<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I would like to attend college for a degree in Computer Science, but I am having an issue. I need advice on how to get aid. I have no way to pay for anything. and my parents, who are divorced, won't help either. My mother would like to but is struggling, and my father who makes lots of money refuses to help me with anything at all. period. He says it's not his responsibility. I have tried to fill out the FAFSA, but I cannot get my fathers information, he won't give it to me. I live on my own with a friend, and I know that you have to be 24 to be considered independent, but I also know that without my fathers info I am going to get nowhere, I also don't qualify for a dependency override. I am at a loss about what to do. My grades in high school were terrible, I was never challenged. So I don't know if I qualify for grants of any kind. </p>
<p>Any advice would be very much appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Any chance you lived with your mom more than half the time in the last 12 months? If so, SHE would be your custodial parent you would use only HER info on the FAFSA. You would not use your dad at all.</p>
<p>For divorced parents, you only use the parent with whom you reside the most.</p>
<p>Well, I lived with my dad for most of the time, I could move and live with my mom, but that would be a major undertaking. It can be done however. But I would prefer to stay were I am at. Is there anything else I can do?
Thanks</p>
<p>If you live with a friend most of the time, but you have spent one day more with your mom than with your dad in the 12 months before you file the FAFSA, that can make her your custodial parent for the FAFSA. Look at a calendar. Count the days that you spent with each of them. Then go crash on her couch for enough nights to make the difference.</p>
<p>So, if I, say, spend a few weeks with my mom every few months, when next year rolls around I can claim her as my custodial parent. I forgot to mention my mom lives 2,600 miles from me.</p>
<p>The requirement is the parent you resided with MOST in the 12 months prior to completing your FAFSA…not what you do going forward (although that WILL affect next year’s FAFSA). If your mom lives 2600 miles from you, and you lived with your dad more, then HE is the custodial parent for this year for the FAFSA. If you lived with neither, the one who contributed most to your support would be the custodial parent. Again, sounds like your dad.</p>
<p>You need to sit down with your dad and discuss post high school plans. What does he hope you will be doing next year? </p>
<p>And you need to start researching NOW options that might get you where you want to be without support from your parents. This could include community or four year college as a commuter part time while you work full time. Community college will be less costly. It will also give you a chance to improve your academic standing.</p>
<p>Go talk to the local community college and see what they have to offer. </p>
<p>ETA…if your mom lives 2600 miles away, you will be spending money on transportation to get there, plus lost wages from employment. Thes two in total could equal what it costs to attend a community college if you do it enough to really be at your mom’s often and enough for her to be considered your custodial parent.</p>