Sally_Rubenstone

Question: Is it possible to be independent solely because I no longer live at home and get no help from my parents? I am 19 years old and am currently living with a relative in a room that I’m renting. I’m trying to get as many hours as possible at my job as well as [...]

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chaospaladin

This is a very good question.

R124687

Dependent VS. Independent Status | FAFSA Form & Financial Aid Form Blog

swimcatsmom

I get a blank page when I follow the link in post #1

bnpoll01

[Just because you feel mature enough or responsible enough to be on your own does not erase your PARENTS’ OBLIGATION to assist you with your education.]

Dependent VS. Independent Status | FAFSA Form & Financial Aid Form Blog


I think this statement is absolutely ridiculous. It is my decision to go to school, and I feel as if my parents have NO OBLIGATION to help me. They didn't choose my dreams, I did. It is completely ridiculous to me, to assume ones parents are going to financially help them through school. I may be close to my parents but I certainly do not expect everything to be handed to me by them. I work hard and actually told my parents not to get the parent plus loan. I just don't understand how it is THEIR OBLIGATION to help me financially get through school...emotionally yes, financially, no!

sewhappy

Yes, this is the big hypocracy in higher education today - the notion that the parent has zero rights in terms of access to their kids' academic or health records at college by 100 percent responsiblity in paying the tab.

The student with the least opportunity to obtain a college education in this country is the one with the affluent parents who refuse to pay.

jook

I know how you feel. I moved out of my parents' house at 18 for school and I was 19 or 20 when I first filed myself as an independent on my taxes. I did so because it helped save me around $800, or else I would have let my parents claim me. I thought that filing as an independent on my taxes would mean that I could be considered an independent for my financial aid also, but I was later told otherwise. My financial aid department told me that being independent on your taxes has nothing to do with being considered independent for financial aid. They told me that I would have to wait until I was 24 (which will be my last year of school) to be considered an independent. Either that or I had to be a veteran, have a child, or a few other scenarios that I didn't qualify for. I wound up taking out a parent plus loan to get me through. I know it really does suck that how much money your able to get is based on some formula made by the government to determine how much money your parents "should" be able to give you while in school.

ihavenochance

There are actually some unusual ways to become independent in addition to the more commonly-known ones, and quite a few more were added this year. For instance, there is a question on the FAFSA that asks if, at any time since your 13th birthday, you were in out-of-home placement or a ward of the court, or you are an orphan. I am only a sophomore in college (starting sophomore year next month), but I am *independent* because of multiple out-of-home placements during high school (my mother had a prescription drug addiction and I've never known my father). However, my EFC would be zero either way, since my mother gets less than $12,000/year in Social Security disability benefits. It is somewhat nice being independent, though.

The new FAFSA dependency rules are worth reading, and I would also suggest asking a financial aid administrator at your school, but dependency overrides are *very* rare.

openedskittles

"The student with the least opportunity to obtain a college education in this country is the one with the affluent parents who refuse to pay."

Quoted for truthfulness. I've always thought the same thing, but I'd like to add that more specifically, it would be a white student.

In my high school, most of the kids would have had money thrown at them from multiple directions just because of their race or family income; that is - if they bothered to go to college or claim it. We had assemblies where all the seniors had to be lectured on all of the unclaimed scholarship money and given a list of sources for free money. I, as well as a few others, didn't qualify for any of the things on the list because I was white and my parents were affluent enough to exceed the income thresholds.

As a result, cost was one of the main factors in where I went to college. I also knew kids in my boat who were getting nothing from their parents and kids who's parents would only pay for the first X years. I don't blame the parents at all, because a burden of 20k per year, though modest compared to the cost of a lot of top colleges, can weigh heavily on a middle-class family, especially when there is another child who's not yet in college and the parents are trying to save for retirement.

Meanwhile, one of my friends was getting a full-ride scholarship due to his family's income, yet had a brand new blackberry, car, and all the spending money he would need from a non-parent relative. I also knew people who were getting 5k/year for PSAT scores 20+ points lower than mine simply due to their race. Don't even get me started on the disparity of resumes being accepted at some of the nice schools in relation to race.

jook

I'm not sure that mine had anything to do with race (both my parents are of European decent). However, I was disqualified from any type of grant money because my parents' incomes were too high. Ironically enough though, even with my parents have a "high" income, they haven't been able to just hand me $30,000 grand every year because they have three other children to worry about. My parents put all four of us through 13 years of private K-8 and high school each. We are a middle class family because my parents have had to sacrifice a lot just to make tuition payments. The bad part is that this is not even considered by the government when you apply for aid. All they do is look at how much they make and use whatever formula they have to decide how much they can afford to give you each year.

rocket6louise

I really don't get why parents have an obligation to pay for their kids education.

It's my education, not theirs. I should pay 100%. End of story.

GoBlue81

What happens if your parents refuse to help you file your FAFSA?

UAKid

I believe it's *possible* to be declared independent on financial aid, but for the schools I looked at the requirements of this were pretty crazy. Like you had to be not a dependent on any tax forms, live at your own address, etc.

BTW if your parents screw you over and don't help with FAFSA, there's nothing you can do about it as far as I know.

replytimothy

If you believe you are contended with what you have, take a look at it if someone lost his/her both parents woundn't he/she survive?

Sally_Rubenstone

I agree with sewhappy ...

If parents must be financially responsible for a child's education until that child is 24, then parents should also have access to college records until the child is 24.

A couple years ago, a friend's child was put on probation for earning F's and D's in most of his first-semester freshman classes. The boy was told that he could remain in school if he made significant improvement in the second semester. A month or so into the second semester, his father contacted the son's faculty advisor to make sure that the son had buckled down. "We can't give you that information," the advisor said. "Talk to your son."

"I did talk to my son," the dad replied. "He said he's doing fine ... but that's what he said throughout the first semester, too, when he flunked two classes!"

Well, in this case, the son really had improved his grades, but I still sympathize with the frustrated father who was struggling to pay the bills and yet had no official inkling if his son was holding up his end, too.