FAFSA Confusion: Which divorced parent to invite when neither communicates?

The new FAFSA contributor rules are definitely tricky with divorced parents! The key is determining which parent provided more *financial* support during 2023, not necessarily who you lived with more. You need to try estimating the monetary value of everything: • Your mom's contributions: Phone bill (maybe $600-900/year?) + $1200 laptop = roughly $1800-2100 • Your dad's contributions: Value of housing during breaks (maybe $500-800/month depending on your area) + grocery money (let's say $100-200/month) If you stayed with your dad for 3 months of breaks, that housing value alone could be $1500-2400, plus grocery money. Document your calculations in case anyone questions it. And once you select a contributor, they'll have 35 days to complete their section. If they decline or don't respond, you can contact Federal Student Aid to request a contributor change.

my parents r divorced 2 and i just picked the one who makes less $$ lol. financial aid office told me thats what most ppl do anyway

I dealt with this exact issue last semester! It's so frustrating when the government expects divorced parents to somehow coordinate when they haven't spoken in years. What worked for me was making a spreadsheet with ALL support each parent provided, including: - Direct cash/money transfers - Tuition payments - Housing value (calculate monthly rent equivalent) - Car insurance/payments - Health insurance value - Phone plans - Groceries/meal plans - School supplies - Clothing I actually found that my mom provided more support than I initially thought. The housing value can be tricky - I used average rent prices for a shared room in the area as my calculation base. If you're really stuck, your financial aid office might be able to help you with the methodology.

As a financial aid counselor, I see this situation frequently. The FAFSA's "more financial support" rule requires you to quantify all forms of support, including indirect support like housing and insurance. Here's what I recommend: 1. Make a detailed list of ALL financial support from each parent (as others suggested) 2. For housing value, use fair market rental rates in your area for a bedroom 3. For meal costs while living with a parent, calculate approximately $15-20/day 4. Include health insurance premiums if you're on their plan (request this info from them) 5. Document everything with dates and amounts If it's truly impossible to determine who provided more support, contact your school's financial aid office directly. They have procedures for handling these ambiguous cases and may help you determine the appropriate contributor or possibly offer professional judgment. Remember, this is about accurate reporting, not maximizing aid. Intentionally selecting the lower-income parent when they didn't provide more support could trigger verification issues.

I spent 3 hours on hold trying to get clarification from Federal Student Aid on this exact issue last month. When I finally reached someone, they weren't much help - just repeated the same vague guidance from the website. I found a service called Claimyr that got me through to a FAFSA agent in about 20 minutes instead of hours of hold time. The agent I spoke with was actually helpful and explained that they're mainly looking for good-faith efforts to determine support - they understand these situations are complicated. You can check them out at claimyr.com or see how it works at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ But honestly the best advice I got was from my school's financial aid office. They deal with this all day and can give you specific guidance for your situation.

For situations where parents truly provide nearly equal support, the Department of Education has clarified that you should choose the parent you lived with more during the 12 months prior to filing the FAFSA. If time was split equally, then select the parent who provided more financial support during the most recent year they provided support. Here's a key thing many students miss: if you're not receiving ANY support from either parent (meaning you're financially independent but don't meet the independent student criteria), you need to try to determine which parent last provided more support, no matter how long ago that was. Document your calculation methodology thoroughly in case you face verification. The system is designed to capture your actual financial situation, not to create impossible barriers.

I HATE this stupid FAFSA "reform"!! My daughter is going through the same thing & its a NIGHTMARE!!! Both parents have to create FSA ID's now too even the one that doesn't contribute!! What if they REFUSE?? Her dad won't even respond to texts about it & the deadline is in 2 weeks. Thanks for NOTHING department of education!!!!!

After researching this extensively for my own FAFSA, I found an important point: the 'more financial support' rule is specifically looking at the 12 months before you submit the FAFSA, not the tax year the FAFSA is using for income reporting. So if you're filing the 2025-26 FAFSA now, you'd look at support from approximately Feb 2024-Feb 2025, not the 2023 tax year. This actually helped me because my support situation changed recently, and I could use my current reality rather than what happened a year ago. The financial aid officer at my school confirmed this when I asked.

Update on the contributor declining issue: If your selected parent declines to provide information or simply doesn't complete their section within 35 days, you can request a contributor change through your FAFSA portal or by contacting Federal Student Aid directly. However, this will delay your application processing. Alternatively, if you have a documented case of parent estrangement or inability to obtain parent information, your school's financial aid office can potentially process a dependency override. These are rare but exist for situations where parental involvement is impossible. Your school might also be able to offer institutional aid even without a completed FAFSA in extreme cases, so always communicate with your financial aid office about your specific situation.

I went through this nightmare last year and completely understand your frustration! The whole "more financial support" calculation is honestly one of the worst parts of the new FAFSA system. Here's what ended up working for me: I created a simple two-column list and assigned dollar values to EVERYTHING over the past 12 months: - Phone bill/utilities they pay for you - Housing value (I used Zillow rental estimates for a room in the area) - Food/groceries (even estimate meals when visiting) - Any cash transfers or Venmo payments - Insurance premiums if you're on their plan - School expenses like books, supplies, etc. The housing calculation was the biggest factor for me - staying rent-free even just during breaks can add up to thousands in value. Don't stress too much about being perfectly accurate; the financial aid offices understand these situations are messy and they're mainly looking for a good faith effort. One tip: reach out to your school's financial aid office BEFORE you submit if you're still unsure. They can walk you through the calculation and some even have worksheets to help. Way better than guessing and potentially having to change contributors later!

I'm in a similar situation and this thread has been incredibly helpful! One thing I wanted to add that might help others - if you're really struggling to get accurate dollar amounts for things like housing value, your school's financial aid office might have local market data they use for these calculations. When I called mine, they actually had standard rates they use for off-campus housing costs in our area, which made the calculation much more straightforward than trying to guess from online rental listings. They also told me that as long as you're making a reasonable good-faith effort to quantify support, they're not going to nitpick your methodology. The key seems to be documenting your thought process and being able to explain how you arrived at your numbers if asked. Having that spreadsheet or list that others mentioned seems like the way to go!

This thread has been a lifesaver! I'm dealing with almost the exact same situation - divorced parents who don't communicate and it's so confusing trying to figure out the "more support" calculation. One thing that's really helping me is reading through everyone's approaches here. The spreadsheet idea and reaching out to the financial aid office seem like the best strategies. I'm especially glad to see that @Millie Long mentioned this is about "accurate reporting, not maximizing aid" because I was worried I might accidentally choose wrong and get in trouble later. Does anyone know if there are any official FAFSA resources or worksheets specifically for calculating parental support in divorce situations? The main website is pretty vague but maybe there's something more detailed buried somewhere? I want to make sure I'm following the most current guidance since this whole system seems to keep changing. Also really appreciate everyone sharing their real experiences - it makes this whole process feel less overwhelming knowing other students have successfully navigated it!

I'm going through the exact same situation and this thread has been incredibly helpful! My parents divorced when I was in middle school and they absolutely refuse to communicate about anything, including my college finances. What's been working for me so far is creating a detailed expense tracker for the past 12 months, similar to what others have suggested. I'm tracking everything from my mom paying for my car insurance ($150/month) to the value of staying at my dad's apartment during winter break (which I calculated as about $800/month based on local rent prices). One thing I learned from my older cousin who went through this last year - save screenshots or receipts for everything you can! She said when her school did verification, they wanted to see documentation for some of the larger expense categories like housing value and insurance payments. Has anyone dealt with parents who are just completely unwilling to help with the FAFSA process at all? My biggest fear is choosing the right parent based on support calculations but then having them refuse to complete their section. The 35-day deadline seems really stressful when you can't even get them to respond to basic texts about it.

Wow, reading through all these responses has been SO helpful! I'm a junior dealing with a similar divorced parent situation and was dreading having to figure this out for next year's FAFSA. The spreadsheet approach that everyone keeps mentioning sounds like the most practical solution - I love how @Santiago Diaz and @Zainab Ismail broke down all the different categories to track. The housing calculation seems like it could really be the deciding factor for a lot of us. What really stands out to me from everyone's advice is how important it is to contact your school's financial aid office early in the process. It sounds like they have way more specific guidance and tools than what's available on the general FAFSA website. I'm definitely going to reach out to mine before I even start filling anything out. One question for those who've been through this successfully - did any of you have to deal with verification afterwards? I'm curious if having divorced parents makes you more likely to get selected for verification, and if so, what kind of documentation they actually wanted to see for the support calculations. Thanks to everyone for sharing your real experiences with this! It makes such a difference to hear from people who've actually navigated these complicated family situations rather than just reading the vague official guidance.