<p>My parent pretty much refuses to give me their information to get aid, or to sign a waiver to even allow me to get the unsubsidized grants.</p>
<p>Why is there not a process for this for FAFSA? I mean, does this not count as a need-base? I have no other way to pay for college except drop out and work minimum wage to save up. I guess there are scholarships too but my grades aren't stellar.</p>
<p>You’ll need to:</p>
<p>1) Apply to schools that will give large merit for stats and pay the rest with a job.</p>
<p>2) commute locally to your CC and pay with a part time job.</p>
<p>3) wait til you’re 24 to go to college. (or do CC part time til you’re 24, and then transfer as an independent)</p>
<p>I know this sounds awful, but if there were a way around this for FAFSA, then all parents would refuse to provide info and then all students will be independent.</p>
<p>Why won’t your parents do FAFSA?</p>
<p>BTW…I think there’s now a way that you can have them sign saying that they’re refusing to do fAFSA, and then you can get unsub loans.</p>
<p>Your problem is not unusual. I have seen and heard this for years. Some parents have financial issues they don’t want to share with anyone, anything. They also may not have filed taxes. They also may just be too disorganized and depressed to get it together. Some feel the kid isn’t getting anything much anyways, and though I don’t support the reasoning, they are usually right.</p>
<p>If your family is making a true middle class income, you aren’t going to get anything more from the government that the loans. $5500 freshman year. In some states like NY, there are state funds, but the list is short. If they refuse to have anything to do with the FAFSA, yes, you can get the loans on an unsubsidized basis. Find out what they are willing to pay for college, and if it’s three squares and cot, you commute. That’s about $10K a year over going away to school. THen you find a job, get the unsub loan, and scrape what you can out of them. That’s actually a typically scenario.</p>
<p>As to why it is difficult to be deemed independent, it’s because enough people try that route for too scarce resources as it is and there isn’t the money. It’s all one big business and without parents willing to pay for the kids, a lot would go bust since kids 18-24 don’t tend to have money; they tend to be broke and dependent on their parents financially. Why do robbers go for banks? It’s where the money is!</p>
<p>My parent pretty much refuses to give me their information to get aid, or to sign a waiver to even allow me to get the unsubsidized grants.</p>
<p>I think you mean “unsubsidized loans” …there’s no such thing as “unsubsidized grants.” </p>
<p>It’s odd that your parents won’t sign the waiver so that you can get unsub loans. That doesn’t require them to give any financial info. Are they saying why??? </p>
<p>What’s going on? Do they NOT want you to go to college? if that’s the case, then they’re going to put up roadblocks any place they can. </p>
<p>What do they want you to do after you graduate from high school? Work in the family business???</p>
<p>It’s odd that your parents won’t sign the waiver so that you can get unsub loans. That doesn’t require them to give any financial info.</p>
<hr>
<p>They are required to state that they refuse to give ANY aid whatsoever to their child. That includes stating that they won’t carry the student on their insurance (health or auto), let the student stay in their home, or provide any money at all to the student.</p>
<p>A lot of times I’ve seen cases like this where either the parents have not paid their taxes and/or have bizarre privacy concerns.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I dealt with quite a few students who could not get aid because their parents did not file taxes (and one whose husband did not file).</p>