<p>I'm 27 years old applying to transfer back east to some schools and requesting financial aid. I filled out my FAFSA and CSS, but being 27 my folks feel that I'm on my own. I accept this, but IDOC says they require my parents tax returns for '12 and '13. My dad says he doesn't want that information out there so he's decoining to give me their returns. </p>
<p>Will I not even be considered for aid if I don't have everything they want from me, even if technically I'm an independent? I thought at my age they wouldn't consider my parents finances. </p>
<p>Since you are older than 24, you should be considered independent for college financial aid purposes, so parental financial information should not be needed or used against you in undergraduate financial aid calculations.</p>
<p>At age 24 a student is independent for federal aid only. Turning 24 does not make you automatically independent for schools that give their own institutional aid, because they set their own policies as to what age a student is considered independent. </p>
<p>These schools first operate on the premise that if you start as a dependent student, you finish as a dependent student even if you have have other life circumstances that make you independent (getting married, having kids, turning 24). If Op is returning to a school where he was once a dependent student, although s/he is 27, s/he is still probably considered an independent student for financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>OP are you a returning student or are you applying for the first time</p>
<p>Other schools have policies where the student must prove that they have been financially independent of their parent for 5 years (not receiving anything from their parents) in order to be considered independent.</p>
<p>The university of Chicago states the following:</p>
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<p>What if I am financially independent of my parents?
You may be considered an independent (self-supporting) student by federal and state program guidelines, but for purposes of awarding University of Chicago grant assistance, we have a more restrictive definition of independence. </p>
<p>To be considered independent, you must be at least 24 years of age by December 31 of the
award year (December 31, 2013, for the 2013–14 academic year). In addition, you must provide proof to the Committee on College Aid that you have been self-supporting for the past three years and the current calendar year, and that you will be self-supporting in the calendar year following your enrollment in the College.</p>
<p>**NOTE: If you enter the College as a dependent student, you will be considered a dependent throughout your undergraduate years. **</p>
<p>Are there any exceptions to these rules?</p>
<p>If you do not meet our definition of independence but you are an orphan or a ward of the court, you may
be considered self-supporting by the University. </p>
<p>If you are admitted to Cornell as a dependent student, you will remain as such for your time at Cornell. Even if you are considered independent for federal student aid, Cornell may consider you to be a dependent of your parents when determining institutional aid eligibility.</p>
<p>Cornell will consider you to be independent if:</p>
<p>you are a non-traditional student and have been self-supporting for more than five years; or</p>
<p>both of your parents are deceased; or</p>
<p>you are a ward of the court</p>
<p>If any of these situations apply to you, please contact our office to discuss your individual circumstances. You will need to request the application for independent student consideration.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is that when it comes to any school’s own pot of money, they can request info and take into consideration what they please. Some of my friends have been outraged to find that some med schools, law schools, grad schools want the parental info for consideration for aid. </p>
<p>I suggest you call the school and tell them the situation. Look on their financial aid web sites for any info pertaining to this subject. If you are returning to a school where you were once dependent, there are often rules laid out as Sybbie has shown in her examples. See what they have for non traditional students. But you may need to talk to a fin aid officer about this. </p>
<p>I am dreading what schools are going to be asking of us for my one son who is applying programs and will need aid as we are not going to pay for it. Without some stipend, tuition remission, it’s not going to be an option for him. </p>
<p>Automatically classifying someone pushing 30 as being ‘dependent’ regardless of their life circumstances sounds nuts, but I bet there are good reasons for the policy and ways to get around it for non-traditional students. It would be crazy to think that someone could come back to school at age 50 or 60 and still be considered dependent even if their own parents are in retirement homes. </p>
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<p>For what it’s worth, not all schools ask for parent information regardless of the age of the student. My own MSA program did not even ask for it when I applied for institutional grant aid even though I had been a dependent student there as an undergraduate. It wouldn’t have mattered in my case, but hopefully your son’s schools do not treat parental contribution in the same way as they did in undergraduate.</p>
<p>Sorry for the tardy response, life has been pretty busy.</p>
<p>I’m a California native and have applied to six different schools for a transfer, I submitted my FAFSA in September and then I completed my CSS about two weeks ago. However, several of the schools are giving me grief about missing my IDOC or something. I’ve looked over what IDOC needs from me and among my own information, it wants at least two of my parents tax returns, which isn’t an option. I’m willing to get copies of my tax returns for it, but that’s about all the information I’ll be able to give them - anything pertaining to me and my financial history, but none of my parents.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I was married for four years and had my own job from June 2009 - October 2014 when I was laid off.</p>
<p>I’ve never applied to these schools before so there shouldn’t be any records of me at any of them, especially as a dependent. The only school I’ve ever been enrolled at is the CC that I’m currently attending.</p>
<p>I’ve applied to Boston University, Cornell, NYU, Syracuse, Wesleyan and William & Mary. I also applied to my hometown uni (Chico State) just as a backup but they don’t use CSS anyway so I suppose that’s neither here nor there.</p>
<p>Your parent info was NOT on your Profile, correct? That being the case, it will not be included in your IDOC documents.</p>
<p>BUT. You need to contact theses schools. As noted by Cptofthehouse, schools can ask for any info they please. But really, there could just be mis communication regarding this. </p>
<p>I would think long and hard about BU & NYU, which are both known for not giving good financial aid and will not meet 100% demonstrated need. Syracuse does not meet 100% demonstrated need for all of its students.</p>
<p>Please see post # 6 regarding independent students at Cornell. They may be on the fence when it comes to determining if you are not traditional and independent.</p>
<p>Wesleyan is need aware for transfer students, meaning that your ability to pay will be a factor in the admissions process</p>