<p>
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>
<p>
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;
<p>
No. The dependency rules stay the same regardless of whether the student applies for financial aid.</p>