This is what I said:
“If your parents will pay zero, and will not support you financially otherwise, you should look into being declared independent. That would especially be true if they have disowned you because of your lifestyle choice, and you might be able to find some free legal help such as NYLAG’s LGBTQ Law Project.”
Post #53 said:
" Not at all the same thing, and stop telling vulnerable teenagers that they can get themselves declared independent."
I don’t think the response in post #53 to my post #39 was warranted. I wasn’t “telling” anyone anything, I made a suggestion based on a few postings.
If that is not the OP’s case, obviously it is moot. Like my friend in college, if a young adult’s parents pick and choose how they will financially support them, they can make life difficult without the possibility of being declared independent. I have family members who disowned their children because the children wanted to live with their mother. He does not report having children, and they are still minors. He was very poor working a trade but came into quite a bit of money, and his brother is sure that his ex-wife and his children have no idea, as he was too poor compared to his wife to be required to pay child support.
Those children would have to declare that they could not find him (which would be a lie, he owns a business with his last name in the title and has not moved, but they aren’t in contact with him so perhaps they could get a NCP waiver) or suddenly their NCP with hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash in the bank affects their ability to get aid for college.
This is another thread about NCP not paying, somewhat similar to the OP’s situation:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1698816-non-custodial-parent-on-css-profile-p1.html