I’m a student at a school in Boston who works around 40 hours a week to support myself. I started working with a homeless shelter in December 2019 after living with family friends for over a year. Before that, I received a 3.6 my first semester as a freshman while taking upper-level courses and I went off school for a year to do internships, and at the start of the semester of January 2020.
I submitted letters from caseworkers I knew and helped me. Because my parents filed for a plus loan, I was told that it wouldn’t be possible to get my status changed this late in the school year.
I talked to FAFSA support and an FA officer told me there are still weeks left before the deadline. I didn’t submit earlier because I didn’t know I could get a letter.
I know that there’s contradictory information, but given how the deadline hasn’t been reached, and I received a determination from the director of a runaway or homeless youth basic center or transitional living program that I was homeless and unaccompanied on April 2020 and after July 1, 2018.
Please kindly told what would happen if I corrected my FAFSA and sent my school the letter?
Hi @thumper1 I wasn’t a resident at a shelter, but I slept one night there and after that, I began working with counselors there.
I’m sorry but, what part of my post doesn’t make sense? I’ve edited the date I received the letter from the director to be April 2020 since 2019 was a typo.
So…were you homeless? That is my question. Or did you have a home? I see you were.
Amend your FAFSA. Call the financial aid office and speak to a financial aid officer…not the person who answers the phone. Explain the situation, and that you have just amended your FAFSA. Ask them how to get the documentation to them…because you will need to do that.
I’m really confused: So if your parents are still in the picture then I doubt you can be independent, unless they kicked you out or, they themselves, are also homeless somewhere else.
Keep in mind, that eve n if you are deemed an unaccompanied minor who is homeless, that will only apply to federal aid. Schools that give their own institutional aid already have policies in place that if you start as a dependent student, you finish as a dependent student even if you have a life event that makes you independent (barring death or both parents).
Don’t expect your institutional aid if you have been deemed a homeless youth.
@thumper1 I have a home that I’ve decided not to live in since May 2018. @kelsmom My parents applied for a plus loan in January 2020. I’ve been homeless since May 2018 and received letters from caseworkers in February 2020 and March 2020 and finally a letter from a director in April. Because of the plus loan, it seems like I’m not independent.
So are you trying to gain independent status based on a technicality (because you spent a night in a shelter)? That is not something I feel comfortable abetting.
You state that you have chosen not to live in your home. That is very different than not being able to live in your home.
If you are somehow in danger if you live at home, that is different.
I try to just provide information, rather than to judge. But if you are just trying to get independent status simply to get more aid, that is not cool.
If I am wrong and you are in an untenable home situation in which you feel unsafe, please share this information with your financial aid department. They will provide guidance we cannot.
@kelsmom Without getting too into details, I lived with a family from my high school after May 2018 and for two months with my mom in 2019 and a few days towards the tail end of the year before I finally decided to go to the shelter. I slept one night, then with a friend for the rest of winter break, then in my dorm. The thing is if I asked for money she’d give it to me but I really don’t want to.
If you have a home you could live in and choose not to, this would not make you “homeless”. You will need significant documentation showing why this home is not a place where you CAN live. Just deciding not to live there, if it’s available to you and there are no other issues, will not make you homeless in the eyes of the college.
@STEMMajorKate
If your school uses the profile or their own forms for institutional aid your being deemed an unaccompanied mo or will only get you PELL , SEOG( if they have the funds) federal work study (if there are funds) and an increased $4000 loan
To get institutional funds they are going to need a lot more information. As I stated most schools have policies in place if you start as a dependent student, you finish as a dependent student. Some schools require you show 5 years of self sufficiency.
I would recommend that you read your school’s financial aid section on independent students to see if all of this is even going to help your cause.
If it were as simple as leaving your parents house and spending one night in the shelter then every full pay family would have already done this