Were you ever award of the state after age 13, that the state had guardianship of you (even if physically you were with your aunt and uncle)? If you have medicaid this is probably true. If so, you will be an independent for financial aid. If not, and your aunt and uncle have guardianship or got it before you turned 13, you may not be independent. you need to find out if you are independent for financial aid purposes.
My son’s high school friend is Haitian and middle class. He had magnificent success in the college process, both in terms of admissions and finances. he is very involved in the Haitian community and was seen as very, very diverse as a black man and coming from an even further underrepresented community. Don’t underestimate yourself. You seem to have great stats and a compelling story.
maybe ask your guidance counselor to talk with your aunt & uncle to help assuage their concerns about applying to elite schools. your stats/grades/back-story merit at least applying to H, NYU, Colgate. Given that you are considering several SUNYs & other schools, I take it that you have a realistic idea about your shot at the reaches. NYU is maybe not a reach for admission but is likely a financial reach since they don’t meet need like H and others. Best of luck!
Do you qualify for HEOP at Columbia/Williams/Colgate/Skidmore?
I would make sure you have official copies of the guardianship documents. I would expect that FAFSA and/or colleges are going to need a copy to verify your status.
CC hive – is there a difference between an aunt and uncle applying to become legal guardians vs. the court ordering it because of parental untfitness? Just wondering if all guardianships are court-ordered or if the court-ordered part has spefcific qualifications/circumstances attached.
Williams is in MA (no HEOP)
Op will most likely not qualify for admissions through HEOP because he is a viable candidate for regular admissions
Op, check your court papers as you will have to submit copies of them. As I previously stated if it is temporary guardianship, then you may not be independent.
Just to be clear about what @sybbie719 is asking:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding is that if there is a temporary guardianship, then the OP may not be independent for financial aid purposes. In that event, he or she would still be treated as the child of his biological parents, not his temporary-guardian aunt and uncle. If the guardianship is permanent, then the OP is likely to be considered independent for financial aid, meaning only the OP’s personal assets and income would be taken into account. Under no circumstances would the income or assets of his guardians be relevant to financial aid unless they adopted him.
You are right. I had a kid who was in temporary guardianship. They were independent on the FAFSA but was dependent for everything else including EOP and HEOP. I even spoke to the financial aid office and she needed her Mothers stuff even though she had been living with her brother and sister in law for 6 years
In op’s case if there is temporary guardianship s/he would be a dependent for TAP (NYS) aid and would need his mom’s income and assets.
I would like to make it clear that I am DEFINITELY in a court-ordered, legal guardianship. After I turned 12, my uncle and aunt were made my permanent guardians (after having custody over me for a little over 3 years.
Be sure to check each college how it handles your situation, since colleges may be different from each other (and FAFSA) in terms of defining whether you are independent (and whom you would be dependent on if dependent) for financial aid purposes. If in doubt (likely, since colleges do not list every possible unusual situation on their web pages), ask the college’s financial aid office directly, giving all relevant information (court ordered legal guardianship of your aunt and uncle since shortly after you turned 12 after they had custody of you for 3 years).
To be extra safe, you may want to include a safety school where you can get an automatic full ride merit scholarship or some such that is not based on financial aid interpretations of independent or dependent student. See the list in http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2006094-2017-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html .
Sorry about your mom. I hope that isn’t too painful. Is she still contactable? If some schools require her income, can we presume it is very low?
You are in a good position to do well in the upcoming cycle! Just keep asking questions and keep on top of all the FA paperwork. I would apply to as many top schools as you are interested in as you can. You have the grades and scores, being Haitian helps bc it is rare in college apps. You’ll definitely get a second look, so make the most of your apps. Lots of schools you wouldn’t expect give a lot of FA, so look carefully here on CC for listings of generous “meets need” schools.
If a community college is your backup, then you have nothing to lose! Good luck!
There is no place where guardians are obligated to support minor children, much less pay for college. Legal guardianships of non-disabled minors generally terminate at age 18 in any event. I would be very, very surprised if any college took the income or assets of a legal guardian (who was not a parent, step-parent or grandparent) into account in determining need.
There are two different questions on the fafsa that would apply. They were #52 and 54, but might be different this year .
For first question, which is automatic independent status, it asks if both parents are dead or if the student was in foster care or a ward of the court since age 13. The state has to have LEGAL custody of you. It appears that is NOT the case for the OP. Her aunt and uncle had LEGAL custody of her since she was age 12, and the state may never have taken custody of her. The state doesn’t always take custody of the child if there are relatives to do that and custody goes directly from the bio parents to the new guardians with the state never taking custody. If the state did take custody, that legal status had to have continued to at least age 13.
For the second question, it asks “As determined by a court in your state of legal residence, are you or were you in a legal guardianship?” There is an additional worksheet that needs to be filled in before it can be determined if the student is an independent for FAFSA purposes. It’s not automatic.
I have a friend who took custody of her grandchildren and later adopted them. The state did have legal custody of them even though they never spent a night in foster care, always either with their mother or grandmother. However, they were adopted before age 13, so they do not qualify as independent students under question 52. If they hadn’t been legally adopted and remained under state guardianship, they would have even though they not only had a mother, they had two or more grandmothers, at least one grandfather, and I think each had a father who was local too, had always gone to private school and lived in a million dollar home in a gated community. (And I wouldn’t have wished the turmoil on anyone, no matter how much money they have!)
There is a solution to your problem. Join the military. If you’re 18, nobody can prevent you. Do your four years, then attend the college of your choice on the GI Bill.