<p>So this summer my friend moved out of her house she is going to be a sophomore in college and is attending an expensive college. her parents are refusing to pay for her college completely and I was wondering if anyone could help us figure out what we need to do or fill out to get a discount on her college tuition? thank you all so much for your help.</p>
<p>Your friend may be very disappointed. In most cases, regardless of where the student lives, undergrad students MUST provide the financial information from their parents. </p>
<p>If your friend moved out because of a reported abuse incident, or something of this kind, this might not be the case. BUT just moving out of one’s parents home does not usually make it possible to apply for financial aid without providing the parent information.</p>
<p>In addition, parent refusal to pay for college is not considered when the financial aid computations are made. Colleges care only what your parents CAN pay, not what they want to pay.</p>
<p>Maybe she should rethink moving out of her house. Break it down. If it costs $40,000 /year for her expensive college and she has to live with her parents for the summer, follow their rules and be reasonable for 12 weeks for them to pay for it, then she is getting about $3,000 per week. I don’t know of any summer jobs that pay that well. For $3,000 per week, she might find it in her heart to apologize for her behavior and promise to be more mature in the future.</p>
<p>We have no idea what the circumstances of this separation was, or if the living arrangement is the reason why her parents are refusing to pay (or if they realized over the past year that they can’t afford it either!), so it’s probably best not to judge too quickly. Thumper is right though, there is no “self-separation” clause to the FA award and, except in extreme cases such as abuse/incarceration, etc. schools don’t really give a d**n what parents want to pay. Does she have her FA award letter and know how much she’ll need to come up with to attend this school next semester? Are her parents able, but just unwilling, to pay or have they had financial setbacks? Does she know her EFC?</p>
<p>It would be very difficult for a young adult to finance a pricey school on their own, unless they’re receiving awesome merit aid and/or are eligible for need based grants too. It’s very hard for many to finance even their instate public schools, but the sticker price may be a lot lower if she’s not getting much aid from the private school. She could find out if there are any public colleges still accepting transfers for next fall, consider taking a gap year/leave of absence if there are no affordable options available now (and possibly work for Americorps if she has a low cost place to stay) or, if her EFC well below the typical COA, apply to a school the guarantees to meet need for all students with no/low loans. Many of the 100% need met schools are very competive for admissions and we don’t know anything about her academic record but a few aren’t and just offer this to instate residents.</p>
<p>Here are some links:
[Space</a> Availability Survey Results 2010](<a href=“http://www.nacacnet.org/PublicationsResources/Research/SpaceAvailabiltySurvey/Pages/SpaceSurveyResults.aspx]Space”>http://www.nacacnet.org/PublicationsResources/Research/SpaceAvailabiltySurvey/Pages/SpaceSurveyResults.aspx)</p>
<p>[Project</a> on Student Debt: Financial Aid Pledges](<a href=“http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php]Project”>http://projectonstudentdebt.org/pc_institution.php)</p>