 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 student lives with the parent who has the lower income (including the stepparent’s income if this parent has remarried).
So, to the extent that the parents can control the student’s living arrangements, the student might be able to qualify for more financial aid. However, the living arrangements should be genuine. The parents may wish to ask the court to modify the custody agreement. College financial aid administrators have more experience with detecting fraud than parents have in gaming the system. For example, the college financial aid administrator will be suspicious if the custodial parent does not live in the same state or even school district as the student’s high school. Likewise, if the parents claim to be living apart, the financial aid administrator will question the accuracy of the FAFSA if the father answers when the financial aid administrator calls the mother’s residence (or vice versa). College financial aid administrators may ask for proof, such as a copy of the divorce decree, separation agreement, utility bills or apartment rental agreements.
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