Money for college, fafsa and claiming independent?

Question

so my yearly college tuition is about $3,000+, and I want to do a study abroad semester which will cost me about $12,000+. My parents' joint income is about $80,000, which does not make me eligible for any sort of government aid, but realistically, is not really enough to be paying all the expenses that come with college. it's fair to mention scholarships aren't exactly consistantly flowing my way either.

so what should I do? I'm kind of attempting to avoid taking out loans until I get into grad school (I'm only in my third year now) but not sure what I should do - what benefits/disadvantages are there to filing as independent? Would I be offerred more aid, but would I lose things like the health insurance my parents cover me with? Thanks

Answer 1

One of my friends asked me this sort of questions before,she found helpful here.http://health-insurance.tips4free.info/h...

Answer 2

Well, if you went Independent, you would qualify for a Grant which currently is about $4700 per semester.  Secondly, get a job for the summer instead of going abroad.  Save that money and pay cash to go abroad at another time.  Or take off a semester and work and save. It sure as beats paying off student loans for the next 30 years.  Better to stay in school a little longer and graduate later than be locked down by UNCLE SAM!

Answer 3

To file as an independent you will get more grants, or at least you should.  My boyfriend is going this route for school next year.  As far as I know, the FAFSA is only based on your parents tax returns.  So as long as they don't claim you as a dependent on taxes and you file your taxes as an independent you should be fine.  You should not lose your health insurance as long as you are a full time student.  These are 2 separate issues.

Answer 4

you have to be 24 yrs old to claim independent.  It has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not your parents claim you on their taxes.  Dependant and Independent for the IRS is completely different than it is for FAFSA.  Check out FAFSA website, it is all there.  Other ways to meet independent criteria: get married, have a kid, join the service

Answer 5

Only Tiare is giving you a correct answer.

Independence is not something you "elect". Do not confuse financial aid independence with the dictionary definitions of the words "dependent" and "independent". Your financial aid dependency status is established by the federal law that created the federal financial aid system.

Independence has NOTHING to do with whether your parents give you money, or whether you live with them, or whether you have your own job, or whether your parents claim you as a dependent, whether you even know where they're living, or whether they hang up the phone if you try to call them.

You are ONLY independent for financial aid purposes if you are/were:

Born before January 1, 1985

Married, as of the date you file your FAFSA

An orphan, or a ward of the court

Providing more than 50% of the financial support for a child

Providing more than 50% of the financial support for a non-child dependent who lives in your home

A member (current or past) of the US military

There are no other ways to qualify as independent. You don't "select" independent on the FAFSA to "indicate that you're paying your own way".

As for not taking out loans - well, then you have a problem.

A college education is an expensive OPTIONAL purchase that you might choose to invest in, just like a new car. If you wanted to buy a car right now, and you couldn't afford to pay cash, you would need to decide if the car was worth taking out a loan for. The same applies for college.

I can understand WHY you don't want to take out a loan, just like I could understand why you would choose not to borrow to buy a car. But - if you don't borrow, no one's going to buy you a car - and from the way you've described your situation - if you don't borrow, no one is going to buy you a college education, either.

There are no magical money gifts available to students who just don't want to pay for their own education because they're trying to be prudent about how much money they owe. I'm not saying that you should borrow - I'm saying that if you don't borrow that you're going to need to find a magical genie lamp if you think someone else is going to give you money.

By the way - when you get to the point that you DO become independent - it won't make that much of a deal in how much aid you are offered. You may qualify for a Pell Grant of three or four thousand dollars that you can't get now, but for the most part, the only difference will be that you'll have the opportunity to take out larger government loans. When you're a dependent, the federal government expects your parents to take on those loans, but once you reach that grand "independence" that everyone is so anxious to reach, the government will be happy to put all the loans on your shoulder, instead.

I'm sorry for the downer answer, but I do my best to provide factual information - I think it's best to proceed from knowledge, rather than false hopes.

Good luck to you!