<p>If a student is deemed independent one year and receives financial aid and then the next year needs help from her parents does that mean she looses her independence? Our income tax advisor said you can change from independent to dependent and back. Or if a student just doesn't request financial aid one year does that mean their status has changed automatically.</p>
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No. Being dependent or independent for financial aid purposes is not a choice - it is based on an exact formula. A student is independent for financial aid purposes if the student can answer ‘yes’ to one of the dependency questions on FAFSA (be age 24+, already have a bachelors degree, be married, have a dependent you support more than 50%, both parents dead or ward of the court till age 18, active duty or veteran of armed forces). If the student answers yes to one of these questions he/she is independent. If not he/she is a dependent. It does not matter whether the parents actually help financially or not. It also does not matter whether the parents claim the student as a dependent on their tax return. For instance we have not claimed my 21 year old son on our tax return for years. He was financially independent for a couple of years as he dropped out of college and was working and supporting himself. Now he is back at college he is considered dependent for financial aid purposes.</p>
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This may be true for tax purposes but is totally untrue for financial aid - they are not the same. Most tax advisors are not financial aid experts. There is a web site called finaid that has excellent information about financial aid. <a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid;
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No. The dependency rules stay the same regardless of whether the student applies for financial aid.</p>
<p>Thank you for your info. The student is independent because one of the reasons stated above and has answered yes to one of the questions with documentation. The only reason the student is considering going back to dependence status is because of health insurance. Can the child still receive health insurance from the parents’ if he or she is independent and under 21. The student was not claimed on parent’s federal income tax last year.</p>
<p>As I said above - the student cannot elect to back to being a dependent though if one of the circumstances changes I suppose it is possible. I don’t know about the insurance - it would depend on each policy I would think. On our policy (which is through my husbands company) we can keep them on the insurance while they are full time students up until they are 24. It does not matter whether we claim them on our taxes or not. You would need to check your policy.</p>
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<p>While your student would not lose their independence they would have to report any funding and help they received from you the parent.
attaching link from a similar thread on this topic</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=393892[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=393892</a></p>
<p>Using this as an example: if your child has had a child (making then independent for financial aid purposes, while being your dependent as far as carrying them on your health insurance) they would remain your dependent on your employee health insurance until they are 23 years old as long as they are a full time student. </p>
<p>However, if there is any reason that they fell off your insurance (for example not being in school full time or perhaps working full time) you may need to contact your HR person to find out when you can place them back on your insurance. If you have to wait for your company’s open enrollment period then the student will not be added back on until January 1, 2008. </p>
<p>You also need to seek clarification as to whether or not your child returning to school constitutes an change in circumstances. If this is the case you would have 31 days of the qualifying event to add your child back on your employee health insurance plan (after providing proof that they are currently in attendance).</p>
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<p>My son is an independent student for FINAID purposes (he is a graduate student). However, he is a dependent for TAX purposes. Our insurance is very clear…as long as my son is a dependent for TAX purposes, and we contribute to his support as a dependent, he can be on our health insurance plan until he is 25. You need to check with your health provider for the specifics of your policy…but the “dependent” you are talking about here is for TAX purposes. Oh…and you just can’t “decide” to be a dependent for tax purposes either. To be a dependent for TAX purposes (not finaid) the family must provide greater than 50% of your support. If, for example, a person earned $50,000 a year (ok…I know that would be hard for a college student), I think it would be hard for the parents to declare that student as a dependent unless they had a VERY lavish lifestyle.</p>
<p>Thank you for clarifying the information. I realize that the two are not related, financial independence and income tax dependence. When my child went to fill out for financial aid this year he received a form"verification worksheet". On this form it asks for family information and parents’ tax form and income information. Why would this be necessary if he is independent and meets one of the necessary requirements.</p>
<p>If the school asked for parent information, you might want to call them and verify that they have him as an independent student. And inquire as to why your information as parents is needed for an independent student for finaid purposes.</p>
<p>They may have contacted him for verification because they want to know how he supported himself on the income he stated.</p>