<p>Hello,
I have been reading cc for a few years but this is my first post. Please understand that I am in a almost life-threatening situation right now due to lack of food and money.
I have been attending a University of California for two years, and after my second year I was forced to decide on a major and I chose one that my parents did not want me to take. They also did not approve of what I wanted to do with my future, and told me that they would not help with me financially whatsoever. Of course our relationship has fallen apart, because I did not want to give up my passion(it's music if anyone wonders).
I talked to my financial aid counselor, who told me to apply online. The only category I could check was "homelessness" (I was evicted because my parents refused to pay my rent and living in my friend's place for free now) so I did, but I got rejected because of lack of proof.
I just talked to my counselor again and I was told that even if I was approved of being independent, I wouldn't get more than 7,500, when the tuition is around 10,000, and the rest I have to cover with loan or work study. I have friends who are independent and they're going to school and even getting rent and food money. So I am really confused.
But even more than that, I am starting to run out of food and money that I have saved up, I have been applying and getting interviewed for jobs but I don't have any experience so I just do not get hired. Right now I'm working for a commission-based pyramid scam(yes, I do know it's a scam) just for the sake of survival, but I can't even buy a dollar microwave food with the money I make.
I simply want to go back to school by getting full financial aid and food/rent money. I could not find any thread related to this.. If anyone could give me any tip on receiving independency on a situation like this.. you might be changing my life. I am begging everyone reading this.</p>
<p>You may not be able to go back to college for a few years until you are 24. We know several kids who parted ways with their parents for one reason or another and simply had to work and wait until they were 24 to begin to finish college. The other option might be to work part-time and take classes part-time but you’ll have to figure out a budget. Expand your horizons while you’re thinking and putting pen to paper. Right now stores are starting to hire or Christmas help. I’m assuming whomever you talked to in finaid discussed with you if there are any departmental scholarships for upperclass students. Look at the WUE schools and see if there is one where you can finish your degree cheaper. If you are really independent you might be able to move and find cheaper housing costs. It’s a tough spot to be in but if you put pen to paper and consider options you might be able to piece it together to finish up your degree. The amount of federal loan you will be able to get will not cover tuition, books and shared apartment and food. It won’t.</p>
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<p>No, an independent junior would qualify for $12,500 in federal student loans. I think your counselor was talking about the dependent loan limit of $7500.</p>
<p>Have you filed an appeal for a change of status from dependent to independent? You will probably need to gather some documentation from outside sources (other than your friend) such as shelter directors, etc. in order to support your claim that you are homeless or at risk of being homeless. But, if your parents have truly kicked you out (vs. you leaving voluntarily), you might succeed with professional judgement and it will cost you nothing to try.</p>
<p>The food crisis is worrisome to me. I don’t know the rules for emergency food stamps in your state, but that might be one option. Many communities have food banks and churches often maintain food pantries for those in need. Please consider reaching out to one of the religious organizations on campus, even if you are not religious, and talk openly with the priest/minister/rabbi. They can likely refer you to a local agency or organization who can help. </p>
<p>I’m hoping this is the dark before the dawn for you. Please keep us posted on your progress.</p>
<p>After 20, you can no longer legitimately check off homelessness as a reason for automatic independent status. However, you can request a dependency override. You will need to provide proof that you have an irretrievably broken relationship with your parents. This will involve documentation from others … the person with whom you live, as well as some type of professional (counselor, doctor, clergy person, etc) if possible. There is no guarantee you will be granted the override, but you can try. Talk to your aid office for details.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone who responded… good to know there are someone who cares.
So I talked to the counselor again today, and she summed up everything in the end by saying “There is no way we can make you independent”. She said I literally have to be a homeless living in a homeless shelter to be regarded homeless. In fafsa rules, I read that if there’s no place I could stay tonight, I am considered homeless? Isn’t begging my friends to let me stay at there place considered “no place to stay”?
If I can’t go back to school, which my counselor told me will probably be the situation(unless I take loans which I really don’t want), I am probably going to attend a cc to at least learn something. Do cc’s provide financial aid? ANd would they be able to help me pay for housing, books, etc?
Knowing I can’t go back to school really made me sad, but it’s one of the things I gotta move on…</p>
<p>I am sorry that this is happening. Financial aid officers have to be very careful about granting dependency overrides. If the student and parents are not getting along, that does not necessarily constitute a situation that would allow the override; parents refusing to pay for college does not, either. The standard that is applied is a complete breakdown in the family dynamic. I granted overrides for abusive situations, negligent parents, that type of thing. I denied them for a young man who felt he couldn’t live at home because his dad made him go to bed by 10 — he was unable to study with such an early bedtime, he said — but there was no abuse, no breakdown, just a difference of opinion. I understood that the student needed to leave, but I was unable to grant him independence. Same with the girl whose parents refused to pay for her because she was dating outside her religion. However, I granted independence to a young woman whose parents beat her because she dated outside her religion. There are shades of gray in deciding these things. What one aid officer does at one school, another aid officer might disagree with at another school. It’s frustrating, but it’s the nature of the beast.</p>
<p>You can get aid at a CC. Please talk to the aid officer there to find out what is available for you. You seem to have a good attitude - you will be successful!</p>
<p>Thank you so much. and thank you again for sharing your experience.
That got me an idea, but it is really messed up.
My parents are asian and I do have history of getting beat, just like any other asian kids. The only difference between them and me is that I got beat in America.
I really did not want to “use” this kind of information, something that happened a few years ago before I decided to depart from them. But if I must, I guess I could use it.
It just saddens me that I have to dig through memories I don’t want to recall just to go back to school who seem to have no interest in helping me out whatsoever(the voicemail I received ended with “It seems like there is no way you can come back to school. Good bye.”).
But anyways, if that history of beating(not as in abusing, but to teach me a lesson. But they still did beat me) can help me out, I will use it…</p>
<p>Also, I got hired last week and started paid training. Does that help me get financial aid in any way? I was also thinking about work study, but will that help me in any way other than the hiring process? Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I can’t find answers anywhere online and our office is closed…</p>
<p>Having a job is great, but it won’t help you get financial aid. Your main obstacle is that you need to file FAFSA and get a dependency override if you can’t get your parent’s tax info or if their EFC is more than you can afford to pay. I don’t know if an episode of physical punishment in prior years would constitute abuse…I wouldn’t think so unless there were police reports or some kind of school/hospital/social services documentation that would substantiate the reason for the breakdown of your relationship with your parents. </p>
<p>It sounds like the FA officer told you exactly what she was looking for - a statement from a shelter director or someone like that who can attest to you being homeless. I’m so sorry for your predicament and hope it works out for you somehow.</p>
<p>Hey sk8ermom, thank you for your time. Unfortunately for me, my parents are wealthy and could easily afford paying for my school, it’s just that they are very stubborn. I have no hard proof at all. But I mean, I don’t know any child who will call the police on their parents so I don’t know how that’s going to work. I pretty much gave up going back to school, and now looking at community colleges around me. I’m also looking to apply for food stamps, general relief, etc. to create more evidence I need to go back to school after I finish community college. I hope I’m going along the right lane. Again, thank you everyone for all the encouragement, knowledge and help. I probably would’ve given up life if you guys didn’t help me out. So I really appreciate you guys.</p>