<p>Alright, so my girlfriend's mother passed during her sophomore year. She was the only person in the household who held residency for the state of Florida (her dad lives in Panama). Her older brother is now her official guardian, but he does not have legal residency. Even if he were to get it soon, the state of Florida requires him to have legally lived in Florida for 12 months, so there wouldn't be much he could do there. Because of this situation, she does not qualify for In-state tuition, or bright future scholarships. Is there anything out there that could possibly help her out financially? Would explaining her situation on college apps help even a little? I am quite concerned, and advice or suggestions would be appreciated. </p>
<p>Is your girlfriend a citizen or eligible non-citizen? Did she graduate from a Florida high school? If so, she should be eligible for Bright Futures. Is her brother living in Florida and a court appointed guardian? If so, she can file as an independent for FA and for residency once she is 18. If she has not left the state, I don’t think there will be any trouble.</p>
<p>Also, look at FSU. They have certain programs with Panama that she might be eligible for if she is a Panamanian citizen.</p>
<p>@twoinanddone Yes, she is a citizen and she will graduate from a Florida high school. However, I don’t understand how she can qualify as an independent. In addition, UF states that all applicants whose parents/guardians are not legal residents should apply out of state. Does this nullify Bright Futures?
Thank you so much for the help by the way. </p>
<p>@twoinanddone For example, if she applied for residency once she is 18, she would still have to wait a whole year for the residency to take effect for college wouldn’t she? </p>
<p>She is a resident of Florida and graduates from a Florida high school, she can apply for BF. If the arrangement for her guardianship is not being done through a court, it should be because then she can be independent for financial aid (FAFSA). Her guidance counselor should know all this. I don’t think her Florida residency will be questioned if she graduates from a Florida hs, has a Florida address, and a Florida license herself. She should register to vote as soon as she turns 18. The GC should also be familiar with a citizen/resident student having a non-citizen, non-resident parent.</p>
<p>@twoinanddone However, one of the requirements for being independent involves “providing a minimum of 51% of his or her own support.” What about this requirement? This is the only requirement that I have doubts about. </p>
<p>And yes, her guardianship is done through a court. </p>
<p>If she has guardianship through a court prior to age 18, she is independent for financial aid purposes…period. It doesn’t matter if her guardians are supporting her now, I don’t believe.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help guys! One more thing, you guys are talking about being independent for financial aid purposes. Let’s take for example, the UF application. In order to be qualified for in-state tuition for UF, she would need to be independent. One of these requirements involve being financially self supporting, and she must “have a copy of the parents’ most recent tax return indicating that the student was not claimed as a dependent, and
Proof of income greater than or equal to 51% of the estimated expenses.” In this sense, she would not be able to be classified as independent for instate tuition purposes, but she would be independent for financial aid, right? @thumper1</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about instate status for tuition in FL. But upstream someone said that if she graduated from a FL high school, and is a citizen, and is in guardianship in FL, she would have instate status.</p>
<p>There are not very many HS students who provide more than half of their own support. </p>
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<p>Her guardianship would have to be done through the florida courts.</p>
<p>start here</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.flbog.edu/forstudents/ati/resrequirements.php”>http://www.flbog.edu/forstudents/ati/resrequirements.php</a></p>