FAFSA confusion with split custody - claiming grandson on taxes but mom lives with us too

This is actually a common situation! On the 2025-2026 FAFSA, your grandson will need to report information from his \

Thank you for explaining! I'm not married to his mother (she's my daughter) and I haven't adopted him. So it sounds like only my daughter's income would count, not mine? Even though he lives under my roof and I financially support both him and my daughter? That's surprising but helpful to know.

when my niece did hers last year they asked about who she lives with not just who claims her on taxes. the whole system is designed to get as much $$$ from family as possible lol. good luck!

This isn't entirely accurate. The FAFSA specifically looks for contributions from legal parents and their spouses, not just household members. While it's true they want to assess family ability to pay, they have specific rules about whose information is required.

Since your grandson is a junior, you're smart to plan ahead for the 2025-2026 FAFSA! The new FAFSA is very specific about who counts as a contributor:\n\n- If your daughter has majority physical custody, she's a contributor\n- If your daughter is married, her spouse would also be a contributor\n- Grandparents are NOT contributors unless they've legally adopted the student\n\nHowever, there's an important consideration: any financial support you provide to your daughter (paying bills, giving her money, etc.) would be counted as untaxed income to her on the FAFSA if she reports it correctly.\n\nAlso, while your income won't be counted directly on the FAFSA, any money you give directly to your grandson for college would be considered student income, which is assessed at a higher rate than parent income.\n\nFor planning purposes, I'd recommend your daughter complete the Federal Student Aid Estimator tool closer to application time to get an idea of your grandson's potential aid.

This is really helpful. I do pay most of the household bills since they live with me. Does that mean my daughter needs to report all that as income to her? That seems complicated to calculate. And I was planning to help pay for his college directly - are you saying that would hurt his aid eligibility more than if I gave the money to my daughter instead?

Im in a similar situation with my grandkids and let me tell you its confusing!!! The FASFA people never give you straight answers and you wait FOREVER on the phone. I tried calling them 5 times before I got any help.

I had the same frustrating experience calling FSA. After wasting hours trying to get through, I used Claimyr.com to connect with a live agent in minutes. They have this service that calls for you and gets you through the phone queue. Saved me so much time! You can see how it works in their video demo: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ\n\nThe agent I spoke with explained that for grandparents who aren't legal guardians, your income doesn't count toward the SAI calculation - but as others mentioned, any support you provide to the parent or student might need to be reported in different ways.

this is confusing af but from what i understand who claims the kid on taxes has NOTHING to do with fafsa anymore its all about who the kids biological parents are and if theyre married to someone else. the new FAFSA is supposedly simpler but seems more complicated to me lol

You're exactly right that tax dependency and FAFSA reporting are completely separate issues. The 2025-2026 FAFSA focuses on \

I work with families on financial aid planning, and I'd like to clarify a few important points:\n\n1. The 2025-2026 FAFSA uses a contributor model that specifically looks at legal parents (biological/adoptive) and their current spouses.\n\n2. Grandparents' income and assets are NOT directly counted on the FAFSA unless they've legally adopted the student.\n\n3. However, there are indirect ways your financial support affects the calculation:\n - Money you give to your daughter could be considered untaxed income to her\n - Direct payments for your grandson's education (outside of qualified 529 plans) may count as student income\n\n4. For planning purposes, you might consider:\n - Contributing to a 529 plan in your name with your grandson as beneficiary (distributions from grandparent 529s no longer count as student income on the FAFSA)\n - Clearly documenting any formal rental arrangement if your daughter pays you rent\n\nThe new FAFSA has eliminated many questions but has created some confusion around blended families and multi-generational households.

Thank you for this detailed explanation. I do have one more question - I own the house we all live in. Does the value of my house factor into the FAFSA calculation at all? And what about my retirement accounts? I'm trying to understand if any of my assets could affect his financial aid even though my income doesn't count directly.

To answer your latest question: The home you live in (your primary residence) is not reported as an asset on the FAFSA, regardless of who owns it. And qualified retirement accounts (401k, IRA, etc.) are also excluded from the FAFSA asset calculations.\n\nSince you're not a contributor (not a legal parent or spouse of a parent), your assets don't directly count. However, if you're providing significant financial support to your daughter, that could indirectly affect the calculation as others have mentioned.\n\nThe best approach would be for your daughter to be the one completing the FAFSA when the time comes, reporting only her income and assets as required. And remember that for the 2025-2026 application, they'll be looking at 2023 tax year information.

You've all been so helpful! I feel much better prepared now. I'll make sure my daughter understands she'll need to complete the FAFSA, and I'll talk to her about how to properly report any support I provide. We still have some time to plan since he's only a junior, but I wanted to understand the process early. Thank you all for your explanations!

dont forget about other financial aid too! my friends grandson got a scholarship from the local rotary club and another one from his dads union. those smaller scholarships add up!

This is excellent advice. Local scholarships often have less competition than national ones. Have your grandson start researching local opportunities from:\n\n- Community foundations\n- Local businesses and banks\n- Civic organizations (Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.)\n- Your employer or professional associations\n- Religious organizations if applicable\n\nMany of these have deadlines during senior year, so starting research now is perfect timing.

Great thread! As someone who just went through this process with my own family, I wanted to add that it's also worth checking if your state has any specific financial aid programs. Some states have grants or scholarships that have different eligibility requirements than federal aid. Also, make sure your daughter creates her FSA ID well before the FAFSA opens - that was one thing that caught us off guard and delayed our application. The whole process seems overwhelming at first but you're definitely on the right track by planning ahead!