Qualifying as an Independent

This year it is far easier for students to qualify for additional funds than ever before. Here's a breakdown of what criteria you need to meet in order to qualify. You only need to satisfy ONE of the following in order to be considered independent:

You are an independent student if:

FAFSA answers this question here: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/help/fftoc03k.htm

To summarize!

- you're 24 years old by the end of the school (aka award) year
- you have legal dependents
- you are an orphan or ward of the court
- you are a veteran of the US armed forces
- you are a graduate or professional student

New qualifying criteria which you might not know about :

- you are an emancipated minor
- you have been or are in danger of homelessness as determined by your high school or shelter
- you were in legal guardianship of someone

What if my parents refuse to give me their tax info or aren't going to help me?

The FAFSA now allows you to opt out of entering your parent's information. This will default the application to filing for unsubsidized loans only, instead of sub and unsub. Everything else is still determined the same.

Joining the Ranks

I will be starting school in June of this year. This means that I will be filing a FAFSA and going through the same process as every other student out there.

I am hoping that this will give me a better understanding of how to help students with their FAFSA. I am still no substitute for calling the FAFSA department directly, but having a basic knowledge of how it all works should help me with any questions students have!