<p>I am 21 years old and am from a low income family with 5 dependents, my father is permentantly disabled and been so my whole life and my Mom had to raise the five of us and take care of him on her own and I never had a job in high school because I am the oldest and my family needed my help so I had no savings at all at graduation. As a result my EFC would be 0. There is one huge problem though, my mother will not fill out the FAFSA, I have tried and tried and tried to impress upon her how important it is that she fill this out for me and she just makes it seem like she is simply incapable of doing it. I offered to do it for her but she doesn't even do her taxes and she wont even send me the W-2 form so I can do both of them for her. My brother is now 19 and in the same boat I am and we just want to go to college and have a decent life but no one seems to know what to tell us. We both recieved the same scholership to our first choice college but we can't use our scholership because we have no financial aid. So short of going to community college and paying in cash which would be possible where we able to live at home (our mom kicked us out because welfare cut her foodstamps), there is nothing we can do. Someone please help I want to start college before I turn 24 and so does my brother. As of right now we don't know where to turn.</p>
<p>does your mom realy have to fill out FASFA even when you're a legal adult?</p>
<p>Yes. Parental information is required on the FAFSA until you are 24, married, a parent, have a bachelor's degree already, or are a veteran or in the military. (There may be some other conditions I've missed.)</p>
<p>To the OP: Is there someone from your former high school or your brother's school who could talk to your mother? How about someone from the welfare office? Might the welfare office be able to help you with any of this? If not, one option is to work and go to school part time (a course here and there), or of course to work for 3 years and reapply when you're 24 (or will be 24 when you start).</p>
<p>If contacting your former high school doesn't work, can you try a minister? What about your father's health care providers?</p>
<p>If all else fails, see whether there is a legal aid clinic or a local law school where someone could research how to get your brother and you declared "emancipated" or "independent" for purposes of these forms. If you don't have such a resource available, figure out how to contact the pro bono departments of some major big city law firms and ask them for pro bono help trying to figure this out. This process will take time.</p>
<p>I don't know very much about this, but long ago when I was in school, one of my classmates, who was about 18 at the time, had somehow gotten herself declared financially independent from her father. He had plenty of money but, after her mother died when the girl was in her early teens, the father had turned on the girl and eventually threw her out of the house. The girl was able to get Pell grants without her father signing anything and without her father's income being taken into account. I don't know whether she had a court-appointed guardian and I don't know whether Social Services had been involved.</p>
<p>Good luck to you and all your siblings. This is a heart-breaking situation.</p>
<p>Is she willing to let YOU fill it out if she just provides you with tax info etc. For many people the whole form/process is so daunting - if you shoulder much of the responsibility maybe she'll go for it.</p>
<p>I would also suggest you contact the financial aid counselor at the school where you are thinking of attending. calmly explain the situation and let them know that you are aware of the requirements of the FAFSA and you wish to comply, but your mother will not provide the information. Ask for suggestions -- and I would actually suggest that you and your brother make an appointment to meet the head of the FA department in person.</p>
<p>There may be some other options -- my guess is that your mother doesn't file taxes and hasn't for some time and she is concerned that filling the FAFSA will trigger the IRS into a tax audit. With low income and dependents, she probably doesn't owe any taxes -- but I am guessing she is wary of providing any further information to government agencies. It is understandable and I have seen this attitude often, but there has to be a way for you and your brother to attend college.</p>
<p>this doesn't help with mom filling out FAFSA- but I do want to add, that community college is a viable and reasonable solution for many students and shouldn't be dismissed out of hand.
If you are really committed to continuing your education,at an affordable cost, CCs are worth looking at.</p>
<p>Jechira- so you are 21 and no longer living at home? You said your mom kicked you and your brother out. If you could say what area of the country you are in that would be helpful too.
Can someone verify for us if he even needs parental info in that situation? Seems <strong>logical</strong> to me that since he is legally an adult and not living at home he would not need parental info...but he would probably have to be self-supporting.
For example, in CA the age of majority is 18, so both you and your brother would legally be adults. If you are supporting yourself, I would think that you would not need parental info to apply for aid. You wouldn't need to be "emancipated" to be considered an adult since you are already over 18, in CA at least.
Can someone confirm how all this relates to the FAFSA?
Don't despair, I'm sure there is a solution for you. You sound very resourceful!</p>
<p>
[quote]
I am 21 years old and am from a low income family with 5 dependents, my father is permentantly disabled and been so my whole life and my Mom had to raise the five of us and take care of him on her own and I never had a job in high school because I am the oldest and my family needed my help so I had no savings at all at graduation. As a result my EFC would be 0. There is one huge problem though, my mother will not fill out the FAFSA, I have tried and tried and tried to impress upon her how important it is that she fill this out for me and she just makes it seem like she is simply incapable of doing it. I offered to do it for her but she doesn't even do her taxes and she wont even send me the W-2 form so I can do both of them for her.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I am very sorry that your own father has been ill for soo long. I mean no disrespect to your mother, but I totally think that she has just not filed her taxes. </p>
<p>One thing I hope you think of looking into, is trying to find a non judgmental third party with whom you can speak. You need to figure out what you can do and I hope there is someone in your life who you can go to for some moral guidance for you and your brother. </p>
<p>Since you say you have received a scholarship, but still might not be able to attend University, I think that you should speak with the head of the financial aid department (like another poster has suggested). Since you were awarded a partial scholarship, you do have a little bit of pull because the scholarship shows that the University wants you. </p>
<p>
[quote]
My brother is now 19 and in the same boat I am and we just want to go to college and have a decent life but no one seems to know what to tell us. We both recieved the same scholership to our first choice college but we can't use our scholership because we have no financial aid. So short of going to community college and paying in cash which would be possible where we able to live at home (our mom kicked us out because welfare cut her foodstamps), there is nothing we can do. Someone please help I want to start college before I turn 24 and so does my brother. As of right now we don't know where to turn.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If your mother felt that the best option for you and your brother was to be kicked out when you both reached the food stamp cut off age, then I would think that you would have an argument of sorts when the time comes to speak with someone at your University. </p>
<p>I am curious about where you live and how you and your brother are taking care of yourselves now. That is why I hope you both speak with someone in your own lives for some moral guidance like a : Nun, Priest, Rabbi, former school teacher, or what have you. I know that you are both going through a lot and I am truly sorry for that. It would also be good to try and find someone to speak with just so neither one of you start feeling angry about things, that is really what I mean by moral guidance. </p>
<p>Now, what I wonder is if you guys could get a scholarship out of a Community College? That is just an idea. Did you both just have the one school on your list? </p>
<p>And, lastly, could you guys speak with the social worker in charge of your mother's welfare and food stamps? If you are both out of the house, because you both reached the age where you are not factored into the food stamps and whatnot eligibility requirements or what ever it is called...then could not your mother's social worker help you guys out with regards to verifying that neither one of you live at home? That might come in handy to the head of a financial aid department. I wish I knew more to help you!</p>
<p>Once again, FAFSA has nothing to do with age of majority. It doesn't matter if mom kicked them out of the house, or if they are self-supporting. FAFSA requires parental information unless the student meets the specific criteria it sets out. </p>
<p>Otherwise, people would routinely "kick their kids out" and at least formally refuse to support them so the kids could get more financial aid.</p>
<p>The question of whether the student can be considered "independent" for FAFSA purposes (which is different than "emancipated") is one that should be directed to the FA office of the schools the student wants to attend.</p>
<p>Most welfare offices in the country want to assist their clients with becoming self-sufficient. Since the OP has never had a job, I assume that she is herself on welfare. If so, there should be some work-study program in effect (I know there is in MA) that can help her go to college. Same for her brother.</p>
<p>the best thing to do, if you cannot speak to someone who can guide you as suggested above, is to start taking charge of the situtation a little bit at a time. The first thing to do is go onto the Fafsa website and apply for a PIN for both you and your mother. YOu cannot sign the fafsa without this. You should have your brother get one as well. Once you have that (it takes a few days to get it via email - if you don't have a computer - use one at school or a freinds), you can take a look at the form yourself and just tell your mother what info you need exactly. At that point she can pull her w2 form and give you the answer about how much she made last year. You can then fill out the rest, like names and ages of siblings, etc. Take it a step at a time and you can have it done in a week. Just don't overwhelm your mother all at once, is what I would suggest.</p>
<p>I feel for you and your position, but hear it is somewhat difficult to prove independence. </p>
<p>Perhaps you should get married. That may be the quickest way to prove independence. </p>
<p>Look at it this way.... if it were that easy to not include parents info on a FAFSA, I'd leave work early, and throw all of DS's stuff out on the front lawn TODAY, change the locks, and put a refused stamp on all the mail he gets at the house.</p>
<p>Marraige is cheap. License, fees, appointment with JoP. Probably in it for less than a hundred bucks</p>
<p>I have tried many of your suggestions, I met with the head of the FA department of my college and she just does not seem to understand my situation, after all it is a very unusual one. The only thing she told me was to make sure my Mom fills out her part of the FAFSA.
I need to also correct a misunderstanding I never had a job until I moved out, I have never been on welfare and have kept a job and make a halfway decent living. I have an apartment and roommate, I am completly indapendent for everyones purposes except when it comes to the FAFSA.</p>
<p>You are right in assuming that my mother has not filed her taxes in a very long time, but she is not afraid because she knows if anything they owe her money. I do think it is just very daunting to her so I have offered to do the taxes for her but she never sends me the forms. She loses them immediatly and all she says whenever I ask is I am looking for them and I will send them when I find them.</p>
<p>Also, I have done everything possible so far we both have PINs and I have my half of the FAFSA filled out. I have been searching for alternatives to funding my education. I have researched some community colleges but it is hard to pay in cash for classes at all when you have rent, phone, and all the other expenses of an indapendent person. </p>
<p>There is one additional thing which I didn't think was important before but I guess I must add. I did attend my University for a year and make it to my sophmore year but when she would not fill out that years FAFSA I lost all my financial aid and had to drop out. I went to a Private college in Western Washington and my tuition for that year was some 20K which I am now trying to pay off as a waitress, so my credit is screwed, so as a result private loans are out. As for paying in cash for community college well I can't even comprehend that kind of expense. My mom through her lack of responsibility has done a pretty number on my young life, I only post here out of desperation hoping that someone has thought of something I haven't.</p>
<p>Oh and please don't think I hate her or anything I still love her. Everything she has done to me she has done in ignorance. People please educate your parents on how important this form is.</p>
<p>is there anyway that your mom would give you a copy of her W-2? That is really all you need -- the rest of the stuff you can figure out. If you tell her that all you need is a copy of her W-2 and the government will give you and your brother all kinds of help to go to school, so you think she might relent? She should have gotten it recently, so maybe it isn't lost yet.</p>
<p>If you have already talked to the FA officer, then you have exhausted that route. Some schools are flexible and others are not. did you talk with the head of the department?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don't have any other suggestions for you.</p>
<p>it must be really hard for both you and your mom. in your mom's defense, shouldering 5 kids and a disabled husband can be financially and emotionally draining. still, you should be able to go to college if you want to, and don't feel like you've sold yourself short if it does end up being community college.
i second that you should ask your mom if she'll let you look at her tax returns and even if she has not filed 06 tax returns yet, i think fafsa lets you use 05 returns to estimate. good luck!!!</p>
<p>Talk to your school financial aid administrator. There's an exception option where the administrator can override the dependent requirements, your case might fit the profile since both you and your brother are out of the house and your mother refuses to help you out.</p>
<p>I have already asked for a copy of this years W-2 she lost it already</p>
<p>Perhaps you mom does not file taxes because of her income level. Then you would still need copies of her 2005 and/or 2006 W -2s or 1099s and she would complete the non-filers financial aid statement (you complete if for her and have her sign it, do the same for yourself also). Then complete the fASA for have your college of choose handle that. </p>
<p>If you get documentation, letters from a social worker, a family friend, a person who leads your religious community that mom refuses to comply then that will help. Don't give up, tell the colleges your situation....you are not the first family to go through this so the college will know how to guide you.</p>
<p>You might want to ask your mother's welfare case worker if he or she could call your mother's employer and get another copy of the W-2. I can't imagine that welfare doesn't want to know about your mother's earnings. (Of course, your mother might be hiding her W-2 from welfare because she might be earning too much and risking that her benefits might be cut.)</p>