FAFSA marital status update for mid-year transfer - dependent in 2022 taxes but married now
My son graduated college this December and got accepted into a Master's program at a different school starting in January. On top of that, he got married in June 2024. I know we'll need to update his FAFSA to reflect the new school information, but I'm confused about his marital status. Since the 2024-2025 FAFSA uses our 2022 tax information (when he was still our dependent), should he still update his marital status to "married" even though that wasn't his status during the tax year being reported? Will this create conflicts with the dependency determination since he was our dependent in 2022 but is now married? I'm worried about messing up his financial aid package for his Master's program!
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Oliver Wagner
Yes, your son absolutely needs to update his marital status on the FAFSA, even though the tax information is from 2022. The FAFSA asks for marital status as of the date the application is completed/updated, not as of the tax year. Marriage automatically makes him an independent student regardless of the 2022 tax situation. This is one of those situations where the FAFSA looks at different factors from different time periods. When he updates the FAFSA, he should: 1. Change his marital status to married 2. Change his dependency status to independent 3. Remove all parental information 4. Add his spouse's financial information 5. Update his school information This will likely increase his eligibility for certain types of aid, especially unsubsidized loans for graduate students.
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GalaxyGazer
•Thank you for this clear explanation! So even though we claimed him as a dependent on our 2022 taxes (which is what the 24-25 FAFSA is using), those tax forms won't create a conflict when he updates to independent now? I just want to make sure we won't trigger some kind of verification flag by having mismatched information.
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Natasha Kuznetsova
congrats on ur son getting married! the same thing happened with my daughter last yr except she got married during undergrad. we had to call the financial aid office bc the online system kept giving us errors when we tried to update everything.
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GalaxyGazer
•Oh that's good to know! Did you eventually get it sorted out through the financial aid office? We might need to do the same.
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Javier Mendoza
Okay there's a lot of missinformation here. The marital status question on FAFSA is asking about the STATUS ON THE DAY YOU FILE!!! This has nothing to do with the tax year. He is now considered an Independent student because he's married, no matter what. Its one of the automatic criteria for independence. Also, for graduate school he's automatically independent anyway so its actually not that complicated.
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Emma Thompson
•You're right about the marital status being as of the filing date, but there's an important detail to add - while graduate students are considered independent for most purposes, the actual FAFSA form still requires them to indicate the specific reason for independence (marriage, age, graduate status, etc). Each affects the SAI calculation slightly differently, so it's important to mark all applicable criteria.
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Emma Thompson
I dealt with this exact situation with my daughter last year. When completing the update, make sure your son selects both criteria for independence - being married AND being a graduate student. The system will update his SAI (Student Aid Index) calculation based on his new independent status. One tip: Have him take screenshots of his original FAFSA information before making these changes. Sometimes updates can cause unexpected changes to the aid package, and having documentation of the original submission can help if there are any disputes with the financial aid office.
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Malik Davis
•This is excellent advice about taking screenshots! I wish I'd done that when my son transferred schools mid-year. We had a nightmare when his original aid package disappeared and the new school claimed they never received his FAFSA data. Had nothing to prove what was originally submitted.
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Isabella Santos
Wait, so because he's now married, the parents' income doesn't count at all? That seems too good to be true. My daughter gets married next month and she's still in school...
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Oliver Wagner
•That's correct! Marriage is an automatic qualifier for independent status, meaning parental information is no longer considered. The FAFSA will now only look at your daughter and her spouse's income and assets. However, be aware that if they have higher combined income/assets than you as parents, it could potentially result in less aid.
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Malik Davis
I had SUCH a headache trying to call Federal Student Aid about a similar situation when my son transferred mid-year. I kept getting disconnected after waiting on hold for hours. I finally used Claimyr (claimyr.com) which got me through to an actual person in about 15 minutes. They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent clarified that marriage overrides any dependency status from tax returns, even if they happen in different years. Your son needs to update everything ASAP because Master's program aid packages are often first-come, first-served.
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Natasha Kuznetsova
•omg i wish i knew about that service last yr!! i literally spent 3 days trying to get through to fafsa
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StarStrider
I'm going through a similar thing rn and the financial aid office at my new school told me I have to file an *entirely new* FAFSA, not just update my existing one, because I'm switching to a graduate program. Is that right? Anyone know for sure? The whole system is so confusing 😩
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Emma Thompson
•That's incorrect - you don't need to file a new FAFSA for the same aid year (2024-2025). You can simply update your existing FAFSA to add the new school code and update your status. The financial aid office may be confusing this with the fact that you'll need to complete a new FAFSA for 2025-2026 when it becomes available.
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GalaxyGazer
Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! I just talked to my son and we're going to update his FAFSA this weekend. We'll make sure to update both his marital status AND his school information. I'll also have him take screenshots before making any changes - that's such a smart idea I wouldn't have thought of. It sounds like we need to remove all our parental information since he's now considered independent due to both marriage and graduate status. I'm feeling much more confident about navigating this transition now!
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Oliver Wagner
•Glad to help! One more thing - when he updates everything, he should immediately follow up with both schools' financial aid offices by email to notify them of the changes. This creates a documentation trail and prompts them to pull his updated FAFSA information.
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