Expert: Tim G - 4/13/2009

Question
I remarried last July and we claimed my 21 yr old daughter on our joint return.  She would have been graduating this June but has done a year of study abroad so she will have to extend graduation a year, which we did not fully realize until later.  According to the guidelines that I read, she could not claim to be a dependent with a birthday of 12/23/87 (had to be 1/1/86.). Now I am worried about funding her last year.  Her own father has not supported her in over 5 years. She has qualified for financial aid up to now and although my husband income looks big from rental property, most of his income goes to pay large tax bills and mortgages (line of credit also). We have not co mingled funds yet except for filing taxes jointly. Also, he is her stepfather with his own adult children.

Answer
From what you have written, you may need to provide all financial info.

Use the worksheets below to determine how much the government would expect you to contribute.

The 2009-2010 School Year (July 1st, 2009 - June 30th, 2010) worksheets.

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/worksheet.htm

mock fafsa: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/fafsaws90c.pdf


Dependency Status Worksheet

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/FOTWWebApp/fotw0910/WorksheetServlet?locale=en_US&wstype...


Use 2008 income tax return amounts on the worksheets below.

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/FOTWWebApp/fotw0910/WorksheetServlet?locale=en_US&wstype...

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/FOTWWebApp/fotw0910/WorksheetServlet?locale=en_US&wstype...