I am asking for a cousin who wants to know if she has any options available. She wants to go to a california community college but she cant afford it. Her mom moved to washington but made about 30k last year. Her step dad makes over 150k so she doesnt qualify for fafsa or bog waiver. The problem is that her parents are split up and her step dad wont help her financially. She doesn’t live with her parents anymore. Can she appeal or is she screwed? BTW she didn’t make any money last year.
Is she a california resident for tuition purposes? How old is she? Does she just need tuition and books?
There aren’t FAFSA exemptions for parents who can but don’t want to pay.
@BrownParent Yes she is a california resident. She is 18. Yea she just needs money for tuition and books. I know that BOGW would cover the tuition but she doesnt qualify. Can she appeal and say that she doesn’t depend on them and that her financial situation has changed?
I don’t think so. The FAFSA is used to determine qualification. She would need a dependency override if there are special circumstances, but you haven’t mentioned any special circumstances. You don’t get the override from parents unwilling to pay, not claiming student as a dependent or student being self supporting.
If her mother ($30k) is separated from her step father ($150k), how does his income come into play? Sorry I’m really fuzzy on FAFSA so this is a teaching moment for me.
^^yes, maybe clarify the parent situation. I took it that mom and stepdad are married. That mom is split up from regular dad. So OP, is mom married/divorced/separated from step dad, and what is the status of the regular father?
Testing for understanding and hopefully others will chime in to clarify:
Mom no longer lives in california. Student lives in CA, so mom can’t be listed as custodial parent because she does not live with mom.
Stepdad, apparently no longer lives with mom, so his information is not needed on the FAFSA (a the stepdad who is no longer married to the mom he has no legal obligation to help her with college).
IS biological dad living in california?
Op needs to pick a parent for the fafsa. If she did not live with mom or her dad in california, then she has to pick the one who has provided the most support for the past 12 months.
THis means if mom gave her $1 and bio dad gave $0, then she must use mom’s income and assets.
THe challenge with this is since mom is no longer a CA resident, she may not be eligible for CA benefits (including in-state tuition)
Sybbie summed it up. This student is 18 years old and will not be deemed independent for financial aid or instate residency purposes.
Unless the biodad lives in Calif, then she will soon not be a resident anymore (if she’s already not considered a resident).
however, it sounds like she graduated from a Calif HS, if so, then she does get instate rates, but she won’t get the aid that she needs.
The only aid she’ll get after filling out FAFSA is a $5500 student loan…not enough to pay for her expenses.
Does he bio dad live in Calif? If so, then she may need to take a gap year, live with him, and then use his info next year.
so even though she graduated from a CA HS, and is eligible for instate rates…she would NOT be eligible for the Calgrant (if eligible)?
If she has been living in California herself, she should be able to continue as a resident regardless of where her Mom goes. Her residency was inherent, not inherited.
^^ It doesn’t work that way in every state. My daughters lose their instate residency when I move out of FL after a year. However, neither is financially independent of me (don’t pay their own rent or expenses). If OP’s friend can prove she is an independent resident and hs grad of California, she may only have to use her mother’s income for FAFSA.
http://www.calgrants.org/index.cfm?navId=12
It looks like the OP should be Cal Grant eligible.
She’s not eligible for a Cal Grant if her step dad earns $150k
I thought the mom and step dad were split up…separated. If that is the case, the step,dad would not be on the fafsa. Isnt that the AGI Calgrant uses?
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The problem is that her parents are split up and her step dad wont help her financially.
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this is the confusing part…it looks like “the bio parents” are split up and mom has remarried. …but maybe not.
We do not know who is split is, it isn’t clear.
Thank you guys for trying to help. Let me clarify it some more.
Bio dad lives out of country and did not support her one bit.
Mother moved to washington at the beginning of this year.
Step father lives in california but travels at least 70% of the year with work which is why he makes so much
Yes she has lived in california for all her life except like 3 months but that was like 5 years ago. She graduated a california high school.
The mom and step dad are still legally married. Mother moved out of state and has been planning on divorcing him for over a year but she hasn’t filed.
She pays in state rates now at her CCC but this semester her step father wont help her because she doesnt live with him.
LAST year they all lived in the same house and her step father provided over 50% of her financial support.
Now that circumstances have changed, can she be considered as independent? If they divorce will that make a difference?
OK, so mother and stepfather are separated, maintaining separate residences, intending to divorce. So she files FAFSA with mother’s info only. She is not independent and you have not mentioned anything that would make her independent for FAFSA until she is 24. See,
https://studentaid.ed.gov/fafsa/filling-out/dependency
It doesn’t matter that her SF contributed to her support last year, her mom is now separated from him, so only mom’s income goes on FAFSA.