FAFSA marital status confusion - married after 2023 tax year but before application

You'll need to report your current marital status as of the day you complete the FAFSA. Since you're married now, select "married/remarried" even though your 2023 tax return shows you as single or head of household. However, you'll only report YOUR 2023 tax information, not your new spouse's, since you weren't married in 2023. The Department of Education understands these timing situations happen and has processes for them. Make sure to call Federal Student Aid to confirm if you need to do a special circumstances update later. Sometimes they request additional documentation to verify the change in circumstances.

my cousin had this EXACT situation last year!!! she got married in december and her son was applying for college. she put married on the form but only her income from her taxes. they got the expected amount of aid with no problems

i think youre supposed to use your status at the time you file. so youd be married but only use your 2023 tax info...pretty sure. the FAFSA is so complicated these days with the new SAI calculations. i miss the old EFC system honestly

I struggled with this EXACT situation when filling out my son's FAFSA last year! The worst part is that once I listed myself as married, the system kept asking for my spouse's income anyway, even though we weren't married during the tax year. I tried calling FSA but spent TWO HOURS on hold before getting disconnected. I ended up having to submit without my husband's info and then had to go through a whole verification process that delayed my son's aid package by 3 months. The system is BROKEN!!

This is a common misunderstanding with the FAFSA. You report your marital status as of the date you complete the form, but you report tax information from the prior year. So in your case: 1. Mark "married/remarried" for your current status 2. Only report YOUR tax information from 2023 3. Leave your spouse's information blank or enter zeros where required 4. Include a note in the comments section explaining the marriage date Keep in mind that your daughter's school's financial aid office may request additional verification or documentation since there's a discrepancy between your marital status and tax filing status. Having your marriage certificate ready will help expedite this process if needed.

I work in college financial aid, and I can tell you that this situation happens quite frequently. Here's the official guidance: - You must report your marital status as of the date you submit the FAFSA - The FAFSA only asks for 2023 tax information - Since you weren't married in 2023, only your income is reported However, be aware that your daughter's SAI (Student Aid Index) may be adjusted during verification if the financial aid office determines your new spouse's income should be considered. This is called "professional judgment" and varies by institution. I recommend reaching out to the financial aid office at her prospective schools AFTER submitting the FAFSA to explain your situation. They can note your file and be prepared for any necessary adjustments.

my son's FAFSA got completely messed up becuz of something similar. ended up losing out on almost $6000 in grants becuz they counted my new husbands income even tho we weren't married during the tax year. the whole system is a SCAM designed to give u as little money as possible!!!! good luck but prepare for the worst

Quick update on this topic since there's some misinformation in the thread: The 2024-2025 FAFSA specifically addresses this situation. You do mark yourself as married, but there's a specific question asking if your marital status changed after December 31, 2023. If you answer yes, you'll only need to provide your income information, not your spouse's. This is different from previous years, so some of the experiences shared here may not apply to the current FAFSA. The Department of Education made these changes specifically to address situations like yours.

Just FYI my daughter's college required a "special circumstances" form because of our mid-year marriage last year. Be prepared to provide extra documentation like your marriage certificate and possibly your new spouse's income information even though it's not on the FAFSA. Different schools handle these situations differently, so check with each college she's applying to!

I'm in a very similar situation - got married in October and my son is applying for college! Reading through all these responses has been incredibly helpful. It sounds like the key is marking "married" for current status but only reporting my 2023 income since we weren't married then. One thing I'm wondering about that I haven't seen mentioned - do we need to update our FAFSA later in the year if our new spouse's income affects our tax filing for 2024? Or does that only matter for next year's FAFSA application? I'm trying to plan ahead since this whole process is so confusing! Also, @Madison Allen, thank you for mentioning that specific question about marital status changes - I'll definitely look for that when I'm filling out the form. It's reassuring to know they've addressed this exact situation in the current FAFSA.

As someone who just went through this exact situation last month, I wanted to share my experience! I got married in September and completed my daughter's FAFSA in December. Here's what actually happened when I followed the advice in this thread: 1. I marked "married" for current status 2. Only included MY 2023 tax information (since we weren't married then) 3. Left spouse income fields blank/zero 4. Added a note in the comments explaining our marriage date The FAFSA processed without any issues, and my daughter received her Student Aid Report showing her SAI calculation based only on my income. Two of her prospective schools did request our marriage certificate during verification, but it was a simple process - just uploaded it to their portal. One tip I'd add: make sure you have digital copies of your marriage certificate ready before you start the FAFSA. Some schools want it immediately to verify the discrepancy between marital status and tax filing status. Having it ready saved us weeks of back-and-forth! @Madison Allen's point about the specific question regarding marital status changes is spot on - that question made the whole process much clearer than I expected based on horror stories I'd heard about previous years.

As someone who works as a financial aid counselor, I want to clarify a few things I'm seeing in this thread that might be causing confusion: The 2024-25 FAFSA does have that specific question about marital status changes after December 31, 2023, which is exactly what you need. When you answer "yes" to that question, the system will only ask for YOUR tax information, not your spouse's. However, I want to address some concerns about verification - about 30% of FAFSAs are selected for verification regardless of circumstances, so don't panic if you're selected. The marriage certificate request is standard procedure when there's a discrepancy between marital status and tax filing status. One important thing to note: if your new spouse has significant assets or income, some schools may use "professional judgment" to adjust your daughter's aid package even though it's not required on the federal form. This isn't common, but it's worth being prepared for. My advice: complete the FAFSA as described (married status, only your 2023 income), keep that marriage certificate handy, and don't stress too much about the process. The Department of Education has really improved how they handle these situations compared to previous years!

I am seeing information on this thread that conflicts with FSA. According to FSA, if your parents are married, they must both contribute on the FAFSA. There is no caveat as to when your parents were married. This is straight from the FSA handbook: "If the student’s parent is married and filed their 2023 taxes jointly with their current spouse, only one parent contributor is required. If the student’s parent is either (1) married or remarried, or (2) unmarried and living together, and did not file their 2023 taxes jointly with their current spouse or partner, the parent’s spouse or partner will be a required contributor on the student’s FAFSA form." As such, if a parent is married and only their tax information is included on the FAFSA, there's a good chance they'll be selected for verification to correct this.