I hope someone can help me out here. I was at a service academy for over 2 years on active duty and am looking to transfer.
For FAFSA and according to US law, they recognize this as a veteran, and I was able to file independently. I am independent of my parents, don’t live with them and am not in contact with them. For CSS profile, they specifically say that service academy are not considered veterans, and thus they are asking for my parents financial information. Should I contact the financial aid offices of the schools I plan on applying to? Or do I have to put my parents income regardless, even though they won’t pay for my education.
A lot of parents would love it if refusing to pay for a child’s education meant that parent financial information would not be needed for financial aid forms and no parent contribution would be expected by colleges.
But, that’s not the way it works. For your specific situation, I think your best bet is to contact the financial aid offices of the schools you will be applying to, and ask what they expect you to do.
The other option is to transfer to a school that only uses the FAFSA where you say parent info is not required.
If the college requires this info on your Profile form, you will need to contact your parents. Otherwise, how will you know what info was contained on their 2018 tax returns, and what the current value of their assets are?