This is TOTAL nonsense!

Paying for College
1

<p>A little background:</p>

<p>I am 21, my GF is 18, and we plan on attending college next fall. Well, until we ran into a snag...</p>

<p>If your applying to your FASFA as "independent", you get almost twice the Stafford loan amount. </p>

<p>Now, to qualify as such, you either have to be over 24, married, in the military/vet, homeless (for like a year), a ward of the state, have parents who are deceased, or have kids.</p>

<p>Me and my GF are planning to live on our own, I'm 21 and quite frankly I'm getting tired of living with my parents.</p>

<p>I love my parents to death, but you don't have the freedoms like you do when you live on your own.</p>

<p>But, you can't be qualified as independent just by having your own address. About the only other option me and my GF have is to get married, but we are waiting until we are graduated so we can save money for a formal wedding.</p>

<p>I think its absolute nonsense that you can't just live by yourself and get qualified as independent.</p>

<p>The only other option I have is to get a private student loan, but my parents won't cosign on one because I was very lousy with my finances when I was 18 (although I'm very strict with them now).</p>

<p>Does anyone have any advice or possibly a loophole to be considered independent.</p>

2

<p>There are no loopholes. The rules are the rules. If you really want to just be independent…either get married now, or wait until you are 24 to,start college. Otherwise, your parents must provide their financial information on the FAFSA forms you each complete.</p>

<p>You do realize that plenty of young folks live together for periods of time when they are young. That, in and of itself, does not qualify you for financial independence for financial aid purposes.</p>

<p>And by the way…I would have to disagree with you. This is NOT nonsense.</p>

3

<p>

A formal wedding won’t become cheaper when you are graduated from college.</p>

4

<p>No, but it would be hard to afford. The average wedding is 20k these days.</p>

5

<p>Think carefully before taking large loans…with two of you paying off student loans that formal wedding may be a long way off…can you both get jobs and attend CC for two years, then re-evaluate the situation? Odds are you may not still be a couple and you can both then transfer into four year colleges…</p>

6

<p>You are willing to save $20,000 for a wedding but you think someone else should pay for your college education so you can do so? I’m just scratching my head trying to figure this reasoning out.</p>

7

<p>

There is NO loophole to being independent. If it were just a case of having a student move out how many families would have done that already?? If you want to be independent the you have to MARRY the girl AND SUPPORT HER (as I did).</p>

8

<p>Wow, entitled much?</p>

9

<p>For the cost of the marriage license, and a small monetary gift to the celebrant,you and your girlfriend can be married and thus become independent for aid purposes. You sure don’t need to spend 20k on a wedding. Many people don’t.</p>

<p>Now if you want to wait to get married until you are a bit older, and more certain of your commitment to the relationship, that would be another thing entirely.</p>

10

<p>Agreed, Happymom. But I would add…in the meantime, do not expect others to pay for your college education.</p>

11

<p>If you think * you are getting tired of living with your parents* imagine what your parents feel about raising someone with your attitude.</p>

12

<p>Are you and/or your GF self-supporting? If not I see a big hole and not a loophole in your plan.</p>

13

<p>Plus…a couple of other things.</p>

<p>If they are truly self supporting, they would be paying ALL of their own expenses through their own earnings. This would likely eliminate them from Pell grant eligibility. </p>

<p>In addition, unless their colleges meet full need for all students, the only guaranteed aid (if not Pell eligible) would be a $5500 Direct Loan…which they would be able to get as dependents for financial aid students.</p>

<p>I’m not seeing the “advantage” to being independent here for financial aid purposes. It’s not like college will be free.</p>

14

<p>

</p>

<p>So what? Who cares about what the “average” cost is? The only wedding cost that matters is YOURS. </p>

<p>And fwiw, it’s super cheap to get married at the courthouse, get it done legally, and then have the formal wedding later on. No one needs to know. </p>

<p>No, there are no loopholes. Education is primarily your family’s responsibility. If you go to a CC for 2 years (which you can cover with a direct loan), you’ll be 23 and really close to that 24 for independent status.</p>

15

<p>Where did OP say he wanted someone else to pay his tuition? He’s looking for the ability to borrow more, which is probably unwise in his situation, but where did he say he is expecting grant money?</p>

16

<p>*If your applying to your FASFA as “independent”, you get almost twice the Stafford loan amount. *</p>

<p>The scary thing is that it sounds like you want to be “independent” so that you and your GF can each borrow the max, which I think would be about:</p>

<p>5500 + 4000 times 2 people
6500 + 4000 times 2
7500 + 4000 times 2
7500 + 4000 times 2</p>

<p>You two would end up with over $80k in debt…plus whatever the unsub loans increase to.</p>

17

<p>The amounts Mom2 has includes the unsubsidized loans. Independent undergrads get an additional $4000-$5000 each year (depends on which year) on top of the maximum Direct Loan.</p>

<p>To the OP (and girlfriend)…you could attend a community college likely for $5500 a year or close to it.</p>

<p>Why exactly do you feel that being an independent student will benefit you financially?</p>

<p>And where are you?? Are you reading these replies?</p>

18

<p>You can BORROW more money, but that means you and GF are going to have mortgages with no houses at the end. Lots of money for getting to play house. I"m going to tell you right now, that it really hurts paying for a loan, long after you’re done doing what the payments for. </p>

<p>You don’t need a wedding to qualify for independent status, by the way. You just have to get married, which is something you can do by going to the clerk’s office in your area. A wedding is a whole other story. I know a number of people who got married and then had the wedding celebration much later due to circustances Some didn’t call it a wedding, since the time was so long. Not that I advocate getting married just to get to borrow more money, a big $10K or so more between the two of you per year.</p>

<p>I’m going to tell your right from the heart, brain and gut, that loans are sores that fester over time. For all my kids’ issues, thank goodness they are not straddled with student loans. I am so thankful for that and so are they. They can focus on their issues of the moment without that payment due, month in and month out for more years than they will be young people.</p>