents are divorced, you must report the income and assets of your custodial parent, which is usually the parent with whom you lived the most during the 12 months prior to completing the FAFSA. If you lived with both parents equally, then the parent who provided the most financial support for you should fill out the FAFSA. This is probably the parent that claimed you as a dependent on the federal income tax return.
Obligation of Stepparent
According to section 475(f)(3) of the Higher Education Act, which governs federal financial aid, if you are a dependent student whose custodial parent has remarried at the time you fill out the FAFSA, then your stepparent must report his or her income and assets on the FAFSA. This requirement is not affected by prenuptial agreements that absolve a stepparent from financial responsibility for your education. If your stepparent refuses to provide the information, it is possible that you will be found ineligible for federal student aid. In this case, you should discuss the situation with one of your school's financial aid officers.
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