FAFSA rant/question

[BigJerm]

Alright... finally filling out FAFSA for the first time. For those who are not college kids or have kids in college its basically a way to find if you qualify for any type of financial, grants, ect to help pay for school and the base the figures off certain things like your income (or your parents if you are dependent).
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/

Anyways, so I figure for the first time I am going to fill this thing out, see if I can get some money to help pay for my school as I enter my 3rd year of paying for it by myself. So I start filling it out, answering the questions and then it tells me that I am considered a Dependent. So I go back through and re-answer the questions... yep sure enough still Dependent. So I call their hotline to ask for help. The lady goes through the questions one by one with me and I answer "no" to all of them. At the end she tells me I am dependent on my parents. I say a file my own taxes, I live on my own, pay my own bills, pay for my own school, and I am 22. She said, "did you answer no to all the questions? Then yeah you’re dependent."

The questions ask things like are you married? Have been? Active military? Got dependents? Parents dead? Emancipated? Homeless? Well I am not any of them sooo now they tell me I need to claim my parents $150k+ a year in income so guess what I get.... umm NOTHING

[Jimmy]

Do you claim yourself on your taxes or do your parents still claim you?

[BigJerm]

yep. File my own taxes in my name and everything. I claim myself.

[Jimmy]

If you claim yourself then there is no way you can be a dependant, lol, thats stupid. I'll ask Beth about it, she just filed her FAFSA for law school.

[Alex]

getting married makes that stuff alot easier to deal with. I hate all that crap and i am just thankful my parents agreed to pay for my college.

[BigJerm]

If you claim yourself then there is no way you can be a dependant, lol, thats stupid. I'll ask Beth about it, she just filed her FAFSA for law school.

Thats what I said but they lady on the phone said "If you answered NO to all the questions in section 2 you are dependent". The questions were like:

-Were you born before Jan. 1st 1986 (I am no, born March 31 1986)
-Married? Ever been?
-Do you have kids or any other dependents who you support?
-Emancipated?
-Declared homeless?

And other various questions like that. Not one thing about do you live with parents, do you file taxes independently or anything like that.

[Jimmy]

Just say you are emancipated. Which you technically are since you aren't a minor and claim yourself.

[Ben H.]

Just say you are emancipated. Which you technically are since you aren't a minor and claim yourself.

I concur. And I also hate FASFA.

[ranger11]

I had the same thing happen to me. I never could figure it out.

[Trailabite]

Tell them your homeless! I went through this with my daughter, she wanted to get her own loan but they considered her a dependent. There is a form you can fill out to claim your dependency, but it brings on another whole world of crap. They have to find reason why your parents are not taking care of you, such as child abuse or other things. It's really stupid!!!!

[Josh]

Well all I have to say is I have started filling out the fafsa paperwork oh about three times and never finished!!!


They make it WAY too complicated and ask so many questions that have to do with absolutely nothing. I have even gave my dad that paperwork to fill out and never saw it again