FAFSA Dependency Question

[Ditwee]

I hope someone out there can help me out with this. I was told by my med. school that I would be claiming myself as an 'independent' on the FAFSA (this is usual for graduate/medical students). Anyway, there is a part on the FAFSA that determines your independence (7 questions) and then asks whether or not you would like to answer questions about your parents (you are asked this assuming you are 'Independent'). It says that if you are in a Graduate Health Professional program that you MUST answer these questions under Title VII of the Public Health Service Act (these are detailed about parent's income/taxes). However, I was under the impression that I did not need to answer such questions and would get more aid by submitting only my personal financial information. I know this is lengthy....does anyone know what to do about this? I can't contact my school again until Monday which also happens to be my first day (and I really need to get this done ASAP). PLEASE HELP!

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[Doctora Foxy]

you are independent, but you should still enter your parental info to be considered for need based aid at your school.

 

[deva]

At the school I'll be going to, you don't need to enter parents' information on the FAFSA, but you do need to enter it through the Need Access application. My school made the financial aid application information really clear on this. Look back to what they sent you; it may be in there. My point is... if you are also doing Need Access you may not need to enter parent stuff in FAFSA.

 

[trouta]

The parental information is used to differentiate between applicants and determine who is entitled to the need-based aid. At most schools, if you dont enter that info you will not be considered for many of the grants and other aid sources available to the extremely needy.