If i got married, would I lose a lot of my financial aid?

Question

I am a junior in college and I am contemplating getting married. The only thing that has stopped me thus far is the fear of losing my financial aid. I cannot afford to lose any of my financial aid. We have two children together. I do not work because of school and the children, but he works full time. This year before taxes, he should bring home about $23,000. My estimated financial contribution as of now is $0. Would it change if I got married?

Answer 1

First of all, if you are currently a student and got married now, it would not change any of the current academic year financial aid information because marital status cannot be changed during the year. Marital status is determined for the entire year based on your marital status on the date you filed your FAFSA. So, with this in mind, it would not affect you until you filed a new FAFSA for the 08-09 school year, which becomes available in January.

So, if you get married before you file the 08-09 FAFSA, then your spouse information for the 2007 calendar year will be required. Because it is a complex calculation that goes into determining EFC it is hard to say whether or not your EFC will be increase after the addition of this income. Even still, $23000 for a family of 4 is not extremely high income, so it is not a need for extreme concern (although the income you would provide on your FAFSA would be 2007 income which is so far unknown because the year is not over).

If your concern is that you would rather not have his information on the FAFSA, then simply file prior to getting married. For example, if you file your FAFSA on the 4th of any particular month but do not become legally married until the 5th of that month or later, then you will remain an unmarried student for the entire 08-09 academic year. But if you get married in, say, December 2007, then file your FAFSA in January, you would have to report yourself as married as of the day you are filing your FAFSA. You will report both yours and your spouse's income for 2007 and your family size with be 4.

Alex's momma says: "Independent students receive more in financial aid." THIS IS NOT TRUE. The amount of aid you receive depends on your income/asset information, family, number in college, and all other information on the FAFSA, NOT on dependency status. Consider: if a student who is 30 years old, unmarried and has no children makes $100,000 a year (independent), that does not automaticaly mean that they will receive more aid than a 19 year old student in a single-parent household with 4 siblings (6 in the household size) whose parent makes only $8,000 (dependent) simply because they are independent. That makes absolutely no sense and would not be an accurate way of determining need.

Alex's momma says: "You will get a larger refund from taxes at the end of the year when you get married, though, so there is a source of some additional income." THIS IS UNTRUE. How much you received in tax refund is NOT a question that is asked on the FAFSA. You must report how much you paid in taxes, earned income credit, and additional child tax credit (which can effect the amount of return you receive), but you are not asked to report the dollar amount of your return. Furthermore, filing as married on your taxes gives you a larger standard deduction, but does not necessarily mean you will definitely get a larger return.

Answer 2

Your best bet is to ask a financial aid conselor. But since you use last year's taxes (for example 2006 taxes for the 2007 school year) any change would not affect your financial aid until the following school year.

How old are you? I know that in Illinois, turning 24 or getting married qualifies you as being independent (as opposed to dependent on your parents, even if they contribute nothing financially). Independent students receive more in financial aid.

You will get a larger refund from taxes at the end of the year when you get married, though, so there is a source of some additional income. Even if you get married at the end of December (as we did), you will receive that tax benefit for the entire year. Also, my homeowner's and car insurance rates went down right away after I got married. They consider you more "responsible". Think about the additional income there and factor it in.

Make sure to explore all financial aid options -- this shouldn't be a deciding factor of whether or not to get married :) but it is great that you think of everything before making that decision. Not sure if you looked at loans at all, but I don't believe that is affected at all by your marital status.

But check with and advisor and they can give you the best advice.

Good luck!!!

Answer 3

If you have already submitted your fafsa this year then you won't have to worry about that until the next time you fill out a fafsa. Marital status cannot be updated once you submit your fafsa for the year.

However, with the income being as low as it is for a family of four...it doesnt sound like you will have much to worry about next year either.

Answer 4

it may reduce your aid. depends. do you support your children, or do you live with your parents and have them support you? if you are already an independant student, you may want to fill out the new fafsa application in january, then get married afterwards. they go off of your income based on your info at the time the application is signed...

other than that, you should still be fine, there are a lot of factors though.

if you have specific questions or a situation, feel free to email me.

Answer 5

I'm pretty sure if you get married, he has to claim your income as well as his own. Probably wouldn't affect anything until the next time he has to apply. However, he would also be able to claim the all 4 of you as dependents. I am assuming he already puts the girls as dependents though, so it could possibly impact the amount received.

Answer 6

I don't think an income of $23,000 is going to change it that much...but to know for sure, talk to the financial aid department of your college - they can give you more accurate information. It may raise it by $1000 or so...but not by much.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

Probably not that much. $23,000 isn't a ton of money, especially if you have 2 kids and only one is working. I really wouldn't worry about it. Your EFC will probably still be low.