FAFSA using ex-husband's income after divorce - can I fix my parental contribution?

You can definitely address the divorce situation! File a Special Circumstances form with your son's school's financial aid office. Since your current financial situation is dramatically different from 2021, they can do a professional judgment review. Bring your divorce decree, current income documentation, and explain that you receive no support from your ex. Regarding your business: The FAFSA requires reporting all business assets with over 100 employees. Since your eBay business has no employees, you were correct to list $0 for business value. However, your business bank accounts ARE considered personal assets that should be reported on the FAFSA, even if you use them exclusively for business. The FAFSA doesn't distinguish between personal and business bank accounts for small business owners.

I went through something similar last year with my divorce and FAFSA. The Special Circumstances form saved us! My ex made around $95K and I was at $32K, and they initially wanted me to pay nearly $20K. After submitting the form and documentation, my expected contribution dropped to about $3,200. One thing to note - each school handles these differently. Some have specific forms on their financial aid websites, others want a written letter explaining the situation. I'd recommend calling each school your son applied to and asking about their specific process for FAFSA adjustments due to divorce. And yes, definitely include those business accounts on the FAFSA - the formula looks at total assets regardless of what you personally consider business vs. personal money.

you prob need to correct both years fasfa seperately. my sister had to do this when our parents split. also the biz accounts totally count as your assets sorry. they got my sister for that too lol

This EXACT thing happened to me! Divorced in 2022, used 2020 tax return with ex making 6 figures. My SAI was ridiculous. Called FSA and they just kept saying there's nothing they could do at the federal level, and I had to work with each school. It's THE MOST frustrating process.

When I was trying to reach the FSA helpline about my divorce situation, I kept getting disconnected or waiting for hours. Finally found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me connected to an agent in about 10 minutes. They have a video demo showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ The agent explained that while they can't change my FAFSA directly, they gave me exact instructions on what forms to request from each school and what documentation would strengthen my case. Saved me days of frustration trying to get answers.

THE WHOLE SYSTEM IS RIGGED AGAINST DIVORCED PARENTS!!! I've been dealing with this EXACT situation for 3 years with my kids. The FAFSA is DESIGNED to screw over the lower-income parent after divorce. My ex made $120K and I make $39K, and they expected ME to pay $19K/year for college?!?! RIDICULOUS!!!! Even after special circumstances, they only dropped my contribution to $8K. HOW am I supposed to pay that?? The colleges don't care - they just want their $$$$. And good luck getting your ex to contribute anything once you're divorced.

Financial aid counselor here. A few clarifications: 1. For the 2024-25 FAFSA specifically, using the new simplified formula under the FAFSA Simplification Act, your marital status as of the day you complete the FAFSA is what matters. So for your 2024-25 form, you should be able to file a correction showing your divorced status and only include your income. The 2023-24 form would still require Special Circumstances review. 2. Regarding business assets: For small businesses with no employees, you correctly reported $0 for the business value. However, ALL bank accounts must be reported regardless of their purpose. The FAFSA doesn't distinguish between personal and business accounts for small business owners. Business checking/savings are considered your personal assets. 3. For both years, contact each school's financial aid office. Explain your situation clearly and ask about their professional judgment process for divorce situations. The sooner you do this, the better.

One more thing to consider - the new FAFSA system for 2024-25 is still having lots of glitches with corrections. When I tried updating my son's application last week, the system kept crashing. If that happens to you, document EVERYTHING - take screenshots showing you tried to make corrections, note dates/times. This will help if you need to prove you attempted to fix the issues before deadlines.

Regarding the two separate applications: Yes, you'll need to address each one separately. For 2023-24, you're limited to the Special Circumstances review through each school. For 2024-25, you can both submit a correction AND request Special Circumstances review. For timeline expectations: Special Circumstances reviews typically take 2-4 weeks to process, depending on the school's workload. Some schools won't finalize any aid package until they complete this review, while others might issue an initial package and then revise it. I'd recommend calling each school's financial aid office to understand their specific process and timelines. Regarding contribution expectations: With your $28,000 income and the new Student Aid Index formula, your contribution would likely drop significantly - potentially to $0-3,000 range depending on your other assets and family size.

I'm so sorry you're dealing with this - the divorce/FAFSA situation is incredibly stressful! I went through something similar when my divorce was finalized mid-academic year. A few practical tips from my experience: 1. **Priority order**: Start with your son's top choice schools first when contacting financial aid offices. Some schools are much more generous with professional judgment adjustments than others. 2. **Documentation prep**: Get multiple copies of everything ready - divorce decree, recent pay stubs, bank statements, and a letter from your ex's attorney or court documentation showing no support obligations. Having everything organized will speed up the process. 3. **Business account reporting**: Unfortunately yes, you do need to report those business accounts. I learned this the hard way too. The FAFSA considers any accounts in your name as your assets, regardless of their business purpose. 4. **Timeline management**: Don't wait for the FAFSA corrections to process before submitting special circumstances forms to schools. Do both simultaneously to avoid delays. The good news is that with your actual income of $28K, your contribution should drop dramatically once the adjustments are made. Hang in there - it's fixable, just takes some persistence!

I'm dealing with a similar situation right now and wanted to share what I've learned from my financial aid advisor. The key thing is to act quickly on both fronts - the FAFSA corrections AND the special circumstances appeals. For the FAFSA corrections, definitely don't try to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool again. You'll need to manually enter just your portion of the 2021 income. If you filed jointly, you might need to get a tax transcript and calculate what portion was actually yours versus your ex's. One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet - make sure you're also updating your dependency status correctly. Since you're divorced, only YOUR income should count as the custodial parent, not your ex's. This is a separate issue from the special circumstances review. Also, regarding your eBay business - you mentioned putting $0 for business value, which is correct for the FAFSA since you have no employees. But for your taxes, make sure you're tracking all business expenses properly. This can help reduce your adjusted gross income, which will ultimately help with your Expected Family Contribution. The system is definitely frustrating, but don't give up! With your actual income of $28K, you should qualify for significant aid once everything is corrected.