<p>If you were kicked out when in high school with whom did you live?
Were you under 18 and if so did the court grant you a guardian?</p>
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Well that sounds like a broken system to me. Self supporting financially and living on your own sounds like the definition of independency to me.</p>
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I lived with a friend for my second Senior semester until I graduated then have been renting a room/apartment ever since.</p>
<p>I had just turned 18, so no court involvement.</p>
<p>As mentioned your best bet is to gather the documentation related to your leaving the home and the past couple years and to schedule an appoinrtment for a phone call or go for an in-person meeting with the finaid office at the college you are thinking of attending. My guess is they will tell you to file as dependent and then file for a dependency over ride, but you should work through this with the individual school. You will need to document all of this in addition to “telling the story.” There are number of threads from kids who were successful with over rides and threads of kids who were not so you can search and read those threads in the meantime to get an idea of the process.</p>
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independent of your situation … if the above were the rules to be declared independent by colleges for finanancial aid purposes the I’d guess something like 99% of students would move out after they graduate and tap a gap year supporting themselves and then apply to schools as an independent student … and every student would need financial aid … there rules are tough but they are not arbitrary; there is a rational for them.</p>
<p>^
correct. For a dependency override you need a lot of documentation saying - basically that your parents abandoned you. Once a child turns 18 there is no legal obligation for a parent to provide any longer.
Since you never had a court appointed guardian or were in the foster care system - the correct way to do it is as momthreeboys illustrates. File a dependency override with your college.<br>
Knowing more details - I am doubtful it will work but you could give it a try.</p>
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My parents are divorced so only her income would be counted.
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Why? If you live with neither of them, then why would only her income be counted? Neither is your custodial parent, correct? (I’m assuming this is for FAFSA; if it’s a private school you will probably need to fill out the CSS Profile, and in that case income for both parents is counted.)</p>
<p>CTTC, if the student didn’t live with or receive financial support from either parent in the past year, he must enter info for the parent who provided more support in the year they last received parental support. That sounds like it probably was the mom, since he doesn’t mention living with his dad since then.</p>
<p>Some state schools will give you "instate status’’ after one year if you change your residency ( such as drivers license, voters registration et. al.) and you can establish independent status.</p>
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<p>This is true ONLY for a very few states. VERY few. And it also can be school specific within a state. MOST public universities DO NOT grant instate status to students after one year of residency…and remember that most also will not do this if the residency is being “established” while you are attending college.</p>
<p>Taxguy is correct IF the student can gain independent status and does NOT enroll in college while establishing residency. Gaining the independent status is going to be the difficult step. For most undergrads, they are considered dependent for financial aid purposes regardless of whether or not they have supported themselves or not.</p>
<p>And Truni…again I ask you…please run your numbers BEFORE you assume being independent will be more beneficial for financial aid purposes. If you are REALLY earning enough money to support your self, your contribution as an independent student might actually be HIGHER than if you are dependent for one of your parents.</p>
<p>If all else fails, just wait until the year you will be 24 when you WILL be considered independent for financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>OP, the income cut off for the automatic 0 EFC has been increased to $31,000 for the 2011-2012 school year, so if your Mom is under that you may be eligible for the auto 0…</p>
<p>Is community college a possibility for college? If so, could you swing it so you spent your last “dependent” years at an inexpensive CC and were 24 or older by the time you got to a four-year university, thus qualifying as an independent student?</p>
<p>Just curious–if you are 24 and still living at home, will you be considered independent for FA purposes?</p>
<p>ellemenope, Yes, if a student is 24yo and still lives at home, he would be considered independent for FAFSA purposes.</p>
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Ah, so that’s how that works. I had no idea.</p>
<p>And in the case of students who neither live with a parent nor receive any support at all from a parent … pick one. The regulations are clear on dependency status, and also on what situations do NOT qualify for a dependency override. I do run into students who haven’t lived with a parent in several years & don’t receive a dime from either parent. The student needs to pick a parent for the FAFSA, and the household size is the student, the parent, and any children in that parent’s household.</p>
<p>^^^Yes, my son was one of those students who had not lived at home for several years and had been completely self supporting. When he returned to school at 22 he was a dependent for FAFSA and required our info. Same with his then girlfriend who was 23 when she returned to school. (The next year, when she turned 24, she was independent.)</p>
<p>Alright guys, it looks like my mom being on unemployment for the majority of the year will stick her income under $31K qualifying me for the automatic 0 EFC. Thank god I won’t have to go through this crap to prove independency. It would be a nightmare to have to do this at the 6-7 colleges I’ll be applying to.</p>
<p>truni, but what about next year when you will be 23 and your Mom might be earning $50k again. Would it then be to your advantage to be independent? I guess its not a big deal to be dependent this year at 0 EFC, then next year you take a hit, then when you turn 24 for junior year, you’ll be stritly independent.</p>
<p>The age requirement is based on the age he will turn during the calender year. If he turns 22 before the end of this year and 23 before the end of 2011 then he will be turning 24 in 2012 which will make him independent for the 2012-2013 school year. But if his 22nd birthday is not until after December 31st, he will be a dependent for the 2012-2013 school year.</p>
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<p>I turn 22 on Dec. 30th this year. So I’m golden! Ugh what a relief not to have to worry about this ever again!</p>
<p>Edit: Are you sure that’s the way it works, cause what I’m reading on the FAFSA website asks if I was born before January 1st, 1987. Which means next year it will ask if I was born before January 1st, 1988, which I wasn’t, even though I’ll be turning 24 in the award year of the 2012-2013 school year.</p>