Would my parent’s information hurt me as an independent student? [Version 2.0]

Paying for College
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@thumper1 @kelsmom @cptofthehouse @NotAClue @BelknapPoint

To those listed above, I saw you had commented on a good number of similar posts and took the liberty of inviting you to consider commenting on my post. I hope you do not mind and I hope this does not discourage others from commenting!

Before you consider reading my post and answering my question, I want you to know how much I appreciate the time you will be investing in helping me with this very important issue.

During a recent conversation with my brother-in-law about financial aid, he said my son, who was designated independent by FAFSA, should have entered my wife’s and my information on his FAFSA but didn’t have a good reason why, so I turned to CollegeConfidential hoping to find a post addressing the issue.

When I searched CollegeConfident’s Financial Aid & Scholarships forum using the keywords independent, student, parent, information, and FAFSA, the most recent post I could find was from 2014. In it, a student asked, “Would my parent’s information hurt me as an independent student?” and someone replied, “If you are an independent student… I can’t see any reason why you would include your parent’s information.”

Wondering if what was true then is still true today, I decided to ask the question below.

However, I first would like to mention the effect on my son’s EFC is my primary concern, I am also curious if not reporting my wife’s and my information would be viewed negatively by:

  • The Federal Office of Student Aid,
  • The decision-makers in the college’s financial aid office (whether or not the college requires all students seeking financial aid to provide their parent’s information on the FAFSA),
  • The IRS (see Note below), or
  • Anyone else who might have a vested interest in this FAFSA or future FAFSAs.

Note: I may be wrong, but I don’t think the IRS gets any of the student’s or parent’s actual information reported on the FAFSA; however, I do not know if the IRS gets any metadata or other non-specific data such as (a) whether or not the parent’s financial information was reported on the FAFSA, (b) the income tax filing status claimed by the student and parents, or if the student and parents claimed they did or did not file their income tax returns, and specific social security number associated with whatever metadata or other non-specific date is provided to the IRS.

Without further ado, here is my question…

When my son, who FAFSA designated independent, was preparing his FAFSA for Aid Year 2023/2024,

  • Would reporting my wife’s and my information have increased his EFC,
  • Is this strictly or conditionally true, and
  • Could not reporting our information have any undesirable ramifications?

Thank you, again, for your time and for sharing your knowledge and experience.

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I guess my question is…how is it that your son was designated independent for FAFSA purposes? Because that is not very common for undergrad students.

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I thought my son was 23; however, my wife just informed me that he turned 24 last December.

That makes him an independent student for FAFSA, correct?

Does it make that he lost 2.5 years because of mental health issues?

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@kelsmom can answer your question best.

But I believe that if your son is 24, he is independent for financial aid purposes and doesn’t need to provide your parent financials on the FAFSA.

But let’s see what Kelsmom says!

It does not matter if he took years off before now.

ETA…some professional schools like medical schools still require parent info even though the kids are independent.

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Your son is independent for federal financial aid purposes. There is no reason to include parent information, and if it is included, it won’t be considered. There are a VERY few schools, like possibly Ivy League and/or other tippy top schools that meet 100% of need, that might request parent information even for an independent student … and some graduate/professional programs might, as well. This is only for purposes of awarding their own aid, and it’s rare, especially at the undergraduate level.

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To answer your specific questions:

  • Would reporting my wife’s and my information have increased his EFC - no, because schools will ignore it.

  • Is this strictly or conditionally true - In the case of the very few schools that might consider it for institutional aid, it depends on her income/assets. But it’s probably not relevant.

  • Could not reporting our information have any undesirable ramifications? - No.

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@kelsmom

Kelsmom,

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

You are GREAT!

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@thumper1

Thank you so very much!

Thanks for all you do here!!!

You are GREAT!!!

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Kelsmom is the go to for financial aid. I just do a good job of tagging her!

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That’s good to know. My daughter is not close to 24, but a grad student. So after we had already gone and collected everyone’s financial info and filled it in, we later went back and changed the FAFSA (before submitting it), this time choosing to skip the parent information.

The result was of course, that she suddenly became eligible to financial aid.

IF the parent information is “ignored” anyway for independent students, then one wonders why that option is even offered? Why have a feature that will be disregarded?

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Because some professional programs like medical schools, and I think some law schools…require parent information on the FAFSA even though the student would otherwise be independent. And some until age 30…

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That’s an important distinction.

So the blanket statement that schools IGNORE parent information does not actually apply generally - schools may CHOOSE to ignore parent information (which also implies they could choose to consider it, even if it was not required?)

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Hmm, my daughter is in graduate school (dpt), pays 100% of her tuition with loans and working (plus pays rent/food). She did include our financial information on fafsa, she receives no financial aid besides the federal loans. Did we do this wrong? Third college graduate but first in grad school.

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Undergraduate schools DO ignore parent assets if reported by independent students.

@DigitalDad

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Sorry for being misleading:
Federal (possibly subsidized?) loans ARE financial aid - which, without completing the FAFSA, she previously had not qualified for (-> clarified, and terminology changed based on @thumper1’s feedback).

However, in our case, the motivation was not us hoping for loans, but because there was another aspect to financial aid: Her research assistant position COULD pay a small stipend, IF the student submitted their FAFSA. Since she is doing the work for that professor’s research either way, she might as well attempt to get paid whatever little stipend might be available.

It was mostly a matter of not leaving money on the table (in the first year of college, we even took out the subsidized, deferred interest loan she magically qualified for (???), which of course, continues to be deferred another 4+ years. During those years, the unused 529 equivalent can continue to appreciate.)

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Everyone filing a FAFSA is eligible for unsubsidized loans. But only those with financial need at their college are eligible for subsidized loans.

@kelsmom am I correct??

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Yes, I’m guessing that she wasn’t eligible because they didn’t fill out the fafsa. My kids were eligible for some subsidized loan the years we had 3 in college (I think there are 6 years).

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Yes - we had stopped completing the FAFSA once we stopped (correctly so) being offered subsidized loans, but restarted now, because there was a “new” facet and she could apply “independent”.

However, as a grad student, those subsidized (college) loans can be further deferred during the new “in school” years. If you fill out a FAFSA, the new school ID is supposed to trickle down, but otherwise your loan processor will have a downloadable form that the grad school registrar will sign and the loan will continue to be deferred the next n years.

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editing to add: this is not really meant to be a reply to thumper1. just to all. sorry!

We have a grad school kid (professional school). I was under the impression that NO subsidized loans are offered, no pell grants are offered in grad school.

She did not qualify for pell with us for her undergrad; we thought now that she’s independent and poor in grad school she might qualify. But we’ve been told no federal aid except unsubsidized grad loans. Her school offered her a small scholarship/grant though.

to the OP: there is a limit of how many times a kid can be offered a pell grant or loans. Once you’ve used that all, you can’t get more. It’s not a never-ending fund.

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Yes, that’s correct.

Parent information is ignored for federal aid purposes for an independent student. Always. FAFSA is intended to determine eligibility for federal aid. Schools can decide what information to use for institutional aid. For undergraduate programs, parent information would only rarely be requested; I assume it would be collected on the Profile if a school wanted it for an independent student. And the fact that some grad/professional programs want the parent information is, again, for purposes of determining institutional aid. If a school … undergraduate or graduate program … does not require parent information for financial aid, they WILL NOT look at it if it’s included.