<p>I would fill out whatever apps the parents suggest. Once the info. is online, the student can retrieve it from the FAFSA website with her own pin, right? She needs more than her ss#, though. She needs her birth certicicate because she can’t get a replacement card without it. Definitely pursue the financial aid angle, but think longterm; you need to be able to extricate your paperwork from mom and dad to have any control over your own life. </p>
<p>From another thread, she does have a car and some money saved from teaching piano lessons - so that’s a start.</p>
<p>@halfemptypockets: I was not aware that at most colleges, if you are employed by the college you can take a couple of classes for free each semester. Is this at most private colleges?</p>
<p>Some colleges have a tuition benefit for their employees. At many places, this doesn’t kick in until the employee has been employed there for a year…or more. YMMV by school. The OP would need to check.</p>
<p>If the OP wants a job, the OP will have to have her SS number, and some places actually ask to see the card. This needs to be resolved.</p>
<p>I doubt the OP has a job. If she did, her SSN would be known to her. She could get it from her work documents. She would have had to have shown it to her employer. It would be on her tax info. </p>
<p>Even if her parents think they might pony up a few bucks for this one school, it still isn’t enough. She wouldn’t be able to go…and the parents needs that info rubbed into their faces NOW, so she can regroup.</p>
<p>If their education degrees are accredited, then it is a “real school,” with extremely limited offerings. It just isn’t what we would want. </p>
<p>@Madison85 - I’m familiar with the colleges around here. St. Joe’s, Villanova, Penn, Drexel and LaSalle all have tuition remission. As far as I know, it typically kicks pretty quickly, if not immediately, after employment. It does take longer to get on a tuition exchange program or to get tuition remission for your kids, but a free class or two each semester at the college of your employment - at least in the Philadelphia area - is pretty standard. </p>
<p>She appears to be self-employed as a piano teacher. I believe on the other thread she also mentioned another job. Maybe these jobs are under the table?</p>
<p>CT person here. At some of the schools here, tuition benefits for employees do not kick in until after a year of employment.</p>