Is my current address considered my permanent address for the graduate school application?

Graduate School
1

Hi all, I am graduating in December and was advised to apply for graduate school by my research adviser. On the grad school application, it’s asks for my permanent and mailing address. When I first applied for undergrad, my permanent address was obviously my father’s address since I was living with him in high school.

However, I no longer go back to my father’s house (1.5 hours from where I live now) and live a few minutes outside of my university with my domestic partner. I don’t go there for breaks/holidays, and am currently living at my residence near the school (local address) during the COVID-19 crisis. My local address is also the one that is on my driver’s license, voter registration, and I will continue to live here even if I were not going to school.

Can/should I put my local address down for the graduate application? I am concerned that this could have implications with the FAFSA, but I’m not sure. All the info that I could find online said that college students use their parent’s address as their permanent address because they will go back during the breaks, but that is not my case.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

2

This really does not matter. For FAFSA, the only way it might matter is if you are in Alaska or Hawaii (but only because federal standards for certain things like the poverty line are different in those states). But in terms of getting federal funding and stuff - it doesn’t matter, as graduate students are considered independent students anyway no matter where you live.

“Permanent” is kind of a misnomer, but all they mean by “permanent” address is the place that you live and where you plan to return after trips or semesters in college. If you live with your partner and don’t go to your father’s house, then your permanent address is where you and your partner live.