<p>It’s not a law because</p>
<p>1) not every high school graduate attends college
2) honestly, how would they even enforce that law?</p>
<p>Your parent doesn’t have to fill out the FAFSA; it’s just that their information needs to be on it. I filled out the FAFSA myself every year after working my butt off to get the information from my parents (they keep bad records and file their taxes late every year - my dad usually files right before the deadline and my mom usually files whenever she feels like it, generally September or October, which is legal as long as you don’t owe.)</p>
<p>If your granddaughter was the victim of identity theft, no matter WHO did it, you need to begin to investigate and file some claims with the credit agencies and these creditors. It is illegal for parents to use their children’s social security numbers to get lines of credit, and you can slowly begin to clear her credit by telling of the fraud. Of course, this will get her mother into some deep trouble, but if she’s terrible enough that she put her daughter in debt before she even got started perhaps she deserves it.</p>
<p>As for the information, is it possible that you could request your granddaughter’s parents’ information after they file their taxes? As I said, they don’t have to fill out the form - their information just has to be on it. Do you think that you could file to be your granddaughter’s legal guardian? Alternatively, perhaps she should go through the motions of legal emancipation, on the grounds that her mother’s boyfriend is abusive and her father is neglectful.</p>
<p>It’s also not true that there’s no way that the ‘rules’ will be waived for her - it depends on the school. Some schools make exceptions in certain circumstances.</p>
<p>There is also one very large employer that provides a lot of educational benefits - the military :)</p>