My daughter goes to grad school out of state. She has been able to claim financial independence from us and therefore gets financial aid/grants in her own name. Her living situation recently changed and in order to continue living where she is she needs myself and my wife to cosign on the apartment for her. Is it possible that this could affect her independent status in the eyes of her university?
No. D2 is in law school. She needed someone to co-sign her apartment lease and it didn’t change her status. Many adults have guarantors for their loans, but it doesn’t mean they are not independent.
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Not sure this applies- D1 was in graduate school with scholarship/ grant and independent and was not affected by me cosigning the apartment lease. The apartment was not affiliated with the school.
Thank you so much for these replies! I definitely feel like our situation is the same as both of yours. It doesn’t make sense that a cosigner on an apartment would upset independent status for a student. We are having trouble getting a straight answer from the college, that’s why I was asking here
I co-signed the lease for D1 her first year in dental school. No issues with loans or independent status.
You’re not technically paying the rent, just guaranteeing that it will be paid by you if your daughter doesn’t.
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Nope. We cosigned leases for both of our kids for grad school. This has absolutely nothing to do with her independent status.
But I’m curious…what sorts of need based grants does your daughter get for grad school?