ago. If so, the custodial parent is the parent who provided more support to the student during the 12 months preceding the date the FAFSA is filed.
Cash support includes money and gifts, plus expenses paid by others on the student’s behalf, such as food, clothing, housing, car payments or expenses, medical and dental care and college costs.
If that is not sufficient, the custodial parent is the parent who provided more cash support to the student during the most recent calendar year for which parental support was provided.
If all else fails, the college financial aid administrator will decide which parent is responsible for completing the FAFSA. Usually, the financial aid administrator will choose the parent with the greater or higher income.
If the custodial parent is remarried as of the date the FAFSA is submitted, the student should answer the parental information questions about that parent and the person to whom the parent is married (the student’s stepparent). This can have a big impact on eligibility for need-based student financial aid.
Prenuptial Agreement: A prenuptial agreement is a contract executed by a couple prior to getting married. The prenuptial agreement typically specifies spousal support and the division of property upon divorce. A prenuptial agreement may also be called an ante nuptial agreement or premarital agreement.
A stepparent is treated like a biological or adoptive parent if the stepparent is married, as of the FAFSA submission date, to the custodial parent (the parent’s whose information must be reported on the FAFSA). The stepparent’s financial information must be reported on the FAFSA, without exception. Prenuptial agreements have no impact on this requirement, which is a matter of federal law.
The stepparent’s income in 2014 must be reported even if the stepparent and custodial parent did not get married until 2015 (but prior to the date the FAFSA is submitted).
The stepparent’s income and assets must be reported even if the stepparent refuses to help the student pay for college. There are no exceptions. Providing income and asset information on the FAFSA does not obligate the parents to borrow or cosign a student’s loans or to pay for the student’s college education. Parents are not responsible for repaying their child’s federal student loans (e.g., Federal Stafford Loan and Federal Perkins Loan) even if the child is a minor. Federal student loans are not subject to the defense of infancy. The child’s federal student loans are not reported on the parent’s credit history. (The Federal Parent PLUS Loan, however, is reported on the parent’s credit history, as are any private student loans cosigned by the parent.) But, if the parents do not complete the FAFSA, the student will not be able to get any need-based federal student aid.
If the custodial parent dies, the stepparent is no longer responsible for completing the FAFSA unless the stepparent has legally adopted the student, even if the student continues to live with the stepparent. Instead, the noncustodial parent becomes responsible for completing the FAFSA. If the student has not had any support or meaningful contact from the noncustodial parent for an extended period of time, the student can seek a dependency override from the college’s financial aid administrator. In any event, support provided by the stepparent to the student should be reported as untaxed income to the student on the student’s FAFSA in the answer to the question about “Money received, or paid on your behalf (e.g., bills), not reported elsewhere on this form.”
If the stepparent provides more than one-half support for a child, regardless of where the child resides, the stepparent may include the child as part of his or her household size. If the stepparent’s child will be enrolled in college on a least a half-time basis in the coming academic year, the child may also be counted as a part of the number in college.
A student will sometimes qualify for more need-based financial aid if the student’s parents are divorced or separated and do not live together and the stude