Can i fill out a fasfa without my parents

Question

I want to go to an expensive school and ive searched around and its actually the cheapest i can find for my major. i need to fill out a fasfa form and i know my parents have to co sign but they said they dont have enough money and are not willing to take the risk. what can i do if i still wanna go to this school?

Answer 1

Hmm...where to begin...

The FAFSA is not a loan. The FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and it's the application that you need to fill out if you want to apply for financial assistance with your college expenses.

Whether your parents intend to help you with your college expenses or not, you MUST provide your parent's information when you complete the application.

When you complete the FAFSA, you will answer a series of questions that determine something called your "dependency status". Unless I miss my guess, you're going to be a dependent student.

Forget the dictionary definition of dependent or independent. Your dependency status has NOTHING to do with whether or not your parents give you money or help you out. You are a dependent student for student aid purposes unless you are over 23 years old, married, providing the financial support for kids, providing the financial support for another person who lives in your home, an orphan, or a current or former member of the US military. There are no exceptions to this rule. Read that carefully - it does NOT matter if your parents give you ANY money, or if you have your own job, or if you file your own taxes, or if your parents claim you as a dependent on their tax returns.

As a dependent student, your financial aid eligibility will be determined by analyzing your financial circumstances AND your parents' financial circumstances. You MUST complete the parents' section of the FAFSA application, and you MUST provide all of their financial information, or your applications will be rejected and returned to you for corrections.

Here's more really bad news. Regardless of your family's financial circumstances, you will not receive anywhere near enough financial aid to pay for tuition and other expenses at an "expensive" school. The most federal financial aid that you could possibly qualify for would be somewhere around $8000 worth of grants and a $5500 loan - and you would only qualify for those $8000 worth of grants if your family has "exceptional need" (that means you're very poor).

Most likely, your school will offer you maybe a thousand dollars of assistance, plus a $5500 Stafford loan - and maybe just the loan.

You're going to say "Hey, $5500 doesn't even begin to pay for the cost of this school!" and I'm sure you're right. But that's because you're misunderstanding the point of financial aid. See...that's why it's called financial AID, and not financial "the government pays for you to go to any college you want to go to".

You are responsible for choosing a college you can afford. If it's a very expensive college, and you have no money of your own, and your parents aren't going to help you - then you can't afford it. People who can afford that college have money set aside for college.

One more thing - forget about taking out big dollar educational loans, because you won't be able to qualify for those loans unless you have a credit worthy cosigner who is willing to sign the application, guaranteeing the lender that THEY will repay the loan. If you spend a few minutes here in this part of the site, you'll see dozens and dozens of questions from students wondering where they can find a big loan that doesn't require a cosigner. Those loans do not exist.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of some bad news, but you're just going to have to sit down and think reasonably about what you can and cannot afford. If this is the "cheapest" school that offers this major (I can't imagine what major that could be), then maybe you just can't afford to major in this particular subject.

Good luck!

Answer 2

fafsa is not for strictly loans. fafsa gets you governmental grants too. so actually if your parents dont make a lot of money, you get more aid for school. so it would be better to file your fafsa and see how much money you get. apply for scholarships through your school too.

i go to a school that's $34,000 a year and my dad doesn't make a lot but we get government aid and manage just fine.

Answer 3

Explain to your parents that a FAFSA form is not a loan and they will not be co-signing anything.  A FAFSA form is merely a data collection instrument that colleges use to determine whether or not you are eligible for federal and state financial aid programs.  If you are under 24 years old and unmarried, your parents must provide their data, or you will not be eligible for these aid programs.

If you and your parents are low to mid income, then filling out the FAFSA might make you eligible for several grants- including Pell Grants and FSEOG grants- that you do not have to pay back.  You may also be eligible for Perkins loans and Stafford loans, which are not based on your credit score and do not require a co-signer.  If you receive these loans, your parents are not responsible for them in any way.

If your parents don't believe you, have them sit down with a financial aid officer at the school.  Honestly, filling out the FAFSA is an entirely risk-free process.  It helps the school determine if you're eligible for certain forms of financial aid, but it doesn't obligate you to accept anything.