<p>I just graduated from high school. I turn 18 on June 22 2013. I plan on moving out immediately to the city where I will be paying rent with a lease already made. I was planning on being able to claim myself on the tax return so I wouldn't need y parents to fill out FAFSA. They refuse to. I begged. They are so unwilling to support my desire to attend college that they will never fill it out or help me financial through it. So I plan on moving out in about a week so I am able to claim myself. I will be attached to their car insurance but will pay my own part of it, same with cell phone. I've tried to ask so many people and financial advisors for help and no one is giving me a straight answer. Will I have to include my parents information or the people living in the rented house on the FAFSA? I'm moving out with no saving, no job lined up yet, a crappy car, no support and I have no idea what I'm doing. Moving out will split the year 50/50 so I know I'm willing to fight them on the claim for the tax return. But claiming independent on the return will make it so I only need my info for FAFSA? I'm in this alone and don't know what to do.</p>
<p>Moving out and becoming self-supporting will not make you independent for the FAFSA. You will still need your parents’ information until you can be considered independent because you meet at least one of the criteria for that: age of 24, a professional or graduate student, a military veteran or serving in active duty, married, the parent of a child for whom you pay more than half of the support, an orphan, etc.</p>
<p>If your parents file the FAFSA, then you will have access to any federal aid that you have a right to based on your overall family EFC. That can include free money in the form of a Pell Grant, and subsidized student loans where no interest has to be paid until you leave college. Filing the FAFSA does not obligate your parents to shell out one single cent toward your educational expenses. Do let them know that.</p>
<p>If your parents will not file the FAFSA (some won’t because they are afraid of people getting access to their financial information, others just because they are stubborn that way), then the only federal aid that you will qualify for is unsubsidized student loans. With unsubsidized loans and a part-time job you probably can pay for your studies and living expenses if you attend a community college, but it will be very hard to afford even a commuting-distance public U. You may want to consider working full-time and attending college part-time if your parents won’t help you at all.</p>
<p>Being a dependent for taxes and being a dependent for FAFSA are two entirely different things. Your parents’ unwillingness to fill out FAFSA is unfortunate. Is there a reason that they won’t? Perhaps you can educate them as to its importance. You can fill out the student portion of FAFSA, but if your parents don’t fill out their part then your filing will be considered incomplete.</p>
<p>You are considered a dependent on FAFSA if you are under 24, are not married or in the military, or have not been determined to be an emancipated minor by the court in your state.</p>
<p>[Will</a> I need my parents’ information?](<a href=“http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/help/fftoc02k.htm]Will”>http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/help/fftoc02k.htm)</p>
<p>(cross-posted)</p>
<p>There is also a stipulation that you can be deemed independent if you are in danger of becoming homeless or do end up going to a homeless shelter. Read very carefully the definition of dependence and independence on the FAFSA site. </p>
<p>The tax status is a whole other things. Again read very carefully the definition of being able to claim another person as a dependent. If it looks like you can qualify for being independent on your tax status (remember, this is a whole other situation than the FAFSA), my recommendation is for you to make an appointment with your local IRS as soon as you can do your taxes in January, and have them help substantiate that you are indeed independent and your parents are not to claim you are a dependent and get your taxes filed FIRST. You should do the courtesy of letting them know when you do this that you did go to the IRS and that an agent determined your independence and that you have filed as such so that they should not do this. Be aware that the cell phone and insurance can get cut off if you do this. The person who files first on these returns gets precedence and the other party has to then come up with the evidence to the contrary, usually. </p>
<p>So if you check yourself into a homeless shelter, get it documented, live on your own , then you might be able to qualify as an independent for FAFSA. Half your earnings, I believe will go towards EFC, and I don’t remember the % of assets, maybe the same 20% .</p>
<p>Again, FAFSA and the tax returns are two separate issues.</p>
<p>Be aware, in order to claim yourself you will need to both move out by July 1st (live away from your parents for more than half the year) or provide more than half of your total support for the year. As has already been stated, this will make no difference for FAFSA, but will be helpful in avoiding a hassle later when you do file your taxes.</p>
<p>From what I have heard, choosing to leave home and checking into a homeless shelter for a brief period of time is not likely to qualify you to be independent. There would be a lot more documentation required to prove you are in fact homeless, because you are not.</p>
<p>As others have said, whether or not you are a dependent for taxes is irrelevant for FAFSA. You are still a dependent for FAFSA until you are 24 even if you are completely self supporting unless you can answer yes one of the other dependency questions (none of which relate to support or tax status).</p>
<p>plan on moving out immediately to the city where I will be paying rent with a lease already made</p>
<p>Since you’re not yet 18, who signed that lease. YOU can’t sign that lease now…and do NOT sign that lease.</p>
<p>Why are you wasting money on an apt? You should use your money to pay for college or a CC.</p>
<p>You can sign all sorts of things before you are 18, including leases. It’s just that it won’t hold up in a court of law when push comes to shove, but who wants to get to that point anyways. My kids have signed all kinds of contracts before they came of age, and though the bottom line is that they are not legally enforceable, does not mean that they are not a commitment on the part of the signee. </p>
<p>But unless there are true abuse issues, I don’t think it is a good use of limited funds to move into an apartment either. Living with the parents come up to a huge savings. Many families who just cannot provide hard real money support , can provide the proverbial cot and 3 squares, or at very least the cot, and that should not be something taken lightly. Rent is expensive and constant.</p>
<p>Also, Swimcatsmom is correct, in that the checking into a shelter thing will not necessarily fly, and is a professional judgement issue for some fin aid offices, though to get more federal funds, I don’t think there will be so much resistance if the documentation is there. It’s just more money for the school that it might otherwise not get. For their own, funds, I’m inclined to say, “forget it”. Fin aid officers can make whatever determination they please on these things when it comes to the school’s own money, and most school don’t have enough and are very tight in dispensing what they have.</p>
<p>I’m not planning on living in a shelter. Because I know that even with papers that doesn’t work. But is there any way besides checking yes on one of the requirements, to not need my parents information?</p>
<p>No. There isn’t.</p>
<p>If your grades and test scores are very good, some colleges and universities offer guaranteed merit-based aid. In a few cases that can fully cover the cost of attendance. Scroll down in this forum until you find the threads on that topic, and see if any of those places could work for you.</p>
<p>No. Otherwise a lot of kids would do it and be eligible for financial aid since few 18 years olds make or have as much money as their parents. The system is strongly in place to keep you dependent until you are age 24. Look at the definition of independent for FAFSA and you will see what I mean.</p>