<p>Many schools will NOT consider you an incoming freshman for FA or merit purposes if you’ve taken ANY college classes after high school. </p>
<p>The fact that you may still have “freshman status” because of credits, is NOT the same as being an incoming freshman which gets the best aid and merit.</p>
<p>As for being 18…The college system has to depend on the idea that parents are first in line to pay. If 18 year olds could be considered independent for aid and residency purposes, then all the kids would move to Calif, Virginia and North Carolina and grab a ton of aid as “independent residents” …lol…so, no, the system won’t allow that.</p>