I am being raised by my grandparents. They are retired and live on their pensions. My grandfather is on a disability pension from injuries sustained on 9/11 at the WTC. Is his pension counted as income for student aid purposes on the FAFSA?
Is you grandfather your legal guardian? Did they adopt you?
they are my legal guardians but did not adopt me.
You have to work through the definitions on FAFSA as to who is your parent. Legal guardians are normally not responsible for reporting on FAFSA. If you have a living parent,it is likely that parent’s info should be on the FAFSA. You might also be an independent for FAFSA purposes.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/loans/student-loans/fafsa-guide-legal-guardians-foster-parents/
If the grandparents are LEGAL guardians, this kid could have two living parents, and their info would not be required on the FAFSA. If this is a court ordered legal guardianship, then this student would be independent for financial aid purposes.
You need to ask your grandparents what paperwork they have in terms of your guardianship situation.
I disagree. For the student to be independent based on a guardianship, it has to be court ORDERED, not just court approved. It really all has to do with why the guardianship is set up.
Many legal guardianships are set up for the convenience of the family and the state has no interest in taking custody of the child. Parents overseas, in the military, etc. If the parents are unable to care for the child because of incarceration, mental illness, the state takes legal guardianship while physical guardianship may go to a relative or other person.
The OP needs to work through the definitions.
@twoinanddone as you see, I put “court ordered” and also told this poster that they need to find the paperwork for this court ordered guardianship.
If this is a guardianship of convenience (parents just abdicated their responsibilities and grandparents stepped in) than that is different than a court ordered guardianship.
Now having said that…if this is a long term situation with no parental involvement, and the grands and student can document this…the student could apply for a dependency override as you stated earlier. But that is a college by college request and decision.
So…back to the OP…who I can’t figure out how to tag…ask your grandparents if this is a court ordered guardianship. And then get the paper work that will support that.