<p>I am turning 24 in the end of sept 2014. I plan on starting my undergraduate degree sept of 2014.
As I understand it you must turn 24 by the 31st of december of the award year (2014-2015 for me) to be eligible to apply for your fafsa as an independent student. I just want to make sure thats correct.
My plan is to apply for my fafsa on june 31, 2014 which is the first day of the award year 2014-2015, I plan on applying independently so as to maximize my aid.
Could a few people weigh in and confirm that my planning is correct.</p>
<p>Filing FAFSA as independent or dependent is not something that you can choose. You must file according to your qualifying statistics.</p>
<p>To file as an independent for the 2014-15 school year you must be born prior to January 1991, have served in the military, be married or have a child, or a few other things that you can find on the FAFSA website.</p>
<p>Thanks! That answers one of my questions. Im waiting until I qualify. Sorry if the OP was a bit Long and convoluted I’m pretty tired.
I am 23 as of 9/28/2013 so Yes next year I will be able to answer Yes to the question (2014-15 school year you must be born prior to January 1991). </p>
<p>My follow up question is, will I have to wait until june 31,2014 to apply for aid for the 2014-2015 year and qualify using the above logic?</p>
<p>Sorry my turn to be annoying lol. So my understanding is that as of Jan 1, 2014 the question on the fafsa regarding independent student qualification changes from "were you born prior to Jan,1990) as of now to “were you born prior to Jan 1991” as of Jan 1,2014?</p>
<p>The fafsa that becomes available Jan. 1, 2014 is the fafsa for the 2014-2015 school year. The fafsa available now is for the 2013-2014 school year and depending on how a particular school treats summer session, is only good for the school year ending with the spring semester or summer session of 2014. If you intend to start school in the fall of 2014, you want the 2014-2015 fafsa. So the question changes with the new fafsa. There’s a new fafsa for each school year that becomes available on Jan. 1.</p>
<p>Edit: I wouldn’t wait until June 30, 2014 to file fafsa. Some aid is limited such as work study. Look at the deadlines on the finaid web pages of your school and make sure to meet them. File as soon as you can after Jan. 1 with estimated income numbers and actual asset info. Then after you file taxes, if required, update fafsa with the actual income information or use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool on the fafsa website.</p>
<p>You will have independent status for that FAFSA when it becomes available to file on JANUARY 1, 2014. Do it ASAP after that date. DO NOT wait until June.</p>
<p>You should be completing and submitting to all colleges that you are applying to…that FAFSA ASAP after January 1 (if you do that , you will be using GOOD estimates and will indicate “will file” as your status. You will then complete your taxes ASAP after Feb 1, amend that FAFSA with the figures from your taxes, and change the status to “taxes completed” and resubmit).</p>
<p>Submit your FAFSA to ALL colleges you are applying to. You do this on the above timeline so you will have a financial aid package before May 1 when you usually have to make a matriculation decision.</p>
<p>If your age makes you independent in June, it will make you independent in January. The question asks if you were born prior to a certain date…and you were.</p>