Going independend/emanicpation ??

Paying for College
1

<p>I have the typical problem that alot of students seem to have where I have the grades for the great unis, but I do not have the $$$. I have heard in anecdotal references about people going independent or being emancipated from their parents to help get some fin aid. First of all, do not yell at me about being a sicko, or taking it away from poor people or whatever, I am just curious as to how it works. </p>

<p>SOO
how does it work, has anyone tried it. Is there a real benefit, or is it all just $$ going to lawyers. What is going independent too?</p>

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<p>You are considered a dependent student unless you are 24, married, a veteran, have a dependent or have already earned a bachelor's degree.</p>

<p>Financial Aid officers may do what is called a "dependency override" in very specific circumstances, included long term abuse and abandonment, incarcerated parents, etc. This is not something you are going to qualify for because your parents don't want to pay for college.</p>

<p>If you can prove (using outside sources -- such as attorneys, counselors, religious leaders) that your parents have abandoned you for the last two years (no financial or emotional support) and you have had no contact with them for the past two years then you might request a dependency override. Be prepared to provide extensive paperwork -- including proof of how you have supported yourself independently for the past couple of years.</p>

<p>Filing your own taxes, not being declared a dependent on your parent's taxes, paying your own bills this past year, and being declared an emancipated minor by the courts will not allow you to be independent for financial aid purposes.</p>

<p>Many students who have supported themselves for the past couple of years are still not eligible to be declared independent because they are still under 24 years of age -- there needs to be a component of abuse, abandonment to the minor child, etc.</p>

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<p>Well...consider it anecdotal. It is very hard to become an emancipated minor/independent for financial aid purposes. I won't repeat what was posted in the above post, but I will agree with it. You cannot become emancipated/independent simply because your parents can't or won't pay for college. You have to demonstrate that you have had NO contact (none...not any), and that you have effectively been abandoned by your family. That means that you cannot live with them now, and that you should not have received any support from them for quite a while. If you are living at home now as a high school student and are a dependent in any way (even just getting an allowance would count as contact)...you likely would not be able to go this route.</p>

<p>Sorry...agreed with the above...if it were that easy everyone would be doing it.</p>

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<p>Agreed. I used to work in financial aid back in the days when a family could actually amend their old tax returns to make their kid independent. The feds caught onto that & implemented today's requirements to keep that from happening. Colleges MUST document dependency overrides. If they are audited & found to be in noncompliance ... such as granting dependency overrides without proper documentation ... there are penalties no school wants to deal with.</p>