How to File for Financial Aid if Parents are Divorced?

Students come to our office asking this question quite frequently because they are unsure how they should be filing the FAFSA and/or the CSS Profile.

The answer to this question is actually quite simple. The parent who has the physical custody of the child for the MAJORITY of the year should be the one filling out the financial aid forms. In this case, “the year” is considered to be the 12 month period ending on the day that FAFSA is completed. This means that if you are filing for financial aid on February 20, 2013, the “year” that you should be counting had started on February 20, 2012. For financial aid purposes, the parent with whom the student resided the majority of the time in that year is considered to be the custodial parent. In the unlikely event that the student spent exactly the same amount of time living with each parent, the parent who provided the most financial support for the student is considered to be the custodial parent and should be filing FAFSA (and CSS Profile if the child is an incoming freshman or a transfer student).

Please keep in mind that if the custodial parent has remarried, all income and asset information for any step-parent must be included on the financial aid forms. In addition, a non-custodial parent is also required to fill out a Non-Custodial Parent Profile. If you have questions about this, please do not hesitate to contact your financial aid counselor.