I'm planning ahead for when I'll have to complete the FAFSA, and I have a question about parental involvement. Do I need to include financial information from both of my parents, even if they're divorced or don't live together? This has been a point of confusion for me because I don't want to misreport anything when the time comes. Also, does the requirement change if a stepparent is involved or if one parent has sole custody? If anyone can share how they navigated this, I'd love to hear your experience!
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) requires the financial information of your custodial parent, not necessarily both parents. Your custodial parent is the one with whom you lived the most during the past 12 months. If you lived with both parents equally, then the parent who provided more financial support during the last 12 months or during the most recent year that you actually received support from a parent is your custodial parent.
In the case of divorced or separated parents, the custodial parent is the one responsible for filling out the FAFSA. If your custodial parent is remarried, your stepparent's information would also need to be included on the FAFSA. This means that your stepparent's income and assets, as well as the amount of support they provide, are taken into consideration when calculating the Expected Family Contribution (EFC), or, as it was recently renamed, the Student Aid Index (SAI).
In situations where there is sole custody, only the custodial parent's information is required. If there's joint custody, it depends on which parent the student stays with more often. In essence, the key is to determine custodial parentage based on where the student has lived and which parent provided more support.
Please remember that every family's situation is unique and the information above is a general guide. I strongly recommend consulting the FAFSA website or reaching out to a financial aid advisor for clarity and confirmation about your specific circumstances.
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