On My Own

<p>Now that I'm 18, my parents decided that they are tired of putting up with all of my crap. They're kicking me out of the house and are not paying anymore for college. I just finished my first year at USC. What can I do? Help me, please.</p>

<p>About 2% of college students qualify for Dependency Override. There must be some component of abuse; being kicked out of the house (effectively abandoned) sometimes qualifies. Have a look at:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.kidscounsel.org/dependency%20override.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.kidscounsel.org/dependency%20override.pdf&lt;/a>
FinAid</a> | Professional Judgment | Dependency Overrides</p>

<p>is it too late for any outside scholarships for the fall semester? is it too late to get money from the school? what about loans?</p>

<p>Nactor, you need to contact the finaid office at your school. They are the only ones who can answer your questions about increased aid from the school. The problem I see is that financial aid is usually predicated on information from the previous tax year when you were a dependent of your parents AND they were supporting you. They had not abandoned you. </p>

<p>Also, what kind of "crap" were they putting up with? Perhaps this is the time to "mend some fences" with your family, especially if it means the difference between college or not. I know you weren't asking for this advice, but there it is.</p>

<p>Unless you can prove that you have been abandoned, and that is NOT all that easy to prove, you cannot be considered an independent student.</p>

<p>Think of it this way...if that's all it took, EVERY parent would simply say "I'm NOT paying another nickel for my kid"...That is not the way the financial aid system works. You will need hard evidence that you are having NO (read that NO!) contact with your parents for any reason, and that this has been long term.</p>