FAFSA forms: about being financially independent -- what the university's aid office might not tell you
Last edited Sat Mar 21, 2015, 06:18 PM - Edit history (1)
If you’re a high school or college student (or drop-out) from abusive or other extreme circumstances, or if you’re a teacher or another adult advising such young people, here’s something the college financial aid offices might not be telling you.
Although the FAFSA forms appear to require all parents of students under 24 years old to provide financial information, even if the student is living independently from his or her parents, there are exceptions: for example, students in the military or who have legally been declared emancipated minors. (See below for the list). But the rules also allow for exceptions for students in "special and extenuating circumstances." And the aid office might not explain this.
The FAFSA form doesn’t mention these exceptions and the financial aid office isn’t likely to tell you. It probably won’t be mentioned on the college website. You have to ask. The key words are: DEPENDENCY OVERRIDE.
The Dependency Override won’t apply if you simply have low-income parents who don’t have the means to help out or if your parents have money but refuse to pay a dime for college. If this describes your family, in order for you to be eligible for most forms of financial aid you still need to get your parents to at least provide income information on the FAFSA forms. (No one can force them to help pay, however.)
The Dependency Override applies to worse situations. If your father abandoned your mother years ago and your mother is a crack addict, you may get a Dependency Override. Or if you don’t even know who your father is and your mother is in prison. Or you’re living with your grandmother or a friend’s family because your parents abandoned or neglected you. Or you ran away because of physical or sexual abuse. Or your parents kicked you out because you’re gay. Or you’re living in a homeless shelter. Or other extreme circumstances.
If your circumstances are extreme, then you should call the financial aid office and ask how to apply for a Dependency Override. They will tell you what documents they want to see, such as police and court documents. But those aren’t the only acceptable documents. The other way to document your situation is to confide in the adults around you. Tell a trusted teacher or counselor about your family life, or the person running the homeless shelter. If you’re sleeping on the couch of a friend or relative, find a counselor through a social service agency, who will work on a sliding fee scale, and tell the counselor what you’re going through. What you will need are letters from at least one or two professionals – a teacher, a guidance counselor, a pastor, a therapist – who will write, on professional letterhead, a persuasive and detailed letter about your situation. And if you are living under someone else’s roof (a relative, a friend), that person can also write a letter confirming that you are independent of your parents, and that any income comes from your job, not from your parents.
When you talk to the financial aid office, ask for the information about getting a Dependency Override. The aid officer might ask you why you need the override -- what your circumstances were. Your situation might be too painful to discuss with a stranger over the phone. So say that. Say that it’s too hard to say on the phone but you will tell them in writing. This is the other piece of documentation they need: a letter from you asking for a Dependency Override and explaining, in detail, why. This letter isn’t the time to hold back. The more details of abuse you include, the greater a chance that your Dependency Override will be approved.
Also, if you’ve been living with your grandmother or friends, they won’t need to provide income information on the FAFSA form. The Federal government doesn’t expect grandparents or friends to help pay for college.
And finally, if the financial aid office asks you to come in to discuss this with them in person, if you have an adult who is willing to help, bring him or her along. That person can help you describe your circumstances, provide moral support in a stressful situation, and might get the financial officer to take you more seriously.
We have a young woman living with us who fled an abusive home, and when we investigated financial aid, a well-meaning college-counselor discouraged us, saying that it was almost impossible to get a Dependency Override. This may be true in general, but our young friend succeeded. The key is that the situation needs to be truly abusive or neglectful, and that it has to be documented -- by the student, by professionals, and by others in a position to know.
Also, you should know that if a college financial aid office rejects the override, that decision can be appealed. And if one college’s financial aid office says no, another office could say yes. Each college financial aid office makes its own determination – and the determination has to be repeated each year that the student is in college. (Fortunately, it is likely to be re-approved if circumstances haven’t changed.)
We found this non-profit in Seattle to have lots of useful information about the Dependency Ride, college scholarships for disadvantaged teens, and more.
http://www.seattleeducationaccess.org/fin_aid.php
http://www.seattleeducationaccess.org/winning.php
And here's another site with useful information:
http://www.fafsa.com/understanding-fafsa/fafsa-dependency
The Department of Education uses a very rigid set of criteria for determining whether a student is INDEPENDENT for financial aid consideration (which means that the custodial parents’ income and asset information is not considered in determining a student’s financial aid, and therefore not required on the FAFSA).
Regardless of how much support a student actually receives from his or her parents, he or she is still considered a DEPENDENT student for financial aid purposes UNLESS at least one of the following criteria is met:
For the 2015-16 school year, the student was born before January 1, 1992; or
the student is married; or
the student has a child or children who receive more than half their support from the student; or
the student has dependents (other than a child or spouse) who receive more than half their support from the student, and who also live with the student; or
the student is enrolled as a graduate or professional student (pursuing a master’s degree or doctoral degree); or
the student is a qualified veteran of the U.S. military, or currently serving on active duty in the U.S. armed forces for purposes other than training; or
the student is an orphan (both parents deceased) or ward of the court or in foster care at any time after turning age 13, or was a ward of the court until age 18; or
the student is/was in legal guardianship; or
the student is/was an emancipated minor; or
the student was an unaccompanied youth who was homeless or at risk of being homeless on or after July 1, 2014; or
the student has special and unusual extenuating circumstances that can be documented for his or her college financial aid administrators, who may then request a “dependency override” on the FAFSA application. (Note: Exceptions are granted very rarely and only in extreme cases.) Students should contact the financial aid office at the school they will be attending for additional information.
IMPORTANT:
Many students feel that they should be able to declare INDEPENDENT status because they live on their own, file their own taxes, or receive no support from their parents. Unfortunately, the Department of Education is extremely strict with regard to determining dependency status.
If you are considered a DEPENDENT student (do not meet the criteria listed above) and do not provide your parents’ information on your FAFSA, your application WILL BE REJECTED.
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