<p>So, uh, I live in a pretty bipolar household. My dad loathes my mom's side and he gets mad that I like them. It sounds stupid but.. I can't help it. 50% pretending like nothing is wrong, 50% flare-ups, 100% depression (:!</p>
<p>My dad recently said that I'm not going to amount to "****," I'm not going to college, and I'm not going to be able to stay in college. I don't live with my mom, although I probably could if I expressed interest, but I'm scared to. It's not like I'm a below average student, I've had 7 APs, 4s on the two tests I took (my parents don't like to fund my education--they already plan to give me $0.00 towards college payments), etc. Before I go on to the question that makes this post applicable to financial aid.. could I use the preceding statements in a college essay? I don't think there's anything special about me other than I study all the time, overly-criticize myself, and want to be happy.</p>
<p>Okay, none of that really dealt with financial aid, so: if I were to move away from my dad he wouldn't submit any information for the FAFSA. That's 100%. He's very spiteful and would never speak to me if I did. I'm only 60% sure he's going to fill it out in the current situation, anyway. So, THE REAL QUESTION: If I were to move in with my mom, what would I do about the FAFSA? Use her information? She didn't claim me as a dependent on taxes. Wait a year for her to do that? I need options. Don't just post one sentence, post everything that you know I could do. Thanks.</p>
<p>I'm very sorry. I live in a bipolar house too (both parents are diagnosed with both bipolar, mom has a personality disorder, and they are both physically disabled). My mother recently told me "I don't see why you spend so much time in your room. If you have to study that much you're too stupid to be going to a good college anyway." I don't even study in my room. </p>
<p>I'm not sure what you are going to have to do for the FAFSA, but one of my teachers had parents that gave her no money and would not give information for the FAFSA. She ended up working something like 2 full time jobs and 1 part time job while going to school full time (Obviously not 2 full time and 1 part time in the same semester, but always more than 1 full time) and paid her own way through Duke. (Duke is like 35k per year) </p>
<p>Join the military, thats what I did and I go to school for free. My GI Bill is not going to pay for me to go to a private school, but public school is pretty much free. People come from bad situations all the time and make it through school. My family had nothing to give for my education, because we had nothing. Six years later I am in college. Yea, I had to give the govt some time, but now they are giving back. Not trying to be mean, but its a thought.</p>
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If your parents have divorced or separated, answer only the questions about the parent that you lived with most during the last 12 months. If you did not live with one parent more than the other, answer only the questions about the parent who provided most of your financial support during the last 12 months.
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<p>If you move with your Mom today it will be mid-March before you can truthfully state that you lived with your Mom more than with your Dad for the previous 12 months. Most schools want to see the FAFSA sooner, but you might be able to hand your forms in March and still qualify for Financial Aid. If you want to follow this plan, time is of the essence.</p>
<p>Before you decide to move with your Mom, you should be aware that most Private Schools either use the Profile in addition to the FAFSA, or have their own forms. In either case, they will end up asking for your father's information. So for your idea of moving with your Mom to have any practical effect you will have to stick with FAFSA-only schools, which are usually public schools. FA at these schools tends to be more loans than grants, so the bottom line benefit of having your Mom fill out the FAFSA vs. not filling out a FAFSA at all may not be as great as you would hope.</p>
<p>The usual advice for students who for any reason can't get any FA, is to concentrate on Merit Aid. That may make more sense than trying to game the FAFSA process, and will be less disruptive to your already strained family life.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, try not to let the negativity you are currently surrounded by carry over into your adult life. You can go to college and work your way through (CC for two years) and then transfer. You can also apply to four year schools and write a compelling essay about your family life and see if it gets you financial aid (merit). If you are to going to write about your situation, make it more eloquent than, "My dad hates my mom, etc." If there is an actual diagnosis, than use that as a date/place in time where you realized your path would be more challenging than it is for others and then document how you learned to achieve success in spite of family burdens and low expectations. As far as the FAFSA goes, I bet colleges see dysfunctional family situations all of the time. If I were you, I would call a couple of colleges you might be interested in and ask their advice. Or, there are companies out there who offer comp consultations regarding the FAFSA. Maybe someone like that can tell you what you need to know. Or, I bet FAFSA has a customer service number. You can try to call them and see if you can get advice on how to proceed from them. Good luck. If you want to and are driven to succeed, you can find a way to do so. You are not alone, there are others out there like you.</p>
<p>You have many options for completing a college education. You can start part-time at a community college, you can join the military, you can find a package of scholarships that will make it possible for you to go to school full-time. It will not be easy, but you already know that. But in college, as in the rest of life, what you make of it is mostly up to you.</p>