My daughter will be attending Valencia College in fall to get her AA then transfer to UCF. Everywhere I have read is that if parents do not qualify for parent plus loan (we don’t since we have discharge of bankruptcy with 5 yrs) the kids would than be considered independent for financial aid and can get the max stafford limit of $9500. The financial aid office looked at me strange and said no…since daughter is not 24, married or has a child so they would not be considered independent. But may qualify for up to additional $2000. I’m so confused and stinks because we may not be able to get any private loans because of bankruptcy 
Anyone who has gone through this advise is welcome. … TIA
No, she is NOT considered “independent for FA”. All that happens is that she is STILL dependent, but after you apply for a Plus loan and are denied…THEN she’ll qualify for $4k more in loans. BUT she will NOT be considered independent.
Your D would qualify for an add’l $2k per semester. But this is a CC, so they may have a lowish COA or not allow certain debt.
no one should be borrowing $9500 for a CC! How much is Valencia’s tuition?
edited…Valencia’s tuition is ONLY $3k per year. Books are maybe another $800-1000.
She should not be borrowing that much.
What is her major and career goal??
They are not considered independent but they are allowed to borrow at the independent student rate, up to the cost of attendance, I think. I think you have to apply for parent plus and be turned down. I would be cautious of loading your kid up on that much debt, though. The dependent student debt rate alone will be about a $300 payment for 10 years.
Here is the federal page. Note the column heading for amount Independent student can borrow also indicates dependent students if parents unable to get PP.
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized#how-much