Urgent....Must Read......90% of Undergrad Students Are Affected By This

Paying for College
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<p>Everyone has the dream of being successful and achieving their dreams, owning a house, driving a nice car, but most of all having a successful career. </p>

<p>In today's time, education is the foundation to obtaining a decent job that will be able to excel your life to reaching the goals your 3rd grade teacher asked you to write about in a class assignment. College is extremely expensive and the majority of students who enter colleges and universities aren't affluent enough to pay off college without taking student loans out, therefore, there is something called financial aid. </p>

<p>Not all students who enter college receive support from their parents, nor do they live at home anymore. There are numerous students who may have estranged their parents or are not in contact with their parents anymore. Unfortunately, even in situations such as these colleges and the financial aid givers require prospective students to still file dependant of their parents. </p>

<p>I strongly disagree with the independent qualifications for receiving financial aid. I don't live at home or do my parents provide any support for me, but I am still asked to use their tax information. My father makes quite a bit of money and that affects my financial aid a lot in which I am responsible to pay on top of the bills in which I already am responsible for. FAFSA should really change the stipulations and make it more sensitive to those students under 24 who are not receiving a penny from their parents but who are forced to use that information for financial aid. </p>

<p>I believe it is discriminatory towards those who want to receive an education but cannot because they have to use their parent's information and therefore, must defer their education until later dates, or be forced to fork up the extra dough to pay school bills on top of their already high bills even though their income is not near what their parents is if you juxtapose both incomes. </p>

<p>We should let the government know that it is not fair and that it is inequitable, unequal, as well as unconstitutional because it denies us the right to receive fair financial aid. For financial aid consideration, federal regulations state you must meet one of the following requirements to be considered independent from your parents:</p>

<p>"-You have reached your 24th birthday before January
1st of the beginning of the academic year for which you are applying for financial aid.
-You will be working on a master’s or doctoral degree
-You are married.
-You have children who received more than half of their support from you.
-You have dependents (other than your children or spouse) that live with you and who will receive more than half of their support from you, now through June 30th of the end of the academic year for which you are applying for financial aid.
-You are an orphan or ward of the court (or were a ward of the court until age of 18).
-You are a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces.
If you do not meet any of the above criteria you are considered a dependent student."
Petition:
We, the undersigned, call on the government to be more sensitive to the needs of those students who need the independency in order to further their education, and ask the government to amend the dependency vs. independency requirements.</p>

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<p>Yes!!! Change we can believe in!</p>

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<p>Right … and the next thing you know … EVERY kid will be estranged from his parents. After all, who wants to pay if they don’t have to? Then there won’t be enough money to fully fund the increase in Pell grants, ACG, SMART. Of course, SEOG & work study aren’t entitlements, so the allocation to schools won’t increase - there will just be less available, meaning no more students will be helped than are today - actually, allocations would probably decrease in order to fund the entitlements. In the end, the students who TRULY do NOT have a family that COULD help them - you know, the ones financial aid is supposed to help the most - are out of luck.</p>

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<p>Explain to me why someone who is living apart from his/her parents and getting no support from them and is married should be considered independent while someone who is living apart from his/her parents and getting no support from them but is NOT married would be considered dependent? Seems to me you might be encouraging people to marry young for all the wrong reasons. If that was the rule I could definitely see some people entering into marriages of convenience.</p>

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<p>Whether your dad wants to pay for your college is not the issue. Congress has decided that it is your parent’s responsibility to pay for your college education. Since he chooses not to, you need to explore other opportunities. </p>

<p>Note, Congress only sets the laws for federal dollars (and fafsa rules). Private colleges are free to take into account your situation; many do.</p>

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<p>Back in the day (when the dinos roamed…that would be when I went to college) it was VERY easy for one to become an independent student. I know…because I did it. My family didn’t declare me as a dependent on their taxes and they gave me no money toward college. Poof. I was independent. </p>

<p>In my case, my family really didn’t have any money anyway. But what happened in other cases was that this independent status was sorely abused. Families who had plentiful resources were just deciding their kids should be independent. The resources aren’t there to support families who truly have the money to help their kids through college. So…the rules were changed to what they are now. </p>

<p>Reality check to the OP…even the maximum federal aid is NOT enough to pay for a year at most four year PUBLIC colleges. It is about enough to pay for a full year at a community college. And as pointed out above, some of the more expensive private universities will look at your situation individually. </p>

<p>I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with this petition. These rules are long standing, and should come as no surprise to ANY family who is interested in knowing them. To be honest, I do not support having my tax dollars (and that is where that federal aid comes from) paying for college for students who have families who could well afford to contribute and just decide not to. I DO however support financial aid for needy FAMILIES.</p>

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<p>Unconstitutional? I think the OP needs to take a civics class, get an introduction to the real world, and get over their sense of entitlement. Wow</p>

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<p>Well, Congress, in all their infinite wisdom, is lessing the choke hold on some “dependent students”. If the student can prove estrangement…s/he may be eligible to be declared independent for 2009-2010.</p>

<p>To the OP…I see where you are coming from: I have many adult students who make considerably more income than their parents, have been living on their own since 18 but are still dependent…it doesn’t seem fair.</p>

<p>HOWEVER…what thumper said is VERY VERY true…a lot of families were abusing the old rules. Parents with LARGE incomes started “kicking out” their children…just so the child could reap all the free money they could get. Kids were driving up to our office in EXPENSIVE cars and designer clothing claiming they were living on their own (with only $3k in verifiable income) and needed a dependency override…and we had no choice. So these kids were able to take advantage of Pell, SEOG, Work Study, etc…and when they still found themselves $10k, their “estranged parents” sat at the Counselor’s desk and wrote the school a check for $10k. Now that seems extremely unfair!!</p>

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<p>sounds like something else the greedy few ruined for the rest of us.</p>

<p>Sorta like what’s going on in the real world now.</p>

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<p>Calling the current state of financial aid unconstitutional would be hilarious if you weren’t serious. Even though I agree you have a legitimate predicament, I find your sense of entitlement more than a little irking.</p>

<p>Anyways, I can see no practical way to change financial aid for reasons others have stated.</p>

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<p>*Everyone has the dream of being successful and achieving their dreams, owning a house, driving a nice car, but most of all having a successful career. *</p>

<p>actually I have the dream of putting my time and energy into something that will make a lasting difference to the world, to seeing the focus shift from acquiring and consuming to building and growing & to see human rights shared equally by all on the planet.</p>

<p>I don’t believe college is necessary for a good, fruitful or satisfying life.
however, if you are truly estranged from your parents- schools do look at supporting evidence when determining financial aid.
Or you could find another way to pay for it- as many have already.</p>

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<p>another thread started by someone who has one post and is never heard from again
;)</p>

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<p>

If that is the case, I ought to be able to legally compel my parents to pay for my education if they disown me.</p>

<p>What typically happens to kids who are really in this kind of situation? Do they go to a state school and take out debt? Are privates willing to bend the rules if the believe the story is genuine?</p>

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<p>Privates that receive or arrange federal aid (virtually all) are no different from publics in this regard. About 2% of U.S. undergrads are considered independent of their parents for financial aid purposes, but the requirements for qualifying are strict, requiring significant documentation; simply believing a story is not sufficient. Students who genuinely deserve help in this regard get it, but sham claims won’t hold up.</p>

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<p>This is one of the reasons we have such an extensive community college system. You don’t have the “right” to attend the college you want to attend. Those without an entitlement mind set will find a way (working, military, service academies, ROTC).</p>

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<p>It is the family responsibility, not the taxpayer’s, to boost the overall family, generation by generation, up the socio-economic ladder. That’s has been the American model. I worry that the “hand out” entitlement generation is doing away with this structure.</p>

<p>For some the model doesn’t work; that does not justify throwing away the model.</p>

<p>My dad refused to make out financial aid paperwork: too hard, too invasive of his privacy. So I worked until I was an independent student, got a UT BBA with scholarships, loans, and wiping handicapped students butts, got my MBA and now have my own business. My kids will be full pay at any school they want. (if the government does not nationalize my savings or profits or salary as one of those evil 'makes too much rich people" )</p>

<p>Financial Aid for young people right out of high school is not the end of the story - you can go to work, save your money and still get a college education. The sort coming of the system does not justify throwing away the American model of the family being the first and primary economic unit.</p>