Who is my parent fafsa

In Step 4 Parent , state that your parents' marital status is "single. Determine which of your parents is your "custodial parent.

Report financial support you receive from your "non-custodial" parent under the category of untaxed income. They may ask you to fill out a non-custodial parent form.

The custodial parent for federal student aid purposes is the parent with whom you lived the most during the past 12 months. If your parent is widowed or was never married, answer the questions about that parent. Your parents are undocumented. Your parents were never married. You are a first generation student. One of your parents has died.

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Visit us on campus. Find People MyBuffState. Give Now. Search: Search this Site. Note that this is not necessarily the same as the parent who has legal custody. If you did not live with one parent more than the other, the parent who provided you with the most financial support during the past twelve months should fill out the FAFSA.

This is probably the parent who claimed you as a dependent on their tax return. If you have not received any support from either parent during the past 12 months, use the most recent calendar year for which you received some support from a parent. Usually the parent with whom the student lived the most during the past 12 months is sufficient, since there are an odd number of days in the year.

However, in some cases a tie-breaker is needed, such as when the divorce was recent or when there are an even number of days in the year e. In such circumstances it is based on whichever parent provided more support. If that is not definitive, then the financial aid administrator at the college will make the decision, and this will usually be based on whichever parent has the greater income. Some colleges will follow the logic in a multiple support agreement, but they are under no obligation to do so.

Financial aid applications can be somewhat confusing because there are several different criteria applied for different kinds of parenthood:. As noted above, criteria 1, 2 and 3 are used for determining the custodial parent, with the first criteria being primary.

In a situation where the parents split all costs equally without even a penny difference , criterion number 7 is often used. For determining household size the number of family members , criteria 4 is the most important. This leads to the anomalous situation where a student can be counted as belonging to two different households. For example, suppose the non-custodial parent remarries and has college-aged children of his own. Criteria 4 is also used to determine whether the student has one or more dependents, in the rules for specifying whether the student is an independent student with dependents.