{"id":32729,"date":"2019-05-01T12:52:32","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T16:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=32729"},"modified":"2025-10-02T11:46:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T15:46:54","slug":"fafsas-relationship-status-with-your-parents-its-complicated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/fafsas-relationship-status-with-your-parents-its-complicated\/","title":{"rendered":"FAFSA\u2019s Relationship Status With Your Parents – \u2018It\u2019s Complicated\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019re applying for financial aid to help you pay for college and you are considered a dependent student<\/a> in the eyes of the FAFSA<\/a> (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), you are required to provide your parent\u2019s or parents\u2019 personal and financial information. But it is not always clear as to which parent or parents should be filling out your FAFSA form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your parents are married, or they are not married to each other but live together, then it\u2019s easy — they need to fill out your FAFSA. Some situations are not so simple, though, and require you to go through a complex analysis to figure out which parent(s) should be filling out your FAFSA form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, why is it so important to determine who your parents are for FAFSA purposes? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The financial aid office at current and prospective colleges need a completed FAFSA form to determine a student\u2019s eligibility for various forms of financial aid, which can be in the form of grants<\/a>, work-study<\/a> programs, federal student loans<\/a>, or state and school financial aid awards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The financial aid office will calculate your aid — type of aid and amount — based on the Student Aid Index (SAI)<\/strong> included in your FAFSA Submission Summary. The SAI is an index number ranging from \u20131500 to 999999, which is calculated using the information that you and your contributors provided on the FAFSA form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is in your best interest, therefore, to get it right when you fill out the FAFSA form, and that includes providing the correct parent\u2019s information.<\/p>\n\n\n

[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”LSIOPi0Z” upload-date=”2023-10-30T15:03:45.000Z” name=”How to Pay for College” description=”TUN sits down with Cathy Mueller, the executive director of Mapping Your Future, for advice on how to pay for college. ” player-type=”static”]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a step-by-step approach to help you identify your parents for FAFSA purposes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s begin with the definition of a parent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \u201cparent\u201d must be a legal<\/em><\/strong> (biological or adoptive) parent or stepparent, or a person deemed by the state to be a legal parent, such as the parent listed on your birth certificate. (It doesn\u2019t matter if your parents are of the same gender.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/strong> Grandparents, foster parents, legal guardians, older brothers or sisters, uncles or aunts, and widowed stepparents are NOT your legal parent(s) unless they have legally adopted you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that we know who could be a legal parent, let\u2019s walk through various scenarios to see which one applies to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. 1. Who is my parent when my parents are married?<\/a>
  2. 2. Who is my parent when my parents just live together?<\/a>
  3. 3. Who is my parent if my parent is widowed or never married?<\/a>
  4. 4. Who is my parent when my parents are divorced or separated?<\/a>