<p>yes since I am changing it now, the question that asks "are you signing this application as:</p>
<p>father/stepfather
mother/stepmother</p>
<p>im changing that to mother/stepmother but it wont even let me sign b/c its not verified by SSA</p>
<p>Thumper, yes, we’d be asking a whole lot of questions … as I imagine OPs’ schools will do. This is one that is going to require documentation. OP says a judge allowed dad to stay, so that document will be needed, I’m sure. When I get situations like these, I want to go home!</p>
<p>Doesn’t FAFSA allow you to count people in the household that are being supported? If the mom is supporting the ex in the basement and deducting him on her taxes then I think he can be counted?</p>
<p>I’m certainly no expert on this, but I don’t see how FAFSA would allow the “ex in the basement” to be counted as being in the household, BUT NOT HIS INCOME. I would think that either he and his income get counted, or he and his income doesn’t get counted. Otherwise, how crazy would that be???</p>
<p>I realize that wouldn’t be the same for children who earn money. But it seems odd that an ex living in the basement (who earns money) would get counted, but not his income. He seems more like a tenant or self-supporting room-mate (even if he doesn’t pay rent.)</p>
<p>BTW…I don’t think the mom is deducting the ex on her taxes. The OP said that the ex is deducting him (the child) on HIS taxes.</p>
<p>Yikes, well OP you’ve stumped the parents. I guess just make sure everything matches on your FAFSA and your CSS. Understand the numbers and make sure you can explain everything that gets put down and have documents…then wonderful people in jobs like Kelsmom will have to sort it all out. My only advice is be very nice to the finaid people you need them to help you and don’t forget that many of those finaid people are moms and dads so bite your tongue about how you feel about your parents :-)</p>
<p>with momofthreeboys’s admonition of keeping the remarks about my parents civil in mind,</p>
<p>why cant my parents just die?
that would solve all of my problems, including the one in which it fulfills one of the financial independence criterion</p>
<p>before you bash me for being coldhearted, I’d like to say that</p>
<ol>
<li>it should be obvious that I am only referring to my own parents, not parents in general</li>
<li>i strongly disagree with the notion that kids are to be respectful without receiving respect in return (a tell-tale sign of direct subordinance)</li>
</ol>
<p>I cannot think of one way in which my life has been better because my parents were alive. not one.</p>
<p>public display of enmity aside (on a forum of all places), I talked to an nyu financial aid counselor who said that I might be able to fulfill the independence that asks if you are homeless, or are selfsupporting but may be in risk of being homeless</p>
<p>if my parents cannot provide me with a place to stay over the summer and xmas/holiday breaks, then I could be “in risk of being homeless”</p>
<p>I do not know if it will in a legal sense; i do know that even if they kept the house they currently reside in, they would not allow me to stay</p>
<p>a “ima shut this door on you, if you try to break in or if you stay here any longer, im gonna call the cops on you (which they have done in the past, during my adolescence when they are supposed to provide for me)” scenario sounds very likely</p>
<p>is the homeless thing likely?
the nyu person was unable to fill me in beyond a statement that it is a possibility; she gave me no instructions as to how to achieve it</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That may be so, but there’s a big difference between “respecting your parents” and “not wanting them to die”. There are a lot of people that I don’t like in my family but I don’t want them to die. </p>
<p>About the homeless thing:</p>
<p>Remember, the FAFSA’s definition of homelessness / at risk is based on the 1986 McKinney-Vento Act of the US Code. Basically, at the time of the application, this should describe you:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>To have this count for the FAFSA, you require a [url=<a href=“http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1011/help/fahelp67.htm]determination[/url”>http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1011/help/fahelp67.htm]determination[/url</a>] by either a school or some sort of homeless liaison with that authority.</p>
<p>How about finding someone else in your family and have them claim guardianship over you or something along those line?</p>
<p>trojanman10101…you can’t just “find someone else in your family and have them claim guardianship or something”. </p>
<p>If there is a COURT appointed guardian and the student is a ward of the state then the student would not report the assets of the guardian and I think would be considered independent. BUT I also think this has to happen before the student is 18.</p>
<p>There has to be some very compelling reason for this to happen.</p>