<p>So my situation is kinda weird in that I basically lived with my poor mom until my senior year of high school and then went and lived with my wealthy aunt and uncle until college. Naturally, I declared my mom as my source of income because my aunt and uncle did not want to help me financially with college and that was the only way I could afford it. FAFSA made me send in verification documents like my mom's tax return and mine which I did last year fine, but this year my mom basically went MIA and I cannot contact her at all and I doubt she even filed a tax return. What can I do to ensure I still get financial aid?</p>
<p>I think you would need to contact the financial aid department of your college to explain the situation. Do you have others who could help document the fact that you can’t locate your mom? Is your father also out of the picture? </p>
<p>I think that if your mother cannot be located and if you have a similar situation with your father (dad out of the picture, i.e., deceased/unknown/can’t be found) – then you are probably in the rare situation of qualifying for a “dependency override” - which means you would qualify to be treated as financially independent in future years.</p>
<p>Please read this:
<a href=“http://www.fsa4counselors.ed.gov/clcf/attachments/DependencyOverrides.pdf[/url]”>http://www.fsa4counselors.ed.gov/clcf/attachments/DependencyOverrides.pdf</a></p>
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<p>This is something that you have to work through your school’s financial aid office to get – so the sooner you get in touch with them to let them know of the situation, the better.</p>