<p>Okay, I don't know of this is a stupid question but I am curious as to how I will qualify for financial aid when I turn 25. I am already 23 so that will come sooner than I expect. I won't be a dependent anymore so does this mean I need to have some kind of job and file my own income tax returns to qualify for financial aid as a independent? If that is the case I will just take two classes every semester while working or just leave school and go work for a few years to save up money for college. Then I will be terribly old by the time I graduate.....if I graduate. Sorry, I looked this up and could not really find answers for this.</p>
<p>You actually qualify for financial aid as an independent person if you were born before January 1st, 1989. I’m 23 at the moment but qualify as they just go to the first of the year. You basically have to be 24 not 25 the year you are applying for. I wouldn’t feel too bad because A LOT of people go back to school in their 40’s after their kids grow up.</p>
<p>Also you DO NOT have to have a job and you DO NOT have to file tax returns as far as I understand. I haven’t been employed on a regular basis in over two years! I was only able to be accepted to school earlier because I was married at 21. We do not have children. </p>
<p>So you should be fine and I recommend a community college.</p>
<p>*an independent!!</p>
<p>Thank you for responding. But I find it strange that I wouldn’t have to hold a job and file income tax returns. I wonder how I am supposed to prove my financial need. </p>
<p>Community college?! I didn’t know my writing was that bad. Just kidding. 
Nice to see someone isn’t snobby. My family criticized my choice of attending community college right after high school. They didn’t understand that I don’t care about all the bells and whistles that you get at a university. I just wanted to take classes is all. Now I’m finishing up my last classes at community college and expect to earn my associate’s this summer before I transfer to a university.</p>
<p>The bigger question is how you are supporting yourself if you have no job.</p>
<p>If you are living with your family, it is very possible for you to have no job and thus no need to file taxes. </p>
<p>Your tax filing status has no bearing on your financial aid applications.</p>
<p>That is very silly of your family to criticize you wanting to save money and start out with smaller classes and more accessible professors. My sisters are trust fund babies and everyone in my family has a very respectable degree. In fact I have family that TEACHES at Harvard University. Yet… they ALL support those that want to do a community college because it saves money. Plus the university option which is what I’m at right now isn’t that great anyways… the place is amazing but the graduation rate is awful. Try 6% in 4 years. There is nothing wrong with wanting to test the waters before you go spend/loan even more money at a University. If I could I wouldn’t be here but a Bachelors/Masters is impossible to get anywhere else. I’m totally the black sheep in my family with still be 23 with no Bachelors degree and having to use loans since my Trust fund was depleted but I’m not a loser because I’m not giving up. That’s all that matters.</p>
<p>Plus you don’t have to work if you don’t have to. That is if someone else is supporting you. Which is most likely your parents. You can file independent still after 24 years of age. And I personally am married with a husband paying the bills happily while I go to school so I don’t work at a call center or fast food the rest of my life.</p>