Guidelines for a Divorced Parent in Getting Financial Aid [Part 1]

This is part one in a two part series on helping divorced parents understand the Financial Aid Process.

Thank you so much for asking me to answer your readers questions about college financial aid and how it is affected by divorce. I’m Lisa C. Decker, a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst and I have a Teleseminar Series called Divorce Speak. During one of my calls I had the pleasure of interviewing Kevin Worthley, a CFP and fellow CDFA from Rhode Island, who has a lot of specialized knowledge on this matter. Here is a condensed snippet from my interview with Kevin that I hope sheds some light on this very complex matter.

Getting financial aid for your child’s college education requires that you get a basic understanding of how college financial aid is calculated.

However, there are a few things that you need to know first before anything else. You have to be aware that the full cost of college is very high but the actual price that parents and students pay can be a lot lower depending on the amount of the financial aid that the family might receive.

You also have to be aware that financial aid formulas differ between public and private schools. However both determine the “Estimated Family Contribution” or the EFC which is specific for each family and is determined by looking at the family’s income and assets, notably the parents’ income and assets for the most part. Parental Income is going to be the big determinant on what the family might get for financial aid. Student Income and Student Assets are the other two factors of the EFC that will be looked into as well.

Diving into the process, when you apply for a College Financial Aid for your child, you will be asked to fill out a lot of forms. The first one is the all-encompassing application for Federal financial aid better known as the FAFSA which stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

The FAFSA is used mostly for public schools and some private schools and is broken down into 4 areas: (1) Parent Income, (2) Parent Assets, (3) Student Income, and (4) Student Assets. The FAFSA and the other form, called the CCS Profile (an additional form for those enrolling in private schools), both heavily look at Parental Income which is going to be the big determinant on what the family might get for financial aid.

The Parental Income is the Adjusted Gross Income of the combined parents or single parent for the previous year. The number of adjustments is made to come up with the parent income component of the EFC. So, what the parent does is fill the financial aid form and the form will lift what their income was for the previous year. That will then determine what their financial aid will be for the coming year.

Parent Assets in the Federal Formula for the public schools include things like checking account, savings account, non-retirement investment account, and equity in vacation homes. To a certain extent, they also include savings account such as the 529 College Saving Account. What they don’t include on the public school FAFSA form are the home equity and retirement account (i.e. 401Ks and IRAs). All else is included in Parent Assets, but again home equity isn’t included.

When talking about Parent Income and Parent Assets in the context of a divorce situation, only the income and assets of the custodial parent living in the household is equated.