Sister Wives is bbbaaaccckkk!!!1!

[Eponine]

Just curious, wouldn't her siblings count as immediate family, even if they don't have the same address?

Yes, but the FAFSA asks for people (any people) the parent/s income supports more than 50%. I suspect most universities would question it if they saw a FAFSA saying the household supported 20+ people, and then would require documentation of who the dependents are. Just being immediate family is not enough - for example I often have to "remove" older siblings from the households of students because, although they might still live with the parents, they earn enough to support themselves 50% or more. So if she showed up as one of my students I'd have to see documentation that Cody provides 50% or more support for the other kids AND that they live at the same address as the student, which is why I suspect they wouldn't end up counting.

There is also the issue of the legal custodial parent - I don't know how they set that up, but if the other mothers are the custodial parent for legal purposes Cody can't claim them on the FAFSA as dependents.

I forget if Cody is legally married to Mariah's mother, but if not the mother could easily file the FAFSA as a single parent and probably get a lot more government/school aid, depending on how much monetary "child support" Cody provides (not actual child support obviously, but whatever money he puts towards Mariah).

[dairyfreelife]

Ahem, as no one has addressed this and slightly off topic, but I have seen it several times on this thread...collage is a type of art and college is a postsecondary education institution. That is all. :D

[MyName]

Mister Sister who runs the Sister Wives Blog has been sick--had a surgery and I think recovery has been slower than expected. I hope they are doing okay.

[mausi]

Ahem, as no one has addressed this and slightly off topic, but I have seen it several times on this thread...collage is a type of art and college is a postsecondary education institution. That is all. :D

Ahem, August, rather cleverly, on page one. ;) :D

Really, how much can one collage cost? Print some photos, a few pieces of paper, some tape, and voila!

[ljohnson2006]

It's a private college out of state. I'm sure it's not cheap. But what happened to the mysterious scholarship that Mariah got?

[Justme]

It's a private college out of state. I'm sure it's not cheap. But what happened to the mysterious scholarship that Mariah got?

*LOL* I bet it's called the T*L*C scholarship! ;) Anything to add drama to scripted reality shows! :?

[Natalie22]

It's a private college out of state. I'm sure it's not cheap. But what happened to the mysterious scholarship that Mariah got?

I think Meri said she was looking at the costs for all the kids without including any scholarships that each kid has gotten.

[snarkbillie]

Or viola. ;)

Nooooes, you forgot the H. It's Whal-LAH. :twisted:

[theCR]

I used to really like meri but in this episode I couldn't stand her, the way she reacted when one of the other mothers suggested that she help out of her pocket pissed me off. She has one child to help with school and she has to have a car. She needs to not be so damn selfish or tell her daughter she cant go there.

[DarkAnts]

Is Mariah screwed over for financial aid because her mother is the legal mother. I also wonder if the McMansions are going to hurt the kids when they apply for financial aid. Dont houses count as an asset?

[Eponine]

Is Mariah screwed over for financial aid because her mother is the legal mother. I also wonder if the McMansions are going to hurt the kids when they apply for financial aid. Dont houses count as an asset?

The house you live in does not count as an asset, but other ones do. You take the current market value and subtract debt at the time of filing. Since they got those houses pretty recently I'm guessing they won't be worth much with the debt, unless TLC paid or they paid up front or something.

[Coconut Flan]

Private schools may use their own rules about using the house value or not. It wouldn't count on the FAFSA though.

[Eponine]

Private schools may use their own rules about using the house value or not. It wouldn't count on the FAFSA though.

I work at a private school. Some schools use the CSI profile to provide additional info, but that has no impact on the FAFSA. Private schools can't change any of the things that must be reported on the FAFSA as it's government regulated, so no, we can't change the rules regarding secondary property values. I do think she has little chance of getting any Pell grants, etc, but she might get a subsidized loan. However if they intend to have her go to a private school without paying out of pocket...not going to happen unless TLC gives her something.

[Coconut Flan]

I didn't say that private schools can change the FAFSA. What they can do is set rules for their own inhouse financial aid.

[bionicmlle]

You know.... it's so weird to think of Cody living in the same city as Brace ("My philosophy is 'just be good to people!'" of Gigolos).

[Trynn]

I pretty muh had to wait until I was 24 to actually get any aid from fafsa. Until then, there was no cc In My parents' town, with the nearest college being an hour away. The commute took its toll on me, and I hated living wih my parents anyway, but was unable toget a job. So I had to wait it of, which sucks.

I do feel for her on this: people regularly get screwed over by fafsa.

I didn't have siblings to think about though. Yes she should think about them, but I can understand why she'd resent it a little. And yet, she wants to get into a plurals triage...

[Ralar]

Mariah could go to the University of Utah. It's also in SLC but it's a state school.

Unless she moves to SLC and works for a while before starting school, she will likely have to pay out-of-state tuition since her family resides in Nevada. Out-of-state tuition at many state schools is comperable to tuition at private schools.

Another thing to think about. Meri is the only "wife" who is legally married to Cody, and she only has one child. Cody and Meri would be expected to contribute substantially more towards Mariah's college costs, based on federal guidelines and guidelines et by most schools, than the other women who are legally single mothers with 6, 6, and 4 kids. Of course, the private college full of poligamist families may have different financial aid guidelines.

[ljohnson2006]

Meri is so annoying. Why does she now complain that once Mariah is gone, she'll have no children to care for? She had the chance to have another baby, and decided not to do it. Be at peace with that choice, and move on. She could always help care for Robyn, Jenelle and Christine's kids. She also cries at the graduation because she can't see Mariah. Like they're going to spotlight every kid. Meri needs to grow up.

[keen23]

Christine could do SO MUCH BETTER. Wake up Christine and get the hell out of there.

[CynicMom]

I thought it was interesting in the last episode how Cody's two "non-religious guy friends" were saying "My wife and I are equal, but I make all the decisions" and questioning how Cody can be a man if he's surrounded by women. Cody responds that he doesn't have to prove what a leader he is (woo-hoo) because he just leads by telling the wives how it's going to be (um, what?). Other than for religious reasons, I cannot fathom how somebody would want to live this way. It also seemed like Cody's friend had re-evaluated all the tenants of his religion but chose to keep all the patriarchy. Wonder why (sarcasm).

[CrazyCatLady]

I can't believe no one has mentioned the insanity of them throwing some sort of recommitment party at that fancy event center for $10,500! Kody thinks that college loans are irresponsible but thinks lavish parties are a great use of money THEY DON'T HAVE!

[snarkbillie]

I can't believe no one has mentioned the insanity of them throwing some sort of recommitment party at that fancy event center for $10,500! Kody thinks that college loans are irresponsible but thinks lavish parties are a great use of money THEY DON'T HAVE!

Also, did he buy those mats without asking/talking to his wives? Christine seemed blindsided by the whole thing. Those mats ain't cheap! WTF is wrong with these people?!

[ljohnson2006]

Kody doesn't care what his wives think. He wears the pants. Be them tight pants, but he wears them.

[Coconut Flan]

I can't believe no one has mentioned the insanity of them throwing some sort of recommitment party at that fancy event center for $10,500! Kody thinks that college loans are irresponsible but thinks lavish parties are a great use of money THEY DON'T HAVE!

That one is easy. It's because they aren't paying for the party. It's an episode because their regular lives are too dull. Some production assistant was tasked with working out the best deal preferably free party in exchange for advertising. For one off items like that it's pretty easy to find a place that will let them visit (zoo) or will hold a party in exchange for their name being on the air. College tuition not so much although I'm guessing Westminster did make some kind of deal with them for at least one year.

[Aggie2145]

Also, did he buy those mats without asking/talking to his wives? Christine seemed blindsided by the whole thing. Those mats ain't cheap! WTF is wrong with these people?!

The mats looked like they were either in a previous gym or were a rejected order. They almost spelled Bulldogs and were not custom fit to the garage....he likely got a deal or they were free to anyone who would haul them off.

As for Christine, I think she was blindsided because Janelle agreed to have them in her garage at first and then had cold feet.