<p>My son is 22 years old and wanting to attend a small culinary school in Colorado. When doing his FAFSA, he saw the question that asked if he was homeless at all since July, 2012. He answered yes (he was renting a home that was foreclosed upon and we weren’t living in the area at the time) - and the instructions said that he may be an independent student and that his parents’ info should not be entered at that time, to contact the school. The college financial aid staff indicated, during the past week, that it shouldn’t be an issue - just that they needed documentation to document the homeless claim, which we provided. We have spoken about this 3 times and suddenly today, they say that he doesn’t qualify because the regulation indicates that you have to be under 21 years of age for that clause to apply (he was 21 when it happened). I spoke with the FAFSA help staff tonight, who indicate that there is NOT a clause that states you must be under 21 years of age for that homeless clause to apply. I sent that to the college financial aid people, but the question is: How do you sort through an issue like this when the college is somehow interpreting the F.A. regulations differently than FAFSA personnel? And, has anyone had any experience with this particular “special circumstance”?</p>
<p>Actually, yes, there IS such a clause. It is in the regulations, not on the FAFSA (which is why the FAFSA folks don’t know - they are not familiar with regs). When a student is over 21, the aid officer has to do a professional judgment to make the student homeless. </p>
<p>In this case, I am not sure I would do a PJ for the homelessness. The homelessness clause is meant to assist students whose families are without stable, adequate housing; this is why the age is 21 (it’s meant to be for “minors”). If your son is living in a homeless shelter, he can get a statement from the housing director & that would give the aid officer documentation to do the PJ for homelessness. How is he living? Are you assisting him? If so, I doubt he will be given a PJ for homelessness.</p>
<p>I agree with Kelsmom. Our school almost definitely would not do a PJ for the situation you are describing.</p>