This caused me a lot of confusion as well. I saw 24 and 26. I was relying on the Parent PLUS loan to take a summer class. I needed this class before I could officially graduate. USC doesn’t really give much in terms of financial aid during the summer session, so I needed this loan to pay for my class. I was 23 during the summer, but I was going to turn 24 in September and this created a bit of a problem. The financial aid office refused to disburse the loan because I was going to turn 24 that year. I had to argue a bit and proved that the summer semester was still considered part of the current academic year. I got my loan in the end, but the lady I spoke with in financial aid said I would have definitely been considered an independent student in the fall semester. So it does seem like 24 is when your are considered independent.