<p>What happens if someone wasn't claimed for tax purposes AND didn't file taxes for themselves either? And the parents are seperated?</p>
<p>I'm not sure I understand your question? Many students do not file tax returns because they don't have sufficient income requiring them to do so. If you aren't declared as a dependent on one or another parent's tax return, that is a loss for that parent. But it is not against the law not to declare someone as a dependent.</p>
<p>Dependency for Federal aid purposes is very narrowly defined. You can only be considered independent if you meet one of the following seven criteria:</p>
<ol>
<li> Over 24 by Jan 1 of the award year (in this case, Jan. 1, 2006).</li>
<li> Married.</li>
<li> Graduate Student.</li>
<li> Orphan or Ward of the Court.</li>
<li> Veteran of the US Armed Forces.</li>
<li> Have a legal dependent of your own (other than a spouse) who lives with you and for whom you provide more than half of their support.</li>
<li> Have a legal dependent who does not live with you but for whom you provide more than half of their support.</li>
</ol>
<p>Other than that, you will not be considered independent. There are some exceptions, but these are made on a case-by-case basis and usually are for reasons such as abuse or neglect (very serious issues) and not self-sufficiency.</p>
<p>Remember, all of this is what the Feds use to determine dependency. Colleges can (and some do) have their own rules for their own funds.</p>
<p>So what happens if someone lives with parent A, but want to claim residency through parent B, who lives in the state the student wants to go to school at? But they still weren't claimed?</p>
<p>Each state has some VERY specific guidelines for claiming instate residency. If you graduate from a public high school in one state, it would be VERY hard for you to claim to be a resident in another state. Your residency is based on where you LIVE. In some cases where there is joint custody, a student might be able to be declared a resident of another state...but this would be rare, I would think. Regardless of my opinions, the best place to look is on the website of the state in which you wish to "claim residency" to check the requirements. I will say...the states do NOT make this easy. They wish to support only residents of THEIR state. And if you were not claimed as a dependent on the "out of state" parent's taxes, I can't imagine how you would would just be able to "say" that you were a resident of that parent's state.</p>
<p>okay....what do you think...what if student moved to new state with one parent, attended public high school in that state, parent had to leave new state after one year...but student stayed in state for two more years to finish high school and lived off his trust fund.
would this qualify student as independent?</p>
<p>shardartist: based on the Federal definition, absolutely not. The student wouldn't qualify under any of the above reasons. And self-sufficiency is not a rationale for an override, in my opinion.</p>
<p>The state question is an interesting one. Thumper has it right that each state may have its own rules and that you need to take a look at the state's rules to determine what qualifies.</p>
<p>As for which parent (in a divorced / separated case) you file with, there is another easy way to determine that:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If you live with either parent for more than 1/2 the year, they are your custodial parent (if you live alone, which parent did you last live with?).</p></li>
<li><p>If your parents share custody exactly evenly (182.5 days each per year - highly unlikely), then the parent who pays more for your support (living expenses, food, books, etc), is the parent who is considered custodial.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Always remember you file with your custodial family, so if you live with mom and step-dad, step-dad's information gets included.</p>
<p>Thumper is right in that each state has its own specific uidlines for claiming in state residency. Every year people try to make a case for in state residency when a kid gets into an out of state school. When you apply to a state school, there are specific key questions that determine whether you are in state for tuition and admissions purposes, Though it is possible to get around those requirements, it is not usually an easy thing to do. However, I have seen kids with divorced parents who have been able to get state residency status through the non custodial parent for college purposes. But again it would depend upon the state and the specific circumstances to which I am not privy. If you have a specific situation, you need to research it carefully and make your case. I would not count on being considered an instate resident when you truly are not. As Barkowitz stated in his post above, a student under age 24 is considered a dependent unless he meets certain specific critieria. And the person to whom he is dependent is the one whose residency defines the state residency. Kids who go to boarding schools are not considered residents of the state where they are going to school and believe me many of them have trust funds paying their way. It is the state where their parent lives and files his primary state tax return that counts for residency purposes. There are exceptions, but they need to be addressed individually.</p>
<p>See my case is weird though. I lived with my dad for two years, who is in the military in TX. But then when he was deployed to Iraq, I had to move in with my mother, in another state. This was not by choice though. Now I am graduating in the state where I live with my mother, but I want to go to college in the TX. They are seperated, but not seperated from marriage(sorry for not saying earlier), because they are still married. So could I claim residency with my father or will I be forced to claim residency through my mother just because that is where I am graduating?</p>
<p>barkowitz...what do you mean by "override"?</p>
<p>Most states have very specific rules addressing military families, and sometimes exceptions can be made in those cases. It happens quite often that a military family lives in one state but is a resident of another. Florida and Texas are popular choices because of tax situations, and I am sure that Texas addresses them directly. Because the outcome can depend on some very specific issues, I would suggest you contact a state college in Texas and lay out your situation and find out exactly what is needed to be considered an in state resident for Texas purposes. Getting a general answer will not help you in such a specific situation.</p>
<p>A college has the ability to override dependency on a case by case basis if (and only if) there are significant reasons why the college should do so. Abuse, neglect, etc are grounds while self-sufficiency is not.</p>