Hallgirl 1 is in her Junior year of college. She’s entirely reponsible for her tuition, books, living expenses, etc. I loan her a few bucks every now and then, but she works 30+ hours a week in addition to carrying a full class schedule. For the past year she’s lived in her own apartment (in a different city from where I live) and pays her own rent. The lease is in her name, and my name isn’t connected to it anywhere. I haven’t even claimed her on my taxes for the past two years.
She is fully self sufficient, however, not according to FAFSA, which says she’s a dependent student until she’s 25. By the time she’s 25, she will have graduated!
Has anyone come across this, and if so, how in the heck do we let the Powers That Be know she’s not “dependent”, but is very much independent?
IIRC, she’d need to get married, have a baby, or join the military to become an independent student as far as FAFSA is concerned before she is 25.
Oh, yeah, or she could graduate. Graduate students are considered independent as well.
Oh, and I had a friend who was considered independent because her mother died while she was in high school and her father was out of the picture long, long before that. Someone once was insensitive enough to tell her that she was “so lucky” to get the extra financial aid… :rolleyes:
Yeah, it sucks. Even if your parents haven’t bought you lunch since you turned 18, you still need to report their income on the FAFSA.
It is possible to have independent status conferred before age 25 in certain “unusual” cases, according to this Department of Education web page.
That page also lists all the criteria that determine dependent student status.
My unsolicited advice: I would recommend your daughter meet with an aid administrator from her school and bring evidence to support her case, such as work records, banking records, and copies of your tax returns showing you have not been claiming her as a dependent (I think that will go a long way.) Good luck.
In the past, my dad wrote a letter to the Director of Financial Aid at my school (per the Director’s… er… direction) to explain how my family’s particular situation is not reflected accurately on the raw data of my financial aid app.
You may want to try that at your daughter’s school. It didn’t help in my case, but maybe the school itself can help out with more scholarship or grant money?