<p>My friend's parents have been trying to stop him from attending his first choice college. They not only filled out the FAFSA forms incorrectly (using estimates from realtors instead of actual government numbers, making their land's worth go from the actual $100,000 to looking like $600,000), but they also refuse to let their son go anywhere but the nearby state school. My friend has enough money (inheritance from grandparents) to pay for two years at his dream school and is willing to work for the other two. He would end up with a relatively small amount of debt. </p>
<p>The major problem is that even if he breaks away from his family his parents claim that they still have to sign the loan forms and that they won't. He's 18 though, so do they really have to or can he take out loans without them? Also, if he breaks aways from them, will he be able to not include them on his FAFSA forms next year (since the way they fill them out makes him look incredibly rich), as he'll be completely independent?</p>
<p>I know it's a horrible thing to break away from your family, but they have suffocated him by refusing to let him leave home, and he's had enough. Is there any way he can get loans on his own?</p>
<p>No he cannot file FAFSA without his parents information (not until he is 24 or meets one of the other criteria for being considered independent by FAFSA - married, a veteran, have a dependent of his own etc).</p>
<p>The estimates from realtors are probably the correct way to value the land.</p>
<p>Other than need based government loans (which seem unlikeley based on the parents assets **and **on the student’s assets) most loans to students will require a cosigner which in most cases would be a parent as the cosigner is responsible for the debt if the student does not pay it.</p>
<p>Actually if your friend has enough money of his own to pay for 2 years of a dream school that on it’s own will make his EFC very high as a students assets are assessed to the EFC at a much higher rate that a parents.</p>
<p>Well, he called one of the head’s of financial aid at one of his schools (not his main school, a different one he heard back from earlier), and they said to use the government estimates. But his parents say it would take too much time to change them.</p>
<p>The main problem is not so much that he can’t afford it but that he will eventually need loans and his parents refuse to sign for them. They, like most of the people in the town we live in, believe firmly that the nearby college and its football team are better than any other college could ever be (despite being ranked at the bottom of the list in most academic rankings). Can anyone be a cosigner, assuming they are an adult?</p>
<p>The loans require a credit check and very good credit rating for both the student and the cosigner. Anyone could be a cosigner. But whether anyone would be is another question. I have an excellent credit rating. I would not cosign a large loan for anyone. I might cosign a small one for one of my kids but not for anyone else - even close friends. Nor would I ever expect them to do that for me. Just as I would not risk my own financial future for someone else I would not expect them to risk theirs for me.</p>
<p>Yeah, I can understand why no one would want to do that. Thank you so much for telling all of this information, I appreciate hearing about loans from a parent’s perspective. If anyone else has any ideas on what he can do, please tell me.</p>