<p>If your school is requiring the financial aid applications and taxes from BOTH parents, the are not going to ignore either parent in the process. </p>
<p>You won’t be able to be $60,000 in debt unless one of your parents plans to cosign a loan for you. The banks will also want their income information…and some banks ask for tax releases as well (we just refinanced a home equity line and this was a condition of our loan approval).</p>
<p>Your parents need to resolve their tax issues. If there is any federally funded money in your package (direct loan, for example) you won’t be getting that unless they file…if required to do so. Most colleges want a link to use the IRS retrieval tool for the taxes.</p>
<p>And if your parent does NOT have to file, they have to complete a non-filers statement…and it needs to accurately reflect that they are not required to file. Fibbing on that would cause you major issues.</p>
<p>Does anyone think that a school could disregard my non-custodial mother’s information, at all? She claims that my father claims me as a dependent and that she is not liable to send in her taxes on my behalf. Is this true?</p>
<p>No, the school isn’t suddenly going to disregard your mom’s info at this point.</p>
<p>And, your mom is wrong (very wrong). When YOU’RE asking a school for financial aid, THEY have the RIGHT to ask you for any info THEY want to determine if there’s another source of income that could pay for college. Your college is not the gov’t, so the “claiming on taxes” thing is irrelevant to them.</p>
<p>Another suggestion … talk to financial aid folks again and set-up someone for your Mom to call and talk with … the financial aid folks can explain what is expected of a non-custodial parent … and maybe what the IRS can and CAN NOT do with financial aid information. I do not know that this school’s financial aid people will discuss with your Mom but it might be worth asking them to talk to her.</p>
<p>and maybe what the IRS can and CAN NOT do with financial aid information</p>
<p>If I’m understanding the OP’s posts, her mom already knows what the IRS can do because she exerienced that LAST year when she did file.</p>
<p>I don’t think it will matter if the school convinces the mom that she must provide info. The mom doesn’t want to provide the dad with back child support.</p>
<p>I would talk to the dean. They might be able to refer you to an attorney to file an action against your parents to compel them to file the paperwork. They are not paying for your college, and are not obligated to, but their stubbornness is causing you material harm. </p>
<p>You may not win such a motion, but perhaps the threat of legal action would get everyone’s attention.</p>
<p>I seriously doubt that any college is going to recommend an attorney to solve this family issue. That is a FAMILY issue.</p>
<p>The college will tell the student their requirements. It is up to the family to meet these requirements.</p>
<p>Last I knew…attorneys were not free. Initiating a suit at this late date might not even get it resolved soon enough for this student…plus the litigation costs won’t be free…and the process could be time consuming.</p>
<p>What I don’t understand…the mom is concerned that she will be tapped for additional child support to be paid to the dad. BUT didn’t the mom already lose her job and assets? If that is the case, and she has no income and few assets, what is her worry? Perhaps the finances are not what she is portraying to this student and the father…and that is her issue. Just guessing. </p>
<p>If she really has NOTHING…why not just file and show the nothingness. Maybe her payments would get reduced:)</p>
<p>I’m pretty positive that if I got an attorney involved in my families personal affairs, both of my parents would disown me. I don’t want to be too defiant towards them, they’ve already “disowned” my older brother because of that. I’m not exactly sure if it’s the best course of action at this point. I don’t think they understand the seriousness of this, with my being a first-generation college student.</p>
<p>An attorney would likely tell you that you have no right to sue them. They’re under NO OBLIGATION to provide their financial info to help you get aid. </p>
<p>While many of us would feel that they have an ethical obligation to do so, there isn’t a law to support that.</p>
<p>I spoke with my mother and she has deliberated with her accountant and has agreed to hand in her personal income tax to my school by Monday. I’m relieved that I’ve at least gotten her on board, my father on the other hand still isn’t being compliant with my financial needs.</p>
<p>I owe about $800 dollars to the school after using a federal loan of $5000 to pay off my parents contribution. My father had initially agreed to pay of the remaining debt but is now saying he won’t because he doesn’t believe my mother has met her part of the bargain in terms of paying for my college. We had a fight and now he refuses to turn in FAFSA and CSS solely because he thinks I’m siding with my mother because I’ve been remaining neutral in this entire situation. To make matters worse my mother can’t complete CSS until my father has completed CSS. Is there anything I can do at this point?</p>
<ol>
<li>Can I complete CSS and FAFSA myself, assuming my mother also sends in her taxes?</li>
<li>My school won’t allow me to return until I pay my remaining debt. Is it possible to use a loan I recieve this year (assuming I get my financial matters sorted out) to pay the remaining 2012-2013 debt)?</li>
<li>I’m also a bit hesitant to relay my concerns about my family situation to the deans and the financial aid office. Would I be out of place doing so? I’m worried about what my parents might think if the school were to contact them personally.</li>
</ol>
<p>You will not be issued a loan by your current school for the upcoming year UNTIL you pay your balance due in full.</p>
<p>$800. Did you work this summer? Are you able to pay this from your summer earnings? If so…do so.</p>
<p>Even IF your parents complete the financial aid forms, your school will want the past debt paid in FULL first. </p>
<p>Surely you knew about this $800 due from last school year before now.</p>
<p>How would you complete the FAFSA and profile yourself…when both require a PIN from the parent indicating the info is accurate. It would be a bit dishonest, don’t you think, to complete this as though you were the parent. Plus you need accurate 2012 tax info to put ON those financial aid application forms.</p>
<p>Even if the loan is a Federal Stafford Loan?</p>
<p>I had been working the entire school year, but I also had to budget time for schooling and sports so I didn’t have enough hours to pay the remaining debt, but the school had allowed me to pay the debt by July…Well it’s almost August. I used the money to pay for books, winter clothing, and toiletries/laundry, etc, believing that my father would come through with his promise, but he hasn’t. And it most likely has something to do with the fact that he may not be able to get my mother’s garnished income tax (which he probably expected in order to pay off my debt).</p>
<p>Jobs are hard to come by where I live, especially around the summer time. I sent out a dozen job applications, got two interviews and no call backs. I’m scurrying to send out job applications to a few more places in the hopes that I can at least work 2-3 weeks before I go to school, but I don’t think anyone will bite.
I know the PIN for FAFSA and CSS…I’m typically the one who completes their forms on there behalf and they typically expect me to do so. But I don’t know there financial information to do so this year.</p>
<p>Apple…you need to call the bursar’s office at your school. You need to find out what will happen with your aid, and registration status IF your outstanding balance is NOT paid in full.</p>
<p>It is very possible that your school will not process further aid for you until your debt is paid. they gave you a deadline which you apparently will not be able to meet. It is very possible that they will put a hold on your registration for fall if this bill is not paid in full.</p>
<p>You might also want to contact the dean of students about a that leave of absence and this situation…just in case you need to do that.</p>
<p>Personally, I think your school is being abundantly gracious by accepting your application for need based aid at this late date. Most colleges have a deadline for returning students to complete these forms…which I would wager has long since passed at your college.</p>
<p>Applebeam, am following your thread and hoping for the best. I don’t have much advice except to reiterate the possibility of getting a dean on your side. The $800 sounds quite urgent – I wonder if you have any friends who could be called upon, or something you could sell quickly, or an aunt or uncle who might be willing to make a loan, or something. Maybe your parents don’t get the seriousness of this, and losing out on next semester while this gets ironed out all because of $800 would be awful.</p>
<p>Of course there is no guarantee but it sounds like your school is being very patient and is working with your parents. I feel for you and hope you can get through this!</p>
<p>I spoke with one of my good upperclassmen friends from the same college and she told me the school is generally accommodating with students, who for whatever reason, turn in financial documents past the deadline. She said she, along with another friend, had turned their forms in on July and August, respectively, and that if my financial figures are similar to what they were last year then I should expect to get around the same amount of grants and loans. I know this is all anecdotal but I’m at least a bit relieved.</p>
<p>I’ll find a way to find the $800 dollars and get my documents in. Hopefully it all works out in the end.</p>
<p>If you aren’t enrolled as a student in fall, won’t you have to then begin making monthly payments on the loans that you took out for freshman year?</p>
<p>wish i could help you but i cant. I suggest getting an attorney. I know you dont want too but whats better having a chance at going to college for free or end up taking out loans and never being able to pay them off?</p>