I have a great father's day question for everyone At the moment im paying about $500 a month for child support. Does anyone know if i can deduct that from my income when i file a fafsa? Im trying to figure things out for going back to school next year and it would help if i could get at least a little grant money.
I think they go right off of your 1040 tax form. My dad worked overseas for my first two years of school, and since he technically only had to report what came to basically 25% of his income, the AGI was that much lower and I ended up getting Pell Grants until Junior year. After which point he asked me how I planned on paying for school.
Well no answers. I guess I'll have to and find out after I get everything in order and the actually file.
A less than 30 second google search found this: Deduct child-support payments from the FAFSA form. Child support reduces the parent's income used on the FAFSA, which essentially reduces the EFC. The application includes a section where a parent can include the annual amount received in child support. http://www.ehow.com/how_12142853_money-fasfa.html
Call this number: 1-800-4-FED-AID. Make sure you get all your answers. Like any call center, whoever answers your call might have a lot of experience or might be a newbie, but they'll have all sorts of info in their cubicles (and supervisors to lean on just in case a question is more than they know, but it shouldn't be). I used to work for a different division of Federal Student Aid and I spent a week or two with the call center but it's been more than 10 years, so I can't answer your questions very well anymore. I would think child support would already be listed in whatever taxes you filed. If you haven't filed your taxes (if you got an extension), do so. I believe you can file with estimated information, unless this has changed, in order not to miss any (more) deadlines. For example, each state has its own separate sources of aid (or doesn't) to supplement federal money, and if the state (or school) has its own money to hand out, they'll look to see if that FAFSA was filed. The school will see if the student is eligible for the Pell Grant and if so how much. Then federal student loans. Etc. And school and state monies. Schools might have separate forms for state student aid. When I went to the University of Iowa---ironically, four miles from where the 800-4-FED-AID call center that handles the whole country is located---I qualified for some grant unique to the school. So, file that FAFSA! Wish I could help you more. Good luck.
How are you paying 500? How many percent are you paying for your income if you don't mind me asking? Thanks,
