FAFSA Parent Info: When do you need?

[slg24]

Few questions, hopefully people can answer re. parental info.

1) Is pretty much all institutional aid need-based? That is, institutional grants and loans?

2) If I do not put parent info, I cannot qualify for institutional aid. Can I still take as many loans as I need from federal aid? Can I do this with only my information?

I wish I'd paid more attention in financial aid seminars at interviews. Or just asked more right questions!

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[Pretty POHA]

Few questions, hopefully people can answer re. parental info.

1) Is pretty much all institutional aid need-based? That is, institutional grants and loans?

2) If I do not put parent info, I cannot qualify for institutional aid. Can I still take as many loans as I need from federal aid? Can I do this with only my information?

I wish I'd paid more attention in financial aid seminars at interviews. Or just asked more right questions!

1) FAFSA is definitely need based. Scholarships are where the money is at for the non-need based.

2) Why wouldn't you put your parent's info? The reason I ask is this: My mom & step dad were divorced when I was 17, then mom re-married to this guy who not only provided no financial assistance to me-- but actually caused financial destitution by stealing from me and forcing me to move out at 17... (sounds more dramatic than it really was); Yes, FAFSA asked for parental info, but A) there was no way to get my mom's financial info & B) there was no way I was putting his info on the stuff that I was claiming in order to get that financial aid... So I filed anyway. I had FAFSA send the info to my school. Then at one school, I was able to apply for a revised status of immancipated... and honestly no one questioned why I didn't put his info on my application... (Not FAFSA nor the school)...

Honestly, I ended up waiting far too long to apply because of this one little problem: financial aid & FAFSA requiring me to provide parental info up til I was 24 yrs old! My advice to you is to pull out all the stops. FIND a way to work it out. I'm not saying to lie on the application, but if you have a good reason for not providing parental information, I'd say go for it: act now, answer questions later...

I'm probably not the best person to get this info from, though. Ask your advisor. If you don't get a satisfactory response from them, ask someone else. Keep plugging away and keep asking, and you'll find a way to work it through.

 

[slg24]

One might consider not submitting parental info if there's no chance of need-based aid & don't want to waste the time to coordinate for that info.

In that case, does it make sense to only do FAFSA and submit only yourself?

I know schools want both parent & student info so they can figure out a family contribution. FAFSA wont care, right?

 

[BooMed]

If I submit now without putting parental info., I can always add that later if needed, right? Shoot, I didn't put parental just because it's such a hassle to do over the phone. Now I feel dumb and confused. 😕 🙄

 

[notdeadyet]

Definitely submit if you're under 24. It's required for any kind of government money, loan or grant.

 

[slg24]

how is this true, if it says on many medical school websites that you dont need to submit parent info if you're not applying for institutional aid??

Definitely submit if you're under 24. It's required for any kind of government money, loan or grant.

 

[Starvin Marvin]

I think putting parental info on FAFSA is optional, but not putting it will not allow you to get institutional aid at most schools. In addition, some schools I interviewed at require parent information if you want any sort of money. However, can it hurt you to put that info on there? I mean federal aid does not take into account parent info, right? In that case, it wouldn't hurt to add it, besides being a pain in the a$$.

 

[okayplayer]

Definitely submit if you're under 24. It's required for any kind of government money, loan or grant.

That's just an outright lie.