FAFSA dilemma: Adding a sibling & reporting Ford UAW pension income for 2025-2026

Yes, you can definitely add your son to your existing FAFSA! Log into studentaid.gov with YOUR parent FSA ID (not your daughter's), then look for the option to "Add or Remove a School or Student." You'll need your son's FSA ID handy too. As for the pension question - yes, pension income DOES need to be reported on the FAFSA. It's considered untaxed income in most cases. Look at the FAFSA questions about "other untaxed income" - that's where you'll report it. Don't just rely on what transfers from your tax return since this is a new situation for you.

my dad has UAW pension 2 and we DID report it on fafsa last year. they made us fix it when we didnt include it the first time. if u dont report they find out anyway when they look at ur tax stuff later

I think everyone here is confusing different types of pensions. It depends if it's a qualified or non-qualified pension plan. Ford UAW is probably qualified which would mean you DO report it. The advisor might have been talking about something different.

As a financial aid advisor, I can confirm you absolutely must report the pension income on your FAFSA. It falls under "untaxed income and benefits" on the FAFSA. For your Ford UAW pension specifically, you'll want to report the gross amount before any deductions. Regarding adding your son, the previous commenter is correct. The parent who created the original FAFSA should log in and add the additional student. You'll need both your FSA ID and your son's. The system will then allow you to copy over all the parent information automatically, which saves a ton of time. One important note: if your son previously had his own FAFSA from earlier years, make sure he hasn't already created one for 2025-2026 separately, as that would create conflicts in the system.

The FAFSA system is so frustrating!!! I tried for DAYS to reach someone at Federal Student Aid when we had a similar situation (adding my younger son). Kept getting disconnected or wait times over 2 hours. Finally used Claimyr.com and got through to a real person in 15 minutes! They have this system that holds your place in line and calls you back when an agent is available. Saved me hours of frustration. Check out their demo video: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent I spoke with confirmed that for UAW pensions specifically, it must be reported in the untaxed income section. They also helped me add my second son to our existing FAFSA.

I think everyones missing a CRUCIAL point here!!! If your oldest son is returning to college, his dependency status might be different than your high school senior. If he's been out of school working, living independently, etc., he might qualify as an independent student which means YOUR income and pension wouldn't even matter for HIM. Check the dependency criteria carefully before you add him to your family FAFSA. This could make a HUGE difference in his aid package.

wait can someone explain why pensions are couonted but 401ks arent??? my dad retired from gm last year and we didnt report his 401k withdrawls on fafsa... did we mess up???

Thanks everyone for the advice! I talked to Ford's HR department and confirmed it IS a qualified pension plan that needs to be reported. I also logged into studentaid.gov and found the "Add a Student" option right on the dashboard after logging in with my parent FSA ID. Good news - my son doesn't qualify as independent (he's 22 and has been living at home while working part-time). I'm going to add him today and estimate the yearly pension amount based on the monthly payments we've received so far. Hopefully this won't delay either of my kids' financial aid offers!

make sure u save the confirmation #s when u submit!! my brothers fafsa "disappeared" from the system and they said we never submitted it but we had the confirmation # to prove it