Free Application for Federal Student Aid(FAFSA) Question?

Question

I applied for the FAFSA, and I am not eligible to receive federal financial aid for some reason, it didn't tell me, but I'm assuming it's because my parents made for 60,000 dollars last year, and I'm attending a fairly cheap school. However, my parents are giving me no financial aid whatsoever, I make about 500 dollars a month, and have no transportation, but according to the FAFSA I am still a dependent. For next year, what would I have to do to say that I am putting myself through school, and get them to ignore my parents income?

Answer 1

Anyone can get "financial aid" after filling out the fafsa regardless of income in the form of federal student loans.  They are called Stafford loans.   If you don't get the free stuff, at least you'll get something and be able to attend.   Don't give up.

Answer 2

No, sorry, it doesn't work that way.

Dependent and independence (for financial aid purposes) is not a question of whether your parents help you out with money or not. I can see why you might think that's what the classification is about, but it's something entirely different.

The determination of your dependency status is actually a matter of federal law - the law that governs the federal financial aid program. Dependency is a term that has a legal definition - and you are classified as dependent or independent on the basis of certain criteria that can only be overridden in very exceptional cases. I can tell you, right now, before you read any further, that your parents' refusal to help you out with living or school expenses is not one of those exceptions - in fact, the regulations specifically identify that situation as a circumstance that does not qualify as an exception.

A financial aid applicant can ONLY be classified as an independent for federal financial aid purposes if he/she can answer yes to one of the following questions:

Were you born before January 1, 1985?

Are you married? (as of today)

Do you provide more than 50% of the financial support for a child?

Do you provide more than 50% of the financial support for a non-child dependent who lives in your own home?

Are you an orphan, or a ward of the court?

Are you a member (past or current) of the US military?

Those are the ONLY criteria that will enable you to be classified as an independent student. There are tens of thousands of students in your situation, and the answer to all of them is the same - you are a dependent student until you turn 23, or get married, or start supporting dependents of your own.

I'm sorry for the disappointing news, but as I said - this is a federal law, and there's nothing you can "say" about "putting yourself through school" that is going to change your classification.

If you're curious about the underlying concept - it's that the government expects parents to contribute to the cost of their kids' education - certainly before the taxpayers do. If the government picked up the tab for parents who refused to pay - don't you see why that would be an extreme disincentive for any parents to pay to send their kids to school?

Good luck to you. If your parents refuse to help you with the cost of school, you may have to resort to the path that a lot of other students in your situation take - working and going to school part time, or working and saving for a few years, and then going to school full time.