<p>To the OP…you’ve responded extensively to every point EXCEPT the one about your birthdate and age. Simply put, if you are 27 years old…this whole discussion is MOOT because you would be an independent student anyway…and would not need your parent info.</p>
<p>sk8rmom: I wouldn’t say I’m practicing on you guys, but it helps to know what objections could come up so I can better prepare for them.
They do but how the rules govern providing proof in the verification process is a little less obvious.
Following a school’s appeal process presumes that my FA was denied for one or more reasons, which should not be the case according to the provisions enumerated in the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007.</p>
<p>However, that law in conjunction with U.S. DoE regulations does require verification, which I will try to get. Even if I do obtain proper verification, though, fao’s can exercise their own discretion, as shown in Kelsmom’s statement that she would not consider me independent. That’s why I need to gather as much information as possible–so that I can preempt adverse decisions.</p>
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I was not hoping for the members of this forum to influence the decision in some way. Rather, some here know what the process entails. For example, I’ll apt be required to prove how I survived if I had indeed not received financial assistance of any kind from my parents. I mentioned a checkings account, but its records only prove that I used it to support myself and does not prove that my parents have not contributed. If someone knows of documents required or otherwise useful for verification process, then that would be great.</p>
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For privacy reasons, I do not normally provide my real date of birth.</p>
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So you paid more attention to what words were used than to what the words collectively mean?</p>
<p>Nope-- several posters brought this thread to my attention because they had questions about its veracity. I understand where they are coming from.</p>
<p>I understand about your privacy…but there are 365 days in the YEAR of your birth that would make you 17 years old. So…why pick a different year which clearly states that you would qualify as an independent student?</p>
<p>I personally think you have gotten the answers to your questions and now you need to choose whether to believe them or not. Continuing to debate these answers isn’t going to CHANGE them. The decision on what to do, and what to believe are yours. </p>
<p>I’m feeling like this is a high school student who is practicing for debate matchup. To be honest, I wasn’t particularly interested in that kind of banter in school, and I’m less interested in it now.</p>
<p>I hope you find your answers and I hope you are HONEST in your approach with the colleges.</p>
<p>This should be a sticky thread post all on its own. It seems like every thread like this invariably degenerates into a kid asking a question like, “Why can’t I be considered independent?” or “What can I do if my parents won’t pay their EFC?” or “Can I take out a $50,000 loan from Sallie Mae each year to go to NYU?” and arguing and arguing with the answers, almost as if she thinks that if she sells us on the idea then we’ll send her the money or go over to their parents’ house and force them to hire the PLUS loan or something.</p>
<p>LOL, the language may be mature but the why? why? why? and what if? what if? what if? is reminiscent of a young person. OP take what’s been given in the form of advice and interpretation of the rules and go forth, you won’t have any concrete answers until you begin the process with the particular college and the particular finaid person you will be working with.</p>
<p>what if your 9-year old were a super-genius applying to college right now? What if you were an alien overlord imprisoned on a dark world in the planet 201-Nebulon C? Would your EFC go up or down because of this? What if you were in a black hole? Are you technically an orphan if your parents are androids?!</p>
<p>Since I first posed the questions in post 36, every post not written by me since then, except for sk8ermom’s, has been about either the age in my profile or my “style.”</p>
<p>If anyone can point to the answers to the questions recapped in post 47, I’ll accept them.</p>
<p>Additionally, if I stay on my parents’ Medicaid, will that count as their providing financial support in one way and thereby disqualifying me from independence-granting consideration? If so, can I remove myself from their health insurance? What other support lines will I need to sever?</p>
<p>It is extremely foolish to sever insurance benefits. And if you are not a clear “resident” of somewhere, you may not be able to get yourself on Medicaid independently. Think long and hard before your pursue those plans.</p>
<p>I agree with jym, don’t cut yourself off of your insurance benefits.</p>
<p>One of real problems with OP’s plan is that he does not realize that for the majority of situations, if you start college as a dependent student, you finish as a dependent student, even if you have change of life situations that will change your status to independent for federal aid purposes.</p>
<p>Even if he should be “come independent” which is harder to do once one is already in college, it does not mean that suddenly he will be eligible for a boat load of instituitional aid because they determine who they are going to give out their aid. </p>
<p>For most schools, it is going to require much more than what he plans on presenting to get professional judgement. I just had a similar situation with a student just this past year; parent literally just left the country and left the child behind to live with a sister as a high school junior. For 2 years, student had no contact with parent, and does not know where parent is (grandparents have not even heard from parent). This was just the tip of her iceberg and the majority of college would not give her professional judgement for independence status. She just started freshman year with the one school, that did give her an override but she is there with the mindset that there will be no transfers, because her independent status will not carry over to other schools (each college makes their own determination).</p>
<p>I think many of the same issues were addressed in this thread when someone very like the OP was asking proactively about how to become independent during freshman year of college.</p>
I will consider keeping the insurance but if it is to hinder me because it is exogenous financial support, it would help to know how I can forcibly detach myself from it.</p>
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Students refile the FAFSA annually, so is there any particular reason for that?</p>
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You mean the no-transfer mindset is ingrained autonomically and not because the school imposed it? Furthermore, I’ll be a dependent student at my current institution until the end of the spring term of 2011. If I were to start anew elsewhere Fall 2011, I’d be trying to obtain independence there at the earliest possible time; i.e., whatever school it’ll be will have no prior determination to judge me against.</p>
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Right but I’m not trying to obtain professional judgment from any particular school; I’m looking to satisfy the CRAAA and FAFSA distinctively tailored exemptions that FAO’s may or may not refuse–I wouldn’t know, no one has answered that yet.</p>
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After reading through that, I think the author of that thread was looking for ways to change his situation, while I am already in a prescribed scenario that I may need to verify.</p>
<p>Just because the FAFSA qualifies you as an independent student, does not mean the college has to qualify you as an independent student. For example at Dartmouth College:</p>
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<p>Most peer schools follow the same guidelines.</p>
<p>In addition, once you become independent, you may in fact receive less aid then you do now as a dependent. Your parents have income protection based upon their age. If you live in NYS, the state aid for independent students is $1000 less than it is for dependent students.</p>
<p>THe no transfer mindset is most likely ingrained for this student because she knows that she can continue as an independent student while she is attending the college where she is currently enrolled. </p>
<p>Should she decide to transfer to another school, then all bets are off just because one school, gave you professional judgement and qualified you as a dependent student does not mean that it automatically carries over as a transfer student. you will have to start the process all over again. I got the information directly from a number of schools. In this yound woman’s case, if she even transfers back locally, she will receive her federal aid, but not her state aid because the local school did not qualify her as an independent student.</p>
I really do write like this because it is natural, and ritng lik dis indeed affected.</p>
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It is highly improbable and indeed unreasonable to think Dartmouth expects students to meet all federal tests for independence. For example, being a ward of the state precludes homelessness, as does enlistment in the military.</p>
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Her case does not parallel mine airtightly. I am not asking for a fao’s judgment; rather, next fall could mark my first time at a school ever and I can fulfill a listed exemption, perhaps two.</p>