Independent Student, 35k in assets

Paying for College
1

<p>I am an independent student, as I live with my aunt and uncle whom have obtained legal guardianship of me as appointed by the state court. I know this will increase the amount of financial aid i will receive when I fill out the FAFSA in a few months from now (currently a junior).
On the other hand i have 35k in assets to my name, which according to the calcs, my EFC will be around 10-12k, almost all, sub $750, coming from my behalf.
The big question is, how much will being independent help, and how much will my assets hurt my total financial aid award in the end?</p>

<p>also:
I am 99% sure I will be attending Indiana University- Bloomington. It is by far and wide my school of choice and excels in my personal preferments in terms of size, location, etc.. I plan to major in psych and complete medical school reqs, shadow, conduct research, etc. to, hopefully and eventually, attend the IU school of medicine (I am aware of the % of applicants who get denied, the MCAT, undergrad classes required, and the difficulty of getting into even just one medical school out of all applied to,etc) and eventually specialize in psychiatry and complete my residency in said field (thus the psych major), if plans go as preferred. I know the road will be extremely stressful and difficult- and there is a large chance it will go as unplanned.
any advice or words of wisdom from those who have completed pre-med undergraduate reqs or who have been denied/accepted to med school would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :p.</p>

2

<p>Legal guardians appointed by a court aren’t treated by fafsa as a parent.</p>

3

<p>Sorry misread your question, thought you were saying it would increase you EFC! But I guess that would depend on your income, if any, too.</p>

4

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<p>Being independent for FAFSA will mean that you don’t report your parents income/assets. With $35K in assets, you will not be eligible for federal grants unless you can meet the criteria for simplified needs or spend down those assets or otherwise get them out of your name (ie. transfer ownership of a 529 from student to guardian). Use this link and see page 5 for criteria:</p>

<p><a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111408EFCFormulaGuide0910.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>Rerun the calculator, as independent, with 35K assets. I believe it’s mostly income driven, and if you have no income, I believe the 35K in assets won’t hurt you. But run it yourself:</p>

<p>[EFC</a> Calculator: How Much Money for College Will You Be Expected to Contribute?](<a href=“http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp?noload=Y]EFC”>http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp?noload=Y)</p>

6

<p>…</p>