<p>I was just talking to someone who found a company that, for a fee, will help you emancipate your child for college (so they don’t have to claim your income). Smells like a total scam to me. Isn’t it next to impossible to claim independence for college financing? Has anyone successfully done this with their child in the past 10 years or so?</p>
<p>You want to give us the name of the company so we can check it out ourselves?</p>
<p>It does sound like it couldn’t possibly be legit . . .</p>
<p>I don’t know the name, sorry. She just say “we found a company that…” I don’t really even know this person, just someone I was chatting with in passing. I can’t believe it’s legit either but I figured someone here would have heard of companies that try to do this for you :p</p>
<p>So – are you trying to avoid being scammed in an attempt to somewhat-scam another party?</p>
<p>?</p>
<p>I’m just wondering if anyone else has come across companies that “do” that for you and if they have had any success. I told this woman that I would not give them any money as it sounds like a scam. I am just tying to find out if there are legit companies that do this or how easy this process is because everything I have heard says it’s next to impossible to do this unless your child is pretty much abandoned by parents. Just curious and nothing more. Not quite sure what you are eluding to PolarBearvsShark??</p>
<p>The only cases I know of were kids who were already in “the system”, i.e. child protective services, foster care, or had a guardian ad litem appointed by a judge during a bad divorce or step-parent situation. In these situations, there was already a case file in place and evidence introduced into court.</p>
<p>I find it hard to believe that in the absence of a social worker, judge, or mandated reporter testimony, an outsider is going to be able to put together a compelling case that a kid has fallen under the radar of the family court system. But I guess anything is possible.</p>
<p>Hey, there are people who charge money for telling parents how to get your kid a taxi to pick them up at your house and drop them at school, courtesy of the taxpayers, so I guess I believe anything. An ironic case in my town when the kid (who had special transportation due to alleged severe and chronic asthma so apparently was unable to walk up the steps of a school bus) was written up in the local paper for his prowess on his traveling soccer team… parents got nailed eventually.</p>
<p>I believe that PolarBearVsShark was pointing out the irony of Parent trying to avoid being scammed by Company in Parent & Company’s joint attempt to scam College.</p>
<p>If the child is 18, he or she is a legal adult and cannot be emancipated. I would guess this company would help a client create a picture of a financially independent adult who is between the ages of 18 and 24. If the picture created is for college financial aid, but is in truth not accurate I would think that is considered fraud.</p>
<p>Or maybe they walk the kid over to the military recruiter since that will get him/ her independent status! </p>
<p>Here are the only ways a student can be independent on the 2012-2013 FAFSA and not use parent info. Note that anything else would fall under “professional judgement” and this only works for federal money. So a private school that requires Profile or its own forms could say (as many medical schools and law schools say) that a student is independent for federal financial aid purposes, but to access the college’s financial aid funds, the school wants parent info. (I don’t know of any cases like this-- that the school asks for parent info if, for example, a student at an elite meets-full-need school marries halfway through undergrad-- but it is possible the school will still want parent financial info.) </p>
<p><a href=“http://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/2012-13-completing-the-fafsa.pdf[/url]”>http://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/2012-13-completing-the-fafsa.pdf</a></p>
<ul>
<li>Student was born before January 1, 1989</li>
<li>Student is or will be enrolled in a masters or Doctoral degree program at the beginning of the school year</li>
<li>Student is married on the day he/she files FAFSA</li>
<li>Student is a parent</li>
<li>Student has dependents other than your spouse who live with him/her and who receive more than half their support from him/er at the time you apply</li>
<li>Both parents are deceased (or were until age 18) and student is or was a ward of dependent of the court </li>
<li>Student is currently serving on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces for purposes other than training</li>
<li>Student is a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces</li>
<li>Student was a foster child after the age of 13</li>
<li>Student is/was an emancipated child as determined by a court judge (This would have to have been done before age 18yo)</li>
<li>Student is homeless or at risk of homelessness as determined by the director of a HUD approved homeless shelter, transitional program, or high school liaison</li>
</ul>
<p>Did a quick internet search and couldn’t find anything. My guess is that this is just another of the many private consultants who will, for a fee, give a parent the same financial aid information they could get for free anywhere else.</p>
<p>I was thinking along the same lines that the child would have to be the ward of the court or worse, not the child of a business executive. I hope she took my advice and called the college her child will attend and ask them. I’ll probably never see this person again so who knows what will happen. It sounds like she is going off this fall so it’s way to late anyway but I don’t know that for sure.</p>
<p>You do not need to be the ward of the court (at least in my state) but I think it is unlikely that a kid who has had no contact with the department of children’s services, a referral to a social worker via the high school, or a guardianship application pending by someone who is not a bio-parent is going to qualify. And these people may find that the joy of having the taxpayers pick up their kids college tuition is mitigated by other, unintended consequences (younger kids in the house who can be removed? income tax audit? wages garnished to pay court costs?)</p>
<p>Yikes!</p>
<p><a href=“I%20don’t%20know%20of%20any%20cases%20like%20this–%20that%20the%20school%20asks%20for%20parent%20info%20if,%20for%20example,%20a%20student%20at%20an%20elite%20meets-full-need%20school%20marries%20halfway%20through%20undergrad–%20but%20it%20is%20possible%20the%20school%20will%20still%20want%20parent%20financial%20info.”>quote</a>
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Don’t a number of schools state that if you start out as a dependent student, they will consider you a dependent the entire time, even if you turn 24, have a kid, or get married?</p>
<p>I have read of kids getting married for financial aid purposes (marriage of convenience).</p>
<p>That’s an affirmative to dodgersmom. </p>
<p>Hypothetically, if a parent is working this hard to avoid contributing to a child’s college costs, passing the burden to the school, and eventually to other parents and students, it creates another realm of social engineering for the sake of freeloading. Also has a possible pyramid-scheme essence to it.</p>
<p>I worked in finaid for several years at a school where I can assure you that if it could be done, there would be folks doing it. 
I never saw any emancipated students that did not appear to have been emancipated for legitimate reasons. Not saying it can’t or doesn’t happen in order to scam the system, but I don’t think it is all that easy.</p>
<p>I don’t think it is possible to be emancipated after age 18, as one is an adult at 18.</p>
<p>mathmomvt, I have read of it here-- on the cc financial aid boards-- but I don’t personally know of any cases like this. I am sure it depends on the school but I’ve never researched it.</p>