not nontraditional enough (FAFSA)

[drlove4]

Hello,

I find help in reading your posts and am hoping to find some advice from you all. My situation is that I am beginning a postbacc (career changer, program offers aid) right out of college and am trying to handle student loans on my own. From FAFSA's dependency questions, I do not qualify as an independent. My parents combined make 100k, but have had 5 kids in private schools and cannot (or at least will not) contribute anything to my finances in these next few years as I prepare for medical school. I cannot provide any parental information but do not qualify for any of the special circumstances.

Have any of you been in this situation before? What are my options? Any way to go about explaining this to FAFSA/institution?

Thank you!

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[DrMidlife]

Parental info has no impact on your ability to get federal aid. So you have eligibility for about $12,500 in Stafford loans (which are only available to filers of FAFSA).

You'll want to aggressively research other funding options from your state and your school. Generally you are limited in your ability to get free money like Pell grants if your parents make decent money, regardless of how many other kids they have.

Be very, very careful about private loans. Generally if you have no way to pay them off before you start med school, that's a serious problem.

Best of luck to you.

Edit: if you're saying that you can't get parental info for these applications, then how are you a dependent? Do you live at home? Your parents still pay for your upkeep, but they won't cough up their tax returns, is that it?

 

[drlove4]

Thanks for the advice! I'm consider dependent because of these factors (via fafsa site)

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 2012-13 school year, the student was born before January 1, 1989; 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, 2011; 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

 

[Mattcoker]

Is emancipation an option? I was 25 when I had to go through the emancipation process and it was a little childish. I had already been in the Navy owned a business gotten married and had a child and they still made me go through the whole emancipation process. Once I "proved" that my parents no longer supported me FAFSA became my best friend and applying was a smooth process.

 

[violinist23]

Check with your postbac institution as well. If you are doing a formal postbac, it may be funded at the graduate level - some are. This may be enough to change your FAFSA statement. After all, the entire idea is that you have already obtained a bachelor's degree.

 

[xxx2012]

Parents income can make a difference if you are not old enough, but it sounds like you are over 25. You are right? If not there other ways you can qualify such as being a military veteran or recently homeless.

 

[drlove4]

My program (northwestern) is counted as undergraduate work. As I said, none of the independent factors qualify for me (only 21, not a veteran, not homeless, not emancipated). I'm fresh out of undergrad, and appears as though I'm in a rough FAFSA situation because my life situation is not rough enough. As far as finances, my father and I do not speak, but other than that I don't think my relationship is anything to call "special circumstances." Thanks for the replies!

 

[Weibo]

Hello,

I find help in reading your posts and am hoping to find some advice from you all. My situation is that I am beginning a postbacc (career changer, program offers aid) right out of college and am trying to handle student loans on my own. From FAFSA's dependency questions, I do not qualify as an independent. My parents combined make 100k, but have had 5 kids in private schools and cannot (or at least will not) contribute anything to my finances in these next few years as I prepare for medical school. I cannot provide any parental information but do not qualify for any of the special circumstances.

Have any of you been in this situation before? What are my options? Any way to go about explaining this to FAFSA/institution?

Thank you!

I recommend getting really godlike at writing essays and apply to as many scholarships as possible. If you've got time this summer, try applying to 3 scholarships per day. I know it sounds ambitious but it's totally possible since a lot of the scholarship essay prompts are similar,

 

[akinetopsia]

I have a question in a somewhat similar area. At what point is it no longer required to report your parents income when applying for financial aid? I'll be applying next cycle, I'm 32, and while my mom is deceased, my dad is "retired" (i.e. he draws a retirement check from his first career job of 35+ years and he started a new job with decent remuneration so he's making a pretty good living). Do schools' financial aid offices expect me to report my Dad's income, even though he lives in a different state and does not support me financially (other than sending a gift card for a restaurant on my birthday? LOL)?

 

[Caprica6]

I have a question in a somewhat similar area. At what point is it no longer required to report your parents income when applying for financial aid? I'll be applying next cycle, I'm 32, and while my mom is deceased, my dad is "retired" (i.e. he draws a retirement check from his first career job of 35+ years and he started a new job with decent remuneration so he's making a pretty good living). Do schools' financial aid offices expect me to report my Dad's income, even though he lives in a different state and does not support me financially (other than sending a gift card for a restaurant on my birthday? LOL)?

For FASFA purposes you don't have to report parental income. But if you are trying to receive institutional aid, you will have to provide the info.

 

[akinetopsia]

So when I report what my dad's earnings are, and even though I'm 32, I'm not going to be able to count on any need-based aid outside of the federal loans available... that's fantastic. /sarcasm off

Thanks for the response, Caprica.