Will my federal grants be affected when my teen starts college while I'm still in school?

This is a great question! When both parent and child are in college at the same time, it actually can work in your favor. Your household's Student Aid Index (SAI) will be divided by the number of family members in college. So if both you and your daughter are enrolled at least half-time, your expected family contribution gets split between you two, potentially making both of you eligible for more aid than if only one was attending. However, there's one important caveat - this only applies if you're not claiming your daughter as a dependent on your FAFSA. If she files as an independent student, your educational status won't affect her aid and vice versa. The rules around dependency status for FAFSA are strict though, and just because she's in college doesn't automatically make her independent.

my sister and mom were both in school at same time and they both got MORE money not less!! the fasfa people look at ur family and go "oh 2 people need college $$ not just 1" so they give more aid. but u both gotta fill out the forms right or it dont work

I want to correct some misinformation here. For the 2025-2026 FAFSA and beyond, they no longer divide the SAI by number of college students in the household. This was a significant change in the FAFSA Simplification Act. Instead, they now use a Student Aid Index (SAI) that looks at your individual income/assets, but your daughter will still list you as a contributor on her FAFSA if she's a dependent student (which most students under 24 are). What will happen is that your income will be considered in calculating her SAI, but your status as a student won't directly benefit her aid calculation like it would have under the old system. And yes, she'll almost certainly be considered a dependent student unless she meets one of the specific criteria (married, veteran, has her own dependents, etc.). For your own aid, your daughter is your dependent, so her starting college doesn't change your aid eligibility significantly.

when my kid started college last year i lost ALL my pell grants!!!! the system is rigged against parents going back to school, they assume we're made of money just cause we have kids in college too. prepare to take out more loans 😡

Has anyone successfully gotten through to the Federal Student Aid helpline about this kind of situation? I've been calling for DAYS about a similar issue with my son starting college while I'm finishing my master's and I can't get anyone on the phone!

Here's my experience: I'm finishing up my bachelor's this year while my son is a sophomore in college. The main thing that affected us wasn't the FAFSA calculations as much as the timing of when aid is distributed. Make sure you both submit your FAFSAs as early as possible (October) because some aid is first-come, first-served. We also found that talking directly to both financial aid offices was crucial - they sometimes have institutional funds they can provide when federal aid isn't enough, especially for unique situations like parent-child both being in school. They're more flexible with those funds than most people realize.

My situation was similar but slightly different - I was finishing my associate's when my twins started college. I learned that for PARENT PLUS loans, being a student yourself doesn't disqualify you from taking them out for your dependent. Just be careful not to exceed your own aggregate loan limits by combining your student loans and any PLUS loans you might need for your daughter. The financial aid officers can help calculate this so you don't hit caps unexpectedly.

Thank you all for the helpful responses! This has given me a much better idea of what to expect. I'll definitely talk to the financial aid offices at both our schools when the time comes, and I'll make sure we both submit our FAFSAs as early as possible. I'm going to start researching institutional scholarships too, since it sounds like we can't count on the multiple-students-in-household benefit anymore with the new SAI system. Any other tips for parent-student combos are still welcome!

Just wanted to add another perspective as someone who went through this exact situation! I was finishing my nursing degree when my daughter started her freshman year in 2023. One thing that really helped us was creating a shared spreadsheet to track all our important FAFSA dates, deadlines, and requirements. We also made sure to save copies of all our tax documents and financial records in one place since we both needed access to the same family financial information. Also, don't forget that some states have their own grant programs that might have different rules than federal aid - definitely worth checking with your state's higher education agency. In our case, my state grant actually wasn't affected by my daughter's enrollment status at all. The whole process was less scary than I expected once we got organized!

As a newcomer to this community, I just wanted to say thank you for all the detailed information shared here! I'm actually in a similar situation - I'm a single mom working on my bachelor's degree and my son will be starting college in about two years. Reading through everyone's experiences has been incredibly helpful, especially learning about the FAFSA Simplification Act changes that eliminated the multiple-student household benefit. I had no idea about that change and was planning my finances based on the old system. The tips about early FAFSA submission, checking state grants, and talking directly to financial aid offices are going straight into my planning notes. It's reassuring to see a community where people are willing to share both their successes and setbacks - that's exactly the kind of honest guidance those of us navigating this need!

As someone who just joined this community, I wanted to share that this thread has been incredibly eye-opening! I'm currently in my second year of a nursing program and my daughter is a junior in high school, so we'll be facing this exact scenario soon. Reading about the FAFSA Simplification Act changes was honestly a bit of a shock - I had been counting on that household division benefit that apparently no longer exists. But what I'm taking away from all your experiences is that there are still ways to make this work, just different strategies than before. The advice about early FAFSA submission, state grants, institutional aid, and building relationships with financial aid offices gives me a concrete action plan. I'm also really grateful for the honesty about both the challenges and successes - it helps set realistic expectations. Thank you all for being so generous with sharing your knowledge!