PLS Help Me Fast. I want to go to college, I really do!!. Time is running out. I will thank you forever!!

Question

Hello, I am going to be 20 years old soon and a junior this fall. I have gotten FAFSA before, but now I dont know if I can get it. I have been living for the past year on my own with only my mothers help. My father is not willing to help me out with anything. I am a dependent student. I know I am not independent. My mom still lives with my dad, but he will not provide me with his tax information, but she will.1) Can I just put down my moms information on fafsa since she has been the only one that has economically supported me in the past year? 2) Idk wether my parents filed their taxes together, in case they did, would that change anything? 3) These people that I call my parents are not really my parents but my grandparents, they never legally adopted me. My mother is dead and I never really knew her and my mom never knew who my father was. a) should I put down that my mother is deceased in FAFSA? Even if I have filed FAFSA before with my grandparent's information? b) does that make me independent?

Please help me. I am very desperate. I want to be able to keep going to college, but I cant afford it alone. I thank you all beforehand.

Answer 1

Teq -

I'm afraid that the answer is not what you want to hear - but I think you already expect that that's true.

Unless your parents are divorced, you must provide the information from both parents. In fact, the government handbook that financial aid offices use specifically mentions that a parent's unwillingness to provide financial information does not waive the applicant's responsibility to provide it.

It's irrelevant whether your dad actually gives you any money, and it's also irrelevant whether your parents file taxes together. You can only file the FAFSA with a single parent's financial info if your parents are divorced or separated.

But now you raise another question. If your grandparents have never formerly adopted you, the rules are also very specific about that situation, too. You can not use your grandparent's financial information at all - either your grandmother's or your grandfather's. You MUST use your biological parents. That creates a real problem for you if your mom has passed away, and your father is unknown.

Here's what I would recommend. Talk to the financial aid officer at your school. Make an appointment, because you really need to speak to an officer, and not just someone who answers the phone. (Okay, the person who answers the phone could be an officer, but you need to find out!)

Explain that you understand that you can not use your grandparents' financial information, because they have not adopted you. Also explain that your mother has died, and that you have no idea who your father is. Don't tell them that you don't where he lives, because that's a completely different issue that they probably can't help you with. Simply explain that you have no idea who your father is - you've never known him, and your mother never told you who he was, or where to find him - and now that she's passed away, you can't get that information from her.

Here's why this might help you - one of the criteria that would earn you an "independent" classification for federal financial aid purposes is if you are an orphan. If your father is unknown and cannot be identified, your financial aid office may be able to certify you as an independent student. Unfortunately, you really have to hope that they can, because otherwise, you are responsible for providing your father's financial information - and that seems like an impossibility.

So there you go...

1. You can't file just your grandmother's info

2. You really can't file your grandparents' info at all

3. See if your circumstances are sufficient for the financial aid office to classify you as an independent student under the "orphan" provision of the dependency criteria - otherwise, you have a mess on your hands.

I hope this helped you - and I wish you the very best of luck.

Answer 2

Your best bet is to speak with the Federal Government's FAFSA directly by phone or online chat to get the answers you're looking for: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/contact.htm