<p>FAFSA for one of my kids was relatively straight forward. 4 yrs of undergrad done right after HS.
My other child went back to school this year after taking a break. It is getting to be FAFSA time and I realize she is turning 24 this year. We provide most of her support. Since she is going to be 24 do I no longer file a FAFSA with my income? Would her financial aid change for the following year?</p>
<p>If she is turning 24 this year then she is independent and your data will not be required. How that affects her FA will depend on her income and assets. (in my son’s case his EFC actually increased when he turned independent as we qualified for the auto 0 EFC where his assets and income were ignored, but as an independent his income was counted - and he had had a well paying internship the $$$s from which were long gone on bills).</p>
<p>If she is in certain professional schools, such as medical school, they often still want parent info.</p>
<p>She has little income and no assets. With our assets she is full pay. Still at least another year of undergrad.</p>
<p>I’ll be interested also. One of my friend’s is in exactly this situation where her kid will be filing FAFSA on his own info. I’ll be interested to see how it affects FA (he doesn’t get any now).</p>
<p>I thought the most relevant thing is establishing dependent status is whether or not you support yourself. The tax guidelines (IRS) on this would help. I forget the percentage of support from you that qualifies her as a dependent, but it could be easily accessed on the IRS site.</p>
<p>Dependent for FAFSA and dependent for tax purposes are two different things. It would be entirely possible for a student to be a dependent on his/her parental tax forms, but still be independent for FAFSA.</p>
<p>compmom, Dependent status on taxes is different than dependent status for financial aid. The FAFSA has all students file as ‘independent’ at age 24yo while some may qualify earlier (for example, if they’ve joined the military, had a child, are married). However, a school can have its own rules so it’s possible that a school requires parent income but FAFSA could be filed with just child’s income-- leading to a situation, for example, in which the student receives a Pell Grant from his/her income but the college gives no other aid based on parent income.</p>
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This is not at all the case for FAFSA. Independent for FAFSA and independent for IRS are completely different things with completely different criteria. A student can be independent for taxes but still be a dependent on FAFSA. </p>
<p>For FAFSA there is a series of questions the student must answer. They are age 24 or older, being a veteran, being married, having a dependent, pursuing a masters or above etc. An answer of yes to a dependency question makes the student independent on FAFSA. Not one of the questions relates to being self supporting.</p>