<p>So pretty much to sum it all up my parents are married but separated (not legally but they live in different states and don't ever see eachother, etc)</p>
<p>I live with my mom and her boyfriend which does not have legal custody over me. My mom doesn't work at all and hasn't in who knows when. Our family is very very poor and I'm pretty sure our EFC would be 0 anyways. We actually used to be homeless.</p>
<p>As for my dad we all used to live together about two or three years ago. But even then even though he worked he didn't file taxes. I'm pretty, in fact, I'm very sure he still doesn't either. </p>
<p>What are my options for financial aid? Is there anything I can do?</p>
<p>I really want to go to a university and my SAT and GPA are amazing, so I am very qualified. But how does FAFSA or any other need based financial aid work in relation to taxes? I'm pretty clueless on the issue and so are my parents.</p>
<p>Well, you’d only file using your mom’s info. Since she has no income, then you’d indicate that. However, you’re probably going to have to indicate how you’re living on no income.</p>
<p>Are you a senior? Where have you applied? What state are you in? What are your test scores and GPA? </p>
<p>Much of your aid will depend on what schools you get accepted to, the state you live in, and your stats.</p>
<p>Are you likely to be a National Achievement Scholar? </p>
<p>Best case scenario you are admitted to a need blind, meets full need school, but you would be competing with a lot of other amazing students. Otherwise you might need to narrow down your question a bit, for example saying where you might be able to live with someone if the money isn’t right for living on your own.</p>
<p>You might want the African American students forum, and thir results thread. Some pretty amazing students, nther, but most are not counting on full need schools.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/african-american-students/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/african-american-students/</a></p>
<p>Do you live in Calif? If so, then if you are admitted to a UC, you should get good aid. </p>
<p>How did you do on the PSAT?</p>
<p>When you file the FAFSA, you will only use the information of your custodial parent; your mom. However most FAFSA only schools will not meet 100% demonstrated need. Those familiar with financial aid at the UC system can probably tell you if you will receive enough aid to make going away to college at the UC doable.</p>
<p>The challenge is going to be, if you want to attend USC, they will require income information from both of your parent. This means you must file the FAFSA, the CSS profile and your dad will have to fill out the non-custodial profile.</p>
<p>If your mom does not work, she will have to get a non-tax filers statement from the IRS stating that she is not required to file taxes. If she has no income, it is going to prompt a low income verification where she is going to have to explain how she is eating each day.</p>
<p>this may mean getting budget letters if your family receives public assistance, Snap benefits or getting award letters if your family receives social security/social security disability benefits.</p>
<p>If your dad has to file the non-custodial profile, if he works, he is going to have to file taxes or go through the same process that your mom has to go through as verifying how he eats everyday.</p>
<p>" if you are admitted to a UC, you should get good aid.*"</p>
<p>Does it tend to be enough for a student with a zero efc?</p>
<p>For UC, you’ll still need to pitch in (student’s contribution). For Berkeley, EFC 0 usually means you’ll need to pay $2-$3k (assuming you’re triple dorming). I assume it would be similar for other campuses as well. Not much if you apply for outside scholarships and do work study.</p>
<p>UC’s tend to give good aid to the very low EFC instate students. There will still be student loans in the FA pkgs and there may be a slight gap, but that can usually be filled with earnings from a summer job or economizing with “personal expenses,” book purchases, and other non-direct school costs. </p>
<p>Any gap she gets shouldn’t be big unless she is very late applying for FA and the school has run out of some aid.</p>
<p>If she’s a Calif resident, then she’ll likely get:</p>
<p>Cal Grant
Pell Grant
UC Grant
maybe SEOG
Stafford loan
maybe Perkins
maybe Work study</p>
<p>She needs to get going with Sybbie’s instructions because schools run out of things like work-study, Perkins, SEOG.</p>
<p>My mom receives welfare money (food stamps, etc) so could she file for the IRS to verify no income? When should she do this? I’m a Junior right now.</p>
<p>And my parents are not legally separated or divorced so my dad will probably have to take part in this as well.</p>
<p>For FAFSA, your dad’s info is not needed since is very much physically separted from your mother. If he is sending support money, however, that does have to be reported as income to your mother. Other than that, he does not figure in the FAFSA.</p>
<p>But some schools also require another form called CSS PROFILE and that would require his information. THe state schools in CA do not, from what I recall. Very few state schools do. In fact, most schoolss do not require PROFILE, but the catch is that those that tend to guarantee and meet full need or even most of it do often require non custodial parent financial info.</p>
<p>Berkely may not be the best example for a typical UC fin aid award scenario. What would an zero EFC student typically get at an average Cal State or a lesser known UC?</p>
<p>
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<p>Using the skip logic on the FAFSA once she clicks that she receives PA/SNAP benefits, the income questions on the FAFSA will be skipped.
However, it will most likely prompt the school for a low income verification.</p>
<p>Your mom should go to PA and get a budget letter from PA/Food Stamps. THe budget letter will be verification of the benefits that you receive from PA/food stamps</p>