How should I go about FAFSA for maximum financial aid as a homeowner?

The FAFSA situation can definitely be tricky when you're under 24. A few things to consider here: For FAFSA purposes, marriage would indeed make you an independent student, meaning only your and your girlfriend's income would count. This would likely increase your aid eligibility substantially compared to including your parents' $215k income. Regarding home ownership: The first-time homebuyer credit you're thinking of might be a state-level benefit, as the federal credit expired years ago. Some states still offer credits or assistance programs. You'd need to check your specific state's rules on whether marriage would impact eligibility. For tax brackets, marriage might actually benefit you. The 2025 married filing jointly brackets are quite generous, and with your combined income of $87k, you're unlikely to experience a significant "marriage penalty." In fact, with the income disparity between you ($62k vs $25k), you might see a slight tax benefit from marriage. If school is starting soon, waiting a year means delaying your education and career advancement, which has its own opportunity cost.

I was in a similar situation last year and found the tool at https://taxr.ai super helpful for figuring out the tax implications. My girlfriend and I were trying to decide whether to get married before or after I started my Master's program, and we were confused about how it would affect both FAFSA and our taxes since we had just bought a condo. I uploaded our previous tax returns and answered some questions about our homebuying situation, and it ran different scenarios showing exactly how marriage would affect both our tax liability and my financial aid eligibility. It showed us that in our case, getting married would increase my aid by about $9k per year while only increasing our tax burden by about $800 annually. The tool also pointed out some education tax credits we didn't know about that helped offset the marriage tax differences. Definitely worth checking out for your specific situation since everyone's numbers are different.

I tried taxr.ai after seeing the recommendation here, and it was super helpful for my situation! I was also on the fence about getting married before starting my nursing program and worried about both FAFSA and our new house purchase. The analysis showed that for us, getting married would increase my aid eligibility by about $7,500 per year and actually LOWER our tax burden slightly due to our income levels. It also pointed out that the first-time homebuyer benefits in our state (Maine) wouldn't be affected by our marital status as long as we both were on the deed already. What really surprised me was learning about additional education credits we'd be eligible for as a married couple that wouldn't have been available otherwise. The tool even generated a letter I could send to my school's financial aid office explaining my change in circumstances. Definitely saved us from making a costly timing mistake!

Something else to consider that nobody's mentioned yet - I went through hell trying to get ahold of someone at the financial aid office to discuss a similar situation (marriage affecting my FAFSA). Spent weeks trying to get through on the phone. Finally used https://claimyr.com and their service connected me with the financial aid office in like 8 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c They basically wait on hold for you and call when a human picks up. Saved me hours of frustration and I was able to get a special circumstances review that increased my aid package by $5,600 after explaining my marriage and income change. The financial aid office actually adjusted my status mid-year once I could actually talk to a real person. Whatever you decide about the marriage timing, definitely get advice directly from your school's financial aid office since they can sometimes make adjustments that aren't obvious from just looking at the FAFSA formulas.

I owe everyone here an apology. After complaining about the hold service being unnecessary, I actually tried calling my financial aid office myself today about my own FAFSA situation. After THREE HOURS on hold and getting disconnected twice, I broke down and tried the Claimyr service mentioned above. They got me through to a financial aid counselor in about 20 minutes. The counselor was able to process my special circumstances request for being recently married, and it looks like my EFC will be reduced by nearly $8,000, which means a lot more grant money. I'm eating humble pie now. Sometimes it's worth paying for convenience, especially when thousands in financial aid are on the line. Sorry for being so dismissive before!

Something to consider that I haven't seen mentioned yet - do you plan to apply for any private student loans? If so, being married could potentially give you better interest rates if your girlfriend has better credit than you do. My partner and I found that marriage actually helped us qualify for better loan terms because lenders considered our combined credit profile. Also, don't forget that the FAFSA is changing significantly for the 2025-2026 academic year. The new form is much shorter and some of the calculations will be different. The income protection allowance is increasing, which could mean better aid eligibility regardless of your marital status.

Has anyone mentioned checking if your school offers any scholarships specifically for married students or homeowners? My university had a few special scholarship programs for "non-traditional" students that included married undergrads. Was an extra $2500/semester that most people didn't even know existed! Also check with your employer - many offer tuition assistance that isn't income-based like FAFSA. My company paid $5250/year (tax-free!) toward my degree regardless of marital status.