Sort of. The parents would need to NOT declare this student as a dependent on their taxes…and they could provide NO financial support to the student. It’s not like the student can just submit a fafsa without parent info and get the Direct Loans…with no other criteria.
http://financialaid.umd.edu/award_process/cost_of_attendance.php/#undergraduate20172018
according to this tuition and fees is about $10,000. If you and your sister both work fulltime in the summer, can you commute together to UMD?
How high is the parent MAGI? If it is under $160,000 and they qualify for a $2,500 American Opportunity tax credit for each of you, can they give you this money?
Can you get a merit scholarship at UMD as a CC transfer?
@thumper1 I’m not sure how the college could get a tax return from noncooperative parents to see if they are declaring a dependent but it seems you are correct…
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/filling-out/parent-info#unwilling-parents
If you are independent and support yourself, and file a tax return and claim your own exemption, if the parents also try to claim an exemption whoever files second will have the return bumped (or at least the exemption will be denied).
So I also work part-time as a server right now, but during the summer i might go full time, and maybe pick up another job on the way. If FAFSA would allow the $7,500 loan I would be able to hopefully pay for one semester.
Another question; Would I be able to file FAFSA again during the fall semester, and maybe get some kind of aid reward? My parents are telling me to hold off filing for it as of now, because they are trying to purchase another house, so they told me once they purchase the house maybe I could “hopefully” get some aid.
@AroundHere I think they will help me alittle bit. I know for sure they are not willing to pay the $11k all at once. Esp since we have 2 people going to college.
Another house? The equity in that other house will be an asset on your FAFSA.
If they have money in the bank right now they will be suing to buy the house…that is an asset. They are trading one asset for the other.
You can file the fafsa whenever you feel like it for Dorect Loan purposes. But you likely have missed the deadlines for getting any aid from your college.
I think you’re a little confused. You don’t get money from FAFSA; it’s just a federal form you complete that colleges use to determine your eligibility for financial aid, including Pell Grants, Stafford Loans, and aid from the university itself.
You only file once per year, as you are only eligible once per year for the grants / loans.
I agree with thumper1 that you have missed the deadlines for aid from Maryland. Priority deadline was January 1 and regular deadline was March 1, including the deadline for Maryland State Aid. Call the FinAid office, though, to see if they make exceptions – but they won’t do anything until you file FAFSA.
No, the 7500 loan is a yearly maximum. It will be divided in half and you will get part for each semester. You can’t use it all for first semester.
No, if your parents move money out of a bank account and into another piece of property, it will not “hide” the money from the FAFSA, which asks about your real estate owned. It will not change your EFC at all.
Your parents are clearly prioritizing their real estate transactions over your college education. You should probably take a gap year and work full-time, then try to go to school. Maybe over the course of that year you can convince your parents to either fund your college or at least file the necessary forms for you to get a student loan.
Hopefully with a good starting savings fund plus basic student loans, you can go to college by tapping that savings gradually plus a part-time job during the year and full-time in the summer.
It would also help if you and your sister were in college at the same time: That way you would each qualify for more aid and would have less to raise from your jobs. (Again, assuming your parents file their forms.)
Your other option is to wait until age 24, when parents are no longer required to file any forms for a student to get financial aid. If you do that, you might want to consider going back to the community college for a career certificate that might get you a better-paying or more professional job while you wait for your college career to resume.
If you do decide to take a gap year to work, ask UMD about deferring your enrollment for a year, so you don’t have to go through the application process from scratch.
If you are in school right now, you could quickly file a 2016-17 FAFSA and take the loan for this year. You can then file the FAFSA for 2017-18 and get the loan for next year. You have to hurry to get it before the school year ends (unless you are going to summer school).
You and your sister will need money for tuition and fees, and books. So around $10k. Or $5k a semester. If you both commute to UMD.
If you can both take your loans and save them, plus take loans next year and work extra this summer, you might have enough.
Is sister also going to UMD? Why was it $11k per semester for her?
Your parents are right that you probably won’t qualify for grants, with all of their properties, but even to get the loans you and your sister need to file FAFSA.