Fafsa/Finacial Aid/Loans/Etc halp

[archibaldcrane]

Do your parents hate you?

Why are they not chipping in even a dime towards your inexpensive, public school education if they are well-off? I mean, 25% tuition? How much could that cost in Florida?

[Waraji]

Love me some Bright Futures MMM MMm. Seeing as how tuition is getting progressively higher each semester for next couple years, I could see how 25% MIGHT add up, depending on your major and course load.

[kuronosan]

Do your parents hate you?

Why are they not chipping in even a dime towards your inexpensive, public school education if they are well-off? I mean, 25% tuition? How much could that cost in Florida?

Depends on what school he goes to. When I went to a community level college my tuition was a little less than $2000 a year, not including books and expenses. I imagine he's at state level, and being an in-state resident, his tuition has to be anywhere from $7000-10000 a year.

[Tsuko_Asura]

Running out the door again, but I'll give a few more specifics when I get back from class.

Appreciate the help thus far.

[Cream Soda]

Don't listen to Cream Soda. He's a prime example of stupid fucking people who are cheap, ghetto, and love to take advantage of the system (Re: I steal my neighbor's internet because they won't lock their shit up and I don't wanna pay for my own).

Using his method you can go to jail if you're audited and found out. Do it legit, or don't do it at all.

A) You were still wrong
B) It's not like they tap your phone line and monitor if you ever talk to your parents.

Also, I don't see how it's taking advantage of the system to be considering that I am independent (Of my parents) and should be considered so. I haven't received any type of support from either of my parents in almost 10 years now.

Also, if it's considered stupid to get free money that's available, then call me a stupid mother fucker. I'll take it as a compliment.

[Shakki]

From personal experience:

Don't assume that you'll get disqualified from most financial aid just because of your parents. What was your Expected Family Contribution from the FAFSA? That can help you figure out how much help you're going to get.

Also, do you have any siblings in college? Do both your parents work? Things like that are important, too. As an example, my parents pull in ~80k a year, but my dad is retired and my mom is disabled, plus my younger brother is in college - so my EFC is $0 and I got the full Pell Grant, max amount of subsidized loans, etc. this year.

Oh, and as others have said, good grades really do help a lot for scholarships/grants. Another option is to apply for all the random scholarships on sites like FastWeb. I don't really have any first-hand experience with that sort of thing, but I've heard from others that the likelihood of winning some (especially essay contests) is pretty high since few people want to bother with it.

[Cream Soda]

For those asking about his GPA, if he's on bright futures, he'd have to have had a 3.0 going into college and maintained at least a 2.8 or higher to keep it.

[kuronosan]

A) You were still wrong
B) It's not like they tap your phone line and monitor if you ever talk to your parents.

Also, I don't see how it's taking advantage of the system to be considering that I am independent (Of my parents) and should be considered so. I haven't received any type of support from either of my parents in almost 10 years now.

Also, if it's considered stupid to get free money that's available, then call me a stupid mother fucker. I'll take it as a compliment.

No, I wasn't. The minimum age of dependence is 24-25 years old. If you are under the age of 24, your parents' income is counted and required REGARDLESS unless you can provide proof of extenuating circumstances (ie, they are dead, cannot be located, or are in jail).

Don't fill this kid's head with your bullshit leeching.

[Cream Soda]

unless you can provide proof of extenuating circumstances

Considering you did not add this last time, yes you were wrong. Deal with it. As for proof, 2 signatures of anyone not attending your school (at least for my school) is all you need, it's not hard, lol.

The only way to bypass this would be to write a letter to your congressman and various other bodies in order to appeal the rule and apply for an exception.

By the way, this is what I called wrong, which it is. I did nothing of the sort and I was still able to bypass it.

[Byrthnoth]

I agree that Creamsoda is defrauding the system technically, but I believe his situation merits a Pell Grant and respects the intent of the grant. If your parents aren't financially supporting you and you want to pursue higher education, then I don't really see why it matters whether or not they talk to you. Some of our parents don't realize how important higher degrees are these days (possibly because they don't have one themselves), so they won't pay for higher education because they don't believe it's worthwhile enough to justify the cost regardless of their ability to pay. I don't see how a person with stubborn parents that don't see the value of higher education is any less disadvantaged than a person whose parent's can't pay for higher education.

I guess it's just a debate of whether the government should compensate for the "Can't choose your parents" truisim, and whether the incredible amount of defrauding that would go on would be worth it.

[Hosom]

No, I wasn't. The minimum age of dependence is 24-25 years old. If you are under the age of 24, your parents' income is counted and required REGARDLESS unless you can provide proof of extenuating circumstances (ie, they are dead, cannot be located, or are in jail).

Don't fill this kid's head with your bullshit leeching.

There are actually ways around this. If you're like me and have ever been in foster care, even if you returned to your parent's home afterward, from the point when you entered foster care you were considered independent from then onwards. I was in foster care for like 9 months and at 17 am considered independent. For the record, I actually live/am helping support my dad who is disabled. If I hadn't found this loop hole I wouldn't be in college, even with a Presidential scholarship.

I'm also guessing that you either have parents worth a shit or you received quite a bit legitimately through FAFSA, because while Cream Soda is suggesting something that's technically illegal, it's a means to an end. He's not leeching society, he's going to college. At the end of his life, Cream Soda will have paid all of the money back and more to society. Damn shame he had to lie to get it.

[archibaldcrane]

I didn't think Cream Soda had to lie - he lives with his uncle or some shit, his parents don't support him at all and haven't for a really long time - there's no reason why Cream Soda shouldn't be considered an independent.

Tsuko - so...do your parents hate you?

[Melena]

Change that to living in his uncles house. I thought his uncle is sitting in jail now, or is it a different one?

[Hosom]

Eh, either way, stretching the truth on your FAFSA is pretty common. When I sat down and did mine I called my financial adviser about a couple things and it was all "Now I'm not going to tell you to lie, just try to put things down in your favor." I'm just a person who believes you do what you have to in order to take care of yourself.

[Cream Soda]

Change that to living in his uncles house. I thought his uncle is sitting in jail now, or is it a different one?

He's out on bail, pending trial. Though I did live with another uncle before living this one lol who was selling crack and the swat team came in etc, lol hence why I don't live there anymore (but that was 7-8 years ago, lol).

[Kaylia]

Nigga, why didn't you just talk to me.

basically, you feed them a bullshit story to where you don't have a way to contact EITHER of your parents (let's say you live with an uncle or something. They wouldn't even go off of that, so no worries there, it's parents onry). You will need 2 signatures to verify your story (notarized) and you will be moved from dependent to independent. At that point, they'll go based off your income and not your parents.

Ask your parent to sign that story.

[miokomioko]

he lives with his uncle or some shit, his parents don't support him at all and haven't for a really long time - there's no reason why Cream Soda shouldn't be considered an independent.

I'm pretty certain that parents are not the only people who can claim someone as a dependant. His uncle would be stupid not to. Well, his uncle would also be stupid to grow weed in a house with a minor and then beat his wife. So who knows!

[miokomioko]

fuckin' double post. wasn't even my fault!

[ferigor]

I'm pretty certain that parents are not the only people who can claim someone as a dependant. His uncle would be stupid not to. Well, his uncle would also be stupid to grow weed in a house with a minor and then beat his wife. So who knows!

I'm not positive, but I think you may have to be the guardian of a child to claim them as a dependent. When I was in high school my parents died and my Aunt was declared my guardian. She lived two hours away and I didn't want to move, so after my brother was divorced, he and his kids moved in with me. To the best of my knowledge, neither my brother nor my aunt ever claimed me as a dependent. Knowing my brother, as it would have benefited him to have claimed me as a dependent, I can't imagine that he would have been able to claim me and wouldn't have. Anyway, I filed as an independent orphan and received massive amounts of grants.

[Skyylya]

A) You were still wrong
B) It's not like they tap your phone line and monitor if you ever talk to your parents.

Also, I don't see how it's taking advantage of the system to be considering that I am independent (Of my parents) and should be considered so. I haven't received any type of support from either of my parents in almost 10 years now.

Also, if it's considered stupid to get free money that's available, then call me a stupid mother fucker. I'll take it as a compliment.

First off what you're doing is illegal, you're essentially committing fraud and would be in deep shit if it was found out. You're in luck however as your school is obviously assisting you in your fraud and are covering their own ass (it's virtually impossible that they aren't aware of what you're doing, however with most schools if the dept of ed doesn't question them they won't bring it up as they want your money). I work for a school and deal with shmucks like you every day. People that are playing a con on the education system and think you're getting 'free' money. It's not free you dip shit i'm paying for it with my tax dollars or where do you think the department of education gets their money.


To the OP:

Right now anyone born after January 1st 1987 is a dependant unless you get married, or have children or are a ward of the court. Even if your parents aren't in the picture but alive 'someone' is still your guardian whether it's an aunt/uncle/grandparent and their income would still be required and if your school is doing things properly they would make sure they got that information. Even if you live on your own and pay your own bills and don't fall in one of the previously mentioned categories you're a dependant.

If you only need a small portion of your tuition covered you can apply for the FAFSA and simply have your parents write a statement that they do not wish to assist you in taking out any loans, most likely would be the parent plus loans which are substituted if they qualify for them, for the subsidized loans. If they refuse, you can still use your unsub which would give you more than enough to cover your last 25% and you can even (if you want to) apply for the full amount and have it sent back to you to assist with some of your living expenses (just make sure when you request them you say it's for educatoin purposes i.e. fixing computer or supplies) It will be in loans accruing interest at roughly 6.8% but will be deferred, while accruing, until 6 months after you finish school or drop out. After that you can usually find a consolidation company to give you percs of a few % off if you pay every month for x number of months and a pay schedule that works for you.

The system sucks the way it's set up but it is what it is.