<p>I accidentally messed up on one question of the FAFSA. The question was "Is or Was Student in Legal Guardianship?" I assumed it meant being with my parents, but I guess it means adoptive parents. </p>
<p>My bad... (Yeah, I had my dad help me with FAFSA as well and he interpreted it this way as well xD)</p>
<p>So, how would I fix this? Is there someway to change that, or do I contact the Financial Aid Counselor (And this is for UW)? Because now it wants me to provide the court documentation which declares you as being under a legal guardianship. </p>
<p>Well…you DO need to change that. Go into your submitted FAFSA and see if that is a field,that can be changed. If so, change it…and resubmit. Contact the school to tell them you made an error. </p>
<p>By answering yes to the legal guardianship question, the FAFSA assumed independent for financial aid status for you. Did you enter your oarents’s income and assets? If not, that will need to be added as well.</p>
<p>You are a dependent for financial aid purposes, as you know. </p>
<p>This is a common mistake. Contact UW and see if they can change that field, if you can’t. </p>
<p>But your parents incomes and assets DO need to be included.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, my parent’s incomes and assets are already in. It was just that question that was a mistake. </p>
<p>Though I was wondering. One factor that lets you become independent is: Working on a Master’s degree or PhD. But I don’t think that is something we can say on the FAFSA sheet, is it?</p>
<p>Yes, you should do that - contact the financial aid office. The reason I say this is because sometimes your financial aid is automatically packaged by computer based on your initial FAFSA. Because you would have been considered independent based on your answer, your aid would have been packaged with the higher loan levels for which independent students qualify. Eventually, the mistake would be caught and fixed … but it is best to make sure you let them know so you will receive a correct aid package from the start.</p>
<p>By the way, you are not the first student to have made this mistake! I even had a mom who thought she was a “guardian.” </p>
<p>Yeah… my dad thought he was considered a “legal guardian.”
I guess it’s how we interpreted it, since we’re always asked (like for field trips or permission) for the “guardian’s signature,” just in case if someone is not actually living with their parents.</p>