<p>I received an email from Questbridge and looked into the site. It seems like a great opportunity, but I'm doubtful that I would fall under the category of "economic hardship" that Questbridge stresses. I also read on the site that Questbridge does not have specific criteria/cut-offs for income/stats so I've come here for advice.</p>
<p>Would it be a waste of time for me to apply using Questbridge if I'm not poor? Btw I'm planning to pay my college tuition myself, so I don't understand how my parents' income factors into it. Isn't it a moot point to provide my parents' income if they're not going to be helping pay my tuition? And from the need-based aid forms I've seen so far, there isn't any way to specify that I'm paying for my tuition myself as I'm not in the ROTC, married, or with children. Please help!</p>
<p>Your parents’ financial income is required unless you are over 24, have dependents, are married, were an orphan or ward of the state, etc. You would have to fill out a form from your individual college to be considered an independent student, but this is not an easy thing to prove. You cannot be considered independent just because your family can’t or won’t help with college.
I’m not sure what Questbridge’s requirements might be, you would have to email them and ask.</p>
<p>It would depend on your income, as to whether or not it would be worth it to apply. I personally got CPS and had a fairly high income under QB standards for a family of 2. As long as your parents are custodial parents their income will be considered (in many cases non-custodial parents will be considered as well). It does not matter if they want to help you pay for college, if they have an income that would have allowed for them to save for college for you/could contribute but are choosing to spend their money elsewhere or simply have told you that you need to pay for college yourself you still have financial resources that most QB applicants don’t have. To give you an idea of the difference, all of the QB kids I have talked to (including myself) have no money saved for college besides what we put away from our own jobs (where we usually make close to minimum wage) and our families can literally contribute little to nothing because they live paycheck to paycheck. Hopefully this helps, let me know if you have any more questions…</p>