If you’re divorced, the FAFSA does not need both parents’ tax returns. Only one parent — the one who provided more financial support to the student during the 12 months before the application is filed — reports income and tax data on the 2026–2027 FAFSA. The complication is that this application uses 2024 tax information, and if the reporting parent filed a joint return with the now-former spouse in 2024, they’ll have to separate their individual numbers out of that joint return by hand.
Which Divorced Parent Has to File
The old rule tied FAFSA reporting to whichever parent the student lived with more. The FAFSA Simplification Act replaced it. The reporting parent — called the “contributor” — is now the one who provided the greater share of financial support during the 12 months before the FAFSA is submitted.1Federal Student Aid. Reporting Parent Information Support counts direct payments for housing, food, health insurance, and clothing, along with child support paid on the student’s behalf.
If both parents provided exactly equal support, or if neither provided any, the tiebreaker is the parent with the higher income and assets.1Federal Student Aid. Reporting Parent Information Only that one parent’s data goes on the form. The other parent’s tax return stays out of it entirely for federal aid purposes.
Getting this determination right matters. Naming the wrong contributor can delay processing, prompt a correction request from the financial aid office, and push the application past state or institutional priority deadlines.
Why 2024 Tax Data Is the Sticking Point
The FAFSA always looks back two years. The 2026–2027 cycle draws on 2024 tax information from the IRS.2Federal Student Aid. Filling Out the FAFSA Form That lookback is where divorced parents run into trouble. Many couples were still married and filing jointly in 2024 but are divorced by the time the FAFSA is submitted. The form wants one person’s financial data. The return on file at the IRS reflects a combined household that no longer exists.
Under the FUTURE Act, the IRS transfers tax data directly into the FAFSA through the Direct Data Exchange (FA-DDX), and every contributor has to consent to that transfer before completing their section.3Federal Student Aid. Future Act Fact Sheet When the contributor filed an individual return, the transfer pulls in adjusted gross income, tax liability, and the rest without manual entry.
When the contributor filed jointly in 2024 with someone who is no longer their spouse, the automated transfer won’t produce usable numbers. The joint return reflects two people’s combined income; the FAFSA needs one person’s share. The contributor has to enter their individual income and tax information manually.2Federal Student Aid. Filling Out the FAFSA Form Neither the student nor the contributor can view or edit what the FA-DDX transfers, so when manual entry is required, you’re building your financial profile from your own records.
Separating Your Income From a Joint 2024 Return
To pull your individual figures out of a joint return, you’ll need the 2024 IRS Form 1040 you and your former spouse filed, your personal W-2 forms, and records of any income that was solely yours — self-employment earnings, investment gains, rental income in your name alone.4Federal Student Aid. Where To Find My 2023 Tax Information (2025-26)
Start with your W-2 wages. Those are clearly tied to you. Add income sources that belonged only to you: business income from a sole proprietorship, rental property in your name, capital gains from assets you owned individually. For items that were split between spouses on the joint return, such as tax-exempt interest or untaxed IRA distributions, calculate your proportional share by comparing each line item on the joint 1040 against your own income statements and separating what was yours from what was your former spouse’s.
Keep a clear paper trail. If the financial aid office selects your application for verification, they may ask for a signed statement showing how you divided the joint figures. Having that documentation ready from the start avoids weeks of back-and-forth.
When a Stepparent’s Return Comes In
If the contributor parent has remarried by the time the FAFSA is filed, the new spouse’s income and assets have to be included. There are no exceptions.5Federal Student Aid. Filling Out the FAFSA A prenuptial agreement stating the stepparent has no obligation to pay for the student’s education doesn’t change the requirement. The federal government treats the current household as a combined financial unit.
How this plays out with 2024 tax data depends on how the contributor and new spouse filed. If they filed jointly in 2024, that joint return already captures both incomes, and only one parent contributor is needed on the FAFSA. If they did not file jointly, the new spouse becomes a second required contributor, creates their own FSA ID, consents to the IRS data transfer, and completes their own section of the form.2Federal Student Aid. Filling Out the FAFSA Form
Families are often caught off guard when the stepparent earns significantly more than the biological parent. The Student Aid Index reflects the combined household, which can shrink or eliminate need-based aid like the Pell Grant even if the stepparent contributes nothing toward tuition in practice.
When the Other Parent Refuses to Help
Divorce sometimes means the contributor parent simply won’t participate. If the parent who is required to report refuses to provide their information, the student’s options narrow sharply. A dependent student whose contributor won’t complete their section is generally limited to Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans. They won’t qualify for Pell Grants or subsidized loans, because there’s no way to calculate financial need without the parent data.
The annual borrowing limits for unsubsidized loans as a dependent student are modest:
- Freshmen: $5,500
- Sophomores: $6,500
- Juniors and seniors: $7,500
To access even that limited aid, most schools require the student to document the refusal. That usually means a written letter from the parent stating they won’t provide financial support or complete the FAFSA. If the parent won’t produce a letter, a statement from a third party such as a school counselor, clergy member, or social worker describing the family situation may be accepted instead. The approval doesn’t carry over. The student has to repeat the process each academic year.
A narrower path exists when the problem goes beyond refusal. If a student cannot contact or locate a parent, or if providing parent information would be dangerous, the FAFSA lets the student mark an unusual circumstance and submit as an independent student. Qualifying situations include:6Federal Student Aid. What Should I Do If I Have an Unusual Circumstance
- Parental abuse or abandonment
- Incarceration of the student or parent
- Inability to locate either parent, where the student has not been adopted
- Human trafficking
- Refugee or asylee status with parents displaced in another country
Students who select an unusual circumstance can skip the parent questions and receive an interim Student Aid Index. The college’s financial aid administrator reviews the claim, may request documentation, and makes the final decision on whether the student can proceed as independent. That decision cannot be appealed to the Department of Education.6Federal Student Aid. What Should I Do If I Have an Unusual Circumstance
Private Colleges Are a Separate Question
Everything above concerns the FAFSA, which controls federal aid. Many private colleges also require the CSS Profile, and it plays by different rules. The CSS Profile frequently asks for financial information from both the contributor parent and the non-contributor parent, regardless of the divorce arrangement or who provides more support. A prenuptial agreement or custody order won’t override this at schools that enforce it. If the student is applying to private institutions, check each school’s financial aid requirements early. The non-contributor parent’s cooperation may be needed for institutional aid even though it isn’t needed on the FAFSA.