What makes a household? (federal funding question)

[Tap]

DD18s college encouraged her to apply to a funding option I have never heard of before.  It is a savings program where the participant saves money towards a goal (like college) and then various programs combine to match your savings.  This program matches it 8to1.  The college scholarship/funding specialist says it is legit and she has see people utilize it. It is designed to help people in poverty to pay for college and the matched payments go directly to the college (not a scholarship that people can use for other things). 

 

My question is this:

 

To qualify it says household income must be 200% or lower that federal poverty level.  She says since dd18 filed her own taxes last year, she can apply and use just her income, as long as she was paying for part of her own care (which dd does).  We claimed dd18 as a dependent on our taxes, but since she worked an paid her own taxes, she filed her taxes also (and got a small tax refund). How can I find out if that is true, that dd can be her own household but living with us?  If you add in all the income in our home, we are well above the 200% mark.  But dd18 by herself, is not. 

 

I don't want to do something illegal/immoral but DD is in one of the worst spots for school funding, so we are looking at all her options. Our income is just over the limit for much Pell grant/state need grant (She may get about $300 but even that is still up in the air-her FAFSA got kicked out for verification and we didn't know).  That eliminates a lot of funding for low income students.  She applied for scholarships and won several for women in science. All of the ones she won required full time enrollment and due to her health, she is only going part time. She lost All of her scholarships and funding options due to changing from full time to part time. :0(  She will have to pay $1000 to 4000 /term (depends on which college she attends) to go part time, but she would have had money over the cost of books/tuition if she went full time.

Edited August 19, 2017 by Tap

[Ottakee]

I am not up at all on those programs.

 

I would suggest calling the program and asking directly. I know that with my young adult disabled kids that they are each considered a household of 1 for program A, we are all considered a household of 5 for program B, program C everyone qualifies if even one person gets D, etc.

 

It is extremely confusing and like you I want to be honest but don't always know what that is.

[Prairie~Phlox]

I have no idea, but I know with FASFA because dd is still a dependent, it's based on that. I would be suprised if they counted her as an independent if she is not having to pay everything to live.

[regentrude]

It is extremely unlikely the person was correct.

The IRS considers as a household you and your dependents, plus any unrelated person who lived with you for the entire year (aside from attending school).

Your DD is part of your household simply by living with you - irrespective of whether you claim her as a dependent or whether she earns her own income. 

The hosuehold income is the comined income of all household members.

 

https://definitions.uslegal.com/m/member-of-household/

 

Call the program. But I would imagine almost every 18 y/o does not make an income on her own that is abov 200% poverty level - so every teen with a part time job would qualify if that person were correct. That does not make any sense.

 

Edited August 19, 2017 by regentrude

[gardenmom5]

I'm skeptical it's legit.

 

ds is 28 - legally an independent adult.  he moved back home, but will be attending our local uni.  they reduced his aid package because he's living with his parents - even though because of his age, he doesn't have to include our income in his application, and we haven't claimed him as a dependent for a period of years. he also pays his own expenses.   we just provide food and a roof. (and laundry facilities.)

and in his science field - he can only apply to about 1/3 of the scholarships -because most are only open to women and/or minorities. (who are free to apply to that  third too.)

[J-rap]

I don't know very much about it at all, but I suppose one question would be is whether it's dependent on her FAFSA status.  A FAFSA is really hard to file independently (without parents) until you are 24.  But maybe this depends only on her household status with you and whether she is considered a dependent, which she is.  

 

I can see a program like that maybe being possible if you are over age 24, but it seems unlikely if only 18.

 

That being said, you never know!  Maybe it doesn't rely on any of those things. I'd certainly give the program a call and ask questions.

 

About going PT...  My dd considered going PT this year (her last year) because she would have still met her requirements, and then she would have gotten a good part-time job as well.  We thought it would be cheaper that way and of course she'd be earning more money.  It turns out it was cheaper for her to just go to school full-time and take extra classes to fill up her schedule (because of the scholarships being taken away).  It is all very frustrating.

Edited August 19, 2017 by J-rap