<p>My parents are not paying for my schooling anymore, I'm on my own. Fafsa still asks me their tax info which they refuse to give me... how can I apply for aid without that?? I'm not considered a dependent to them but Fafsa asks if I was born before/after 1984 and since I was born after, does that make me ineligible for any aid?
Please let me know what I can do!!</p>
<p>What is your relationship with your parents? Are you estranged from them? </p>
<p>There are some cases where you can get what is called a "dependency override", but the fact that your parents won't cooperate is not enough -- it happens more in cases such as where the family has cut off all contact.<br>
In any case, you would have to get that from the school -- it won't effect how you fill out the FAFSA. </p>
<p>I don't know how old you are, but it may be that you will have to opt for attending a public school part time while you are working, to make ends meet -- or defer enrollment to a less expensive college while you work to earn money. My son is on his own and paying his own way -- he did not qualify for financial aid this past year in part because my income was considered, though fortunately he was born in 1983 and has spent down his savings, so he probably can get decent financial aid next year.</p>
<p>The guidelines for FAFSA independent status and the guidelines for IRS independent status are COMPLETELY different. In most cases, you are considered a dependent for FINAID purposes unless you can answer "yes" to one of those questions on the FAFSA. AND therefore, in most cases you MUST report parent income regardless of how much you are supporting yourself, until you are 25 years of age. If you are an emancipated minor (VERY hard to gain this status...you must have NO, NONE contact with your parents, and you cannot even visit them or receive mail from them, or any gifts or anything), you will have difficulty in most places gaining independent status for finaid purposes.</p>
<p>Get married QUICK LTM, Sorry couldn't resist</p>
<p>There is probably not much you can do. Parents unwillingness to pay for college does not make you independant for financial aid purposes. The best thing to do is talk to your school financial aid department and see if they have any advice. Good luck.</p>
<p>
[quote]
My parents are not paying for my schooling anymore, I'm on my own. Fafsa still asks me their tax info which they refuse to give me... how can I apply for aid without that?? I'm not considered a dependent to them but Fafsa asks if I was born before/after 1984 and since I was born after, does that make me ineligible for any aid?
Please let me know what I can do!!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>How literally do you mean all of this? </p>
<p>Are you supporting yourself fully?</p>
<p>And when you state that your parents are not paying for schooling anymore, does that mean that they used to and then gave up on it?</p>
<p>If you are totally by yourself and totally support your own self. Then, please look into the dependency override. It is worth a shot to at least look into that. Alright? It will not hurt anyone if you spoke with folks about that. </p>
<p>I feel that there is something you are leaving out with all of this. Remember this site is anon., basically, so feel free to elaborate on anything which might be helpful or something.</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>If you are totally by yourself and totally support your own self. Then, please look into the dependency override.>></p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>To get this, in most cases, you MUST prove that you have NO NONE ZERO contact with your family, and in this case that you had none for at least the whole 2006 year or longer. It is NOT easy to become an emanicipated minor which is what this would take for finaid purposes. Simply put, if all it took was a student moving into their own place, their parents NOT declaring them on the income taxes, and then the parents saying "I won't pay", LOTS of kids would try to go this route to be independent students. It's not that easy nor should it be.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>I know that, thumper...that is why I said it would not hurt anyone if the poster spoke with folks about that. Sometimes one can reach a peaceful resolution to certain things by initiating conversation about their own particular situation. </p>
<p>None of us know the full extent of the situation of OP. Let us calm down a smidgen with the all caps and whatnot, please. </p>
<p>Alright? </p>
<p>Looking into something is not a horrible idea, because you never know what you might learn while your are trying to figure out what to do whilst having logical discourse with the folks at your University. </p>
<p>Gosh.</p>
<p>If OP is going through what is the actual criteria for such a thing as a Dependency Override....</p>
<p>..then have mercy on the kid.</p>
<p>Please try to be nicer next time thumper. I kept my post rather open and did not imply anything unethical. </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>To the OP and Mildred. Please understand that I meant no offense to the OP in my response. This question comes up again and again every year both here and elsewhere. Sadly, it's the kids who seem to get caught in the middle of a "pay, no pay" situation. Certainly opening a dialogue would not be harmful for anyone in the OP's situation. Hopefully that will help resolve the situation. But the realities of becoming an independent student for finaid purposes are not optimistic for most students...and I don't want to be misleading about that. Perhaps this is the exception. That is why talking to the finaid folks at the college could be helpful as Mildred suggested. No offense was intended...just a statement of the facts as I have been told they are.</p>
<p>The only way I found around this situation was to get married. I have some other friends that also got married for financial aid reasons too. Kind of sad but true.</p>
<p>I'm going to have to agree with Thumper on this one. Opening a discussion on a situation is always a good idea, as well as researching the possibilities. But giving a student the false impression that simply because their parents don't want to pay means they can declare themselves independent is not. That question is asked many times every year and the answer is always that it is virtually impossible without very specific and rare circumstances. If all it took for a student to get financial aid on their own was for a parent to say they won't pay, then at least half the parents in this country would try it. </p>
<p>I didn't take Thumper's post as being rude in any way. She was simply making it clear that this is not an option for most and that the student should look for other ways to finance their education. The student could either spend a lot of time and energy finding out that they are not independent, or spend that same energy looking for other ways.</p>
<p>Sadlly I agree with Thumper & 3bm. According to what I have heard it is extremely difficult to get a dependancy overide and parents unwillingness to pay for education will not be enough. There has to be a lot of proof of complete alienation from your parents for a considerable time. No one is trying to be unkind by saying that - it is just a fact. My son, for instance, stopped going to college for a couple of years and was completely independant and self supporting. He is returning to school and is considered a dependant for financial aid purposes.The best bet is to talk to the financial aid officers from your school. In the end whatever we here on the board may say or think - they are the only ones who can give you a definitive answer. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Purpose: These questions are used to determine, according to law, whether you are a dependent or an independent student for purposes of calculating an EFC. If you answer "No" to all of these questions, you are a dependent student, even if you do not live with your parents. On a case-by-case basis, a financial aid administrator (FAA) may make an otherwise dependent student independent if he or she can document in the student's file that the student's individual circumstances warrant the decision. The reason must relate to that individual student and not to an entire class of students. The FAA's decision is final and cannot be appealed to the U.S. Department of Education.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm going to have to agree with Thumper on this one. Opening a discussion on a situation is always a good idea, as well as researching the possibilities. But giving a student the false impression that simply because their parents don't want to pay means they can declare themselves independent is not.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I never stated in any way that the OP should immediately obtain a dependency override at all. </p>
<p>
[quote]
How literally do you mean all of this?</p>
<p>Are you supporting yourself fully?</p>
<p>And when you state that your parents are not paying for schooling anymore, does that mean that they used to and then gave up on it?</p>
<p>If you are totally by yourself and totally support your own self. Then, please look into the dependency override. It is worth a shot to at least look into that. Alright? It will not hurt anyone if you spoke with folks about that.</p>
<p>I feel that there is something you are leaving out with all of this. Remember this site is anon., basically, so feel free to elaborate on anything which might be helpful or something.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I could not have left my post any more open, really. Looking into something and learning of what it is you can do does not imply that one should immediately ask for the dependency override or anything. Alright? Learning of your options is not a bad thing at all. I still cannot quite figure on how my post set off such a chain reaction of oddness at all. It is as though some of you folks only saw the term dependency override without even reading my entire post at all. If you read my post in full, you will (again) see that I was not alluding to any unethical things at all.</p>
<p>I think it was the part where you told Thumper to try being nicer. I saw nothing not nice in that post at all. Just realistic.</p>
<p>According to Department of Education regulations, dependency overrides cannot be issued due to: the parents don’t want to provide information
on the FAFSA due to privacy concerns; the parents don’t feel it’s their responsibility
to provide financial assistance for college; the parents no longer claim the student as a dependent on their taxes; or the student no longer lives at home.</p>
<p>Dependency overrides can only be issued for the following reasons: has no contact with the parents and does not know where they are (and the student has not been adopted by someone else); or has left home due to an abusive situation.</p>
<p>I know that this does not seem fair....and it upsets most parents, but most FA Offices will not overlook these regulations because it can mean we (financial aid administrators) could be hit with fines face jailtime.</p>
<p>Resolution: Ask your parent(s) to contact the Financial Aid Office directly for a detailed explaination of what their lack of cooperation on the FAFSA can mean to your education. Their refusal to complete the Parent Portion of the FAFSA means ineligibility for the student portions of federal funding. However, their completion of the Parent Portion of the FAFSA does not obligate them to ANY loans in their own names. For many parents, this simply explanation is enough to enlist the parents to submit their information to FAFSA.</p>
<p>NikkiiL -- good information, glad to see you posting.</p>
<p>I see you are a new member of CC -- please plan to stick around. It is always nice to have someone with good, inside information posting. You will find lots of questions at CC.</p>
<p>It's nice to have somewhere where people are asking questions that they actually want answered.</p>
<p>Thank you Nikki. Great post...and I fully agree.</p>
<p>What would a student do in this situation:</p>
<p>Parents divorced when child was very young. Sole Custody awarded to mother, father moves away. Mother (Custodial Parent) dies just after child turns 18, no stepfather. Child forced to live on own. Non-custodial parent has not played a role in child's life since divorce. </p>
<p>-Since the only living parent is non-custodial would that person then have to get fin. aid info from that parent even though they havent been around for over a decade!</p>
<p>NikkiiL is probably going to have better info -- but that was a situation with a student that posted last year -- </p>