<p>I have been unemployed since 2007 pursuing my masters degree on a full time basis. I moved in with my father in May 2009 and he claimed me as a 'qualifying' relative for his 2009 taxes. I'm 38 years old and have been accepted into a Doctoral program for Fall 2010. I filled out my application online as an independent. I did however send an email to my financial aid office. Do you think that my FAFSA application will have to be adjusted? Or that my father will have to provide his tax return information? He has no intention of giving me money for my doctoral program. He's just been allowing me to live in his house rent free, eat food, and not pay utilities.</p>
<p>If you are 38 years old, you should be eligible to file your FAFSA as an independent student. It doesn’t matter what anyone does on their taxes. HOWEVER you need to check your doctoral programs. Some professional schools DO require that parental information be provided on the FAFSA…but I’ve not heard that PhD programs do.</p>
<p>Again…your tax status has nothing to do with your independent status per FAFSA for financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>Basically, being over 24 automatically makes you independent, regardless of your situation re: living conditions. The FAFSA is not a tax return and the terminology doesn’t translate, as thum said.</p>
<p>Jahaba is correct EXCEPT in the situation of some professional schools. There are some law and medical schools that ask for your parent information regardless of your age OR marital status…or anything else. Parent info is required on the FAFSA for some of these places. However, the OP indicated his father was not going to pay for his “doctoral” program. If this is a PhD program, then likely the OP does not need to provide parent info. HOWEVER, if it’s a medical school or law school program, he needs to check the school’s policy.</p>