<p>I'm having an issue here with filling out the fafsa. Last school year 2010-2011 i used my mother and stepfather's information as that is who i was living with at the time of me filing the papers. This year i don't really have a set place that i live at. I pretty much just bounce around. Some times i'll be with my sister at here residence, a friends residence, with my father at his girlfriends, and on occasions with my mother and stepfather. My question is whenever it asks for parental information...what should i put? Neither parent's aid my school efforts. Everything is payed for by myself, what little financial aid i receive (due to having to input parental information) and student loans. I'm currently 20 years of age so the forms are requiring parental information which i believe is ridiculous, but that's another subject. I guess to sum this up i have two questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is there anyway that i can get around having to have my parents information on the forms? (other then becoming emancipated which would take more time then i have to complete the forms)</p></li>
<li><p>If there is no way then would it matter which parents information that i use?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>ANY help with this matter is greatly appreciated</p>
<p>1) No. You are under 24 and have no dependents (children or spouse) so your parents income counts in FA.<br>
2) Use the parent you lived with the most. If you lived the same number of days with each then use the one that provided the most support (even if that is just bigger meals).</p>
<p>If you think you lived equally with both parents, you are required to put the parent who contributed most to you and in most cases this would be the parent who earns the larger income. SO…if you lived with one parent more…you use THAT parent. If you lived with them equally, use the parent who earns the most.</p>
<p>There is a way to declare yourself independent at some schools, and I know two people who have done it without a terrible amount of difficulty. However, those people had NO contact with their parents, no family support whatsoever, and were able to prove they were living on their own and were fully independent. Since you receive family support the FAFSA expects you to input your family’s income.</p>
<p>Becoming emancipated has no effect on your FAFSA…in the eyes of the law you are not a minor and couldn’t become emancipated anyway.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply’s guys. I remember the first time i ever submitted the fafsa that i said i was independent and the school wanted papers from a judge stating that i was something or another of the state??? That was due to my guidance counselor at my highschool telling me to file as independent student…???..I know right…Anyway another question. Say I lived with one parent more then the other, but the parent that i wasn’t living with “aided” me more. How would it work out with the addresses? Would I just leave my address at the one parents residence and use the other’s tax information?..I love forms…</p>
<p>FAFSA rules are VERY clear. You list the parent you lived with greater than 50% of the time…the parent you lived with the most. THAT would be your address too, because presumably you lived there the MOST. You would use THAT parent’s financial information on the FAFSA.</p>
<p>If you really didn’t live there the most…than you cannot use that parent. If you lived there the most, then that is YOUR address too…you LIVED there the most.</p>
<p>If it is close, and a student can make the case, the parent with the lower income is often used as the FAFSA parent if it makes a difference in the aid. A lot of times it does not.</p>
<p>No…if the student feels it’s equal time, then the parent with the MOST income is used.</p>
<p>If the student wants to used the lower income parent on their FAFSA form, they need to reside with that parent more of the year. Those are the rules.</p>
<p>You can’t just decide to use the lower income parent if that isn’t the parent with whom you reside. If it’s 50/50 the higher income parent is used…the student is living with both equally presumably and I can’t see how they could make a case that the lower income parent would be supplying more support to them.</p>