How do I claim independence?

I am 19 and I am trying to figure out how to claim independence on my FAFSA. My parents will not be contributing to my tuition as of next semester but I can't figure out how to change things so that it doesn't screw up taxes or legal information. If anyone has any information it would be greatly appreciated.

Hardim,

While you are under age 24 and a student, you parents may want to claim you as a dependent on their income tax returns. Doing this they can also claim the tax credits or deductions for your schooling (see IRS Pub 970, Tax Benefits for Education).

If you want to be independent, then you will need to move out of your parents house. Have the address changed on your driver's license, register to vote at your new address, earn sufficient income to pay all of your living expenses. Visit Mom and Dand on weekends. Then your parents can not claim you as a dependent, and you can receive the tax benefits for your education.

Generally it is best if Mom and Dad can claim you as a dependent and take advantage of the tax benefits for education.

The problem isn't claiming independence for tax benefits, I need to figure out how to claim complete independence for FAFSA because I don't make the $45,000 a year that I need for tuition.

Getting married is your best bet.

Seriously.

These are the criteria that are applied under FAFSA to determine if you are independent.
http://www.finaid.org/calculators/dependency.phtml

There is a 50% support test that applies. I don't know the details on that.

But if your parents are not contributing to your support, you should talk with your school's financial aid office. It is not simply a tax return issue, although it frequently gets confused with that.
http://www.finaid.org/calculators/scripts/dependency.cgi

I think you are going to have a hard time getting independant status. Just cause they are not paying doesn't mean they don't count their money against you on FAFSA. Talk to your school because I know from my experience that will not let you go alone for anything! I have been paying it all since my freshmen year and the aid office won't budge. The federal requirements are just as tough too!


Good Luck.


Tim


www.college-investor.com

<<I think you are going to have a hard time getting independant status. Just cause they are not paying doesn't mean they don't count their money against you on FAFSA. Talk to your school because I know from my experience that will not let you go alone for anything! I have been paying it all since my freshmen year and the aid office won't budge. The federal requirements are just as tough too>>>

I was reading this thread because my daughter is at the age to begin choosing a college. I was under the impression the laws had changed since I attended college in the late 1980s, but apparently they haven't.

I never could get a penny in federal aid until I got married just before my senior year. Then all of a sudden I was eligible not just for a loan, but for a Pell Grant, which is even better. However, they wouldn't give my then-husband any sort of aid at all, because he was on his fifth year of college. It isn't that he was screwing around, it was that he wanted to be certified to teach a lot of math and science, thus the fifth year. So we had to bankroll that on my waitressing job.

I was very angry about this when in school, because my parents were still married and lived in a house they'd built themselves and had paid off. They had a very modest income, but no debt. So under the federal aid formula, I was not eligible for anything. However, it seemed the students around me were all getting loans. They came from families who were better off and lived in lavish houses with high debts. Some of them lived with a mother with a moderate income but got lots of off-the-books help from a properous dad. Even though they qualified for loans, they could afford nice vacations, great stereos, and all kinds of things. Meanwhile, I often had no food in the house, and yes, I mean this quite literally. I very often was hungry in college and depended on being able to snitch some leftovers at the cafeteria where I worked (with the approval of the sympathetic supervisors).

The flip side of this is, I didn't have any student loans to pay off, and for this I am grateful, because at 40 I still make a very modest income. One of the people I supervise here is nearly my age and still paying on her loans. Another is over 50 and is still paying on hers. She borrowed $7,000 long ago and now owes $20,000. (Both women deferred their loans when fighting serious medical problems). The loans have been a weight around their necks all their adult lives. In my 20s, I know having student loans to pay off is what kept many of my friends working when they would have liked to have stayed home with their babies for a few years, as I was able to do.

The FAFSA guidelines are nuts, people. They appear to punish people for living within their means and reward others who spend all they make.

I am now wondering if I should change my financial plans. As I've written in other posts, I live in a small house that I hope to pay off within a few years. My daughter is a junior this year (and my son a freshman) and I have the prospect of having no debt at all except a very small balance on my mortgage when my kids are attending school. Is this going to absolutely kill me when it comes to financial aid? I'm actually wondering, now, if I ought to sell this house and buy a bigger, more expensive one before filling out the FAFSA next year. My children are good students and I want them to be able to attend good schools without saddling themselves with so much debt they'll never, ever be able to get out from under it. If the federal government wants to arrange things so they I can either spend all my money for several years on my children's education OR I can spend it on a nice house and they'll bankroll more of my children's education, it's hard to see why I shouldn't take advantage of their offer. I could always sell the lavish house once my children's education was complete, and I'd be much better off financially. Right?

I'm actually wondering, now, if I ought to sell this house and buy a bigger, more expensive one before filling out the FAFSA next year.

My school includes the value of your home as part of your assets, and then includes the taxes and associated debt. A big house probably wont help. What could help and my advisor told me that my parents should do this when we sell our house. Any extra cash balance from the house anything, put in a retirement account of your own. They cannot count any of those retirement assets in an IRA or 401k as expendable for school payments. So I would shelter any excess cash you have.

I will comment more after work! haha.

Good Luck

Tim

www.college-investor.com

A really annoying dilemma for many. Finances will certainly be discussed on these kinds of occasions.

Maybe you'll find a solution or two here...
Finance Direct Online (http://www.finance-direct-online.info)

Nothing new, but just to add credence:

I went through this when I was in college and claimed independent status in order to retain in-state residency at a state school because my parents moved out of state while i was in college.

I was able to do it, but it was not simple. I had to show actual evidence that I had enough income in the last 12 months to have paid for 51% of my living expenses (ie can't just say parents won't be paying in the future which makes it a little bit of a catch-22). Additionally, I happen to have spent a lot of the summer and winter breaks at school that year which helped my case.

I agree. You don't necessarily have to "move out" to claim independence, it is as long as you really are supporting yourself, and are not claimed on your parents taxes. For me, I couldn't get some grants because of my parent's house as well. I tried to find every angle I could, and I did. I'm now trying to help others do the same.

I'm parent of two college students. Although you can be considered "independent" of your parents for many purposes at your age (including tax purposes), you most likely can't for FAFSA purposes.

In order to be eligible for independent status for FAFSA purposes, you must be born before 1984, married, provide over half the financial support for a child of your own, be a grad student or professional student (e.g. medicine or law), be active duty military or a qualified veteran, be an orphan or have been a ward of the court until you were 18, or (in rare cases) be able to demonstrate you are a special case in that your parents are something like child abusers or alcoholics.

Given these scenarios, most students are "dependent" for FAFSA purposes and are generally claimed by parents then for tax purposes.

Hi, my problem is a little bit different (it's not a financial thing) but I couldn't find anywhere else to ask this question.
I'm a 20 year old college student and I want to claim independence from my father, and maybe my stepmom (i don't know if she has any legal guardianship over me?). I do not want either of them to be my legal guardians. my mother is deceased and I have no close relatives, so I would become an 'independent' i guess.
I'm doing this for legal reasons... in the event that I cannot make decisions for myself (like, if I'm in a coma, or become disabled in some way...) I do not want them to have legal rights to make medical decisions for me. (Trust me... this is a good thing!). If I was a minor (under 18) I would be seeking emancipation, but because I'm 20, I don't know what to do. I'm grateful for any information you have that could help. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction.
Thank you so much for your time!

If this is for anything other than financial aid purposes....

You ARE independent. You are an adult. If you don't want them to make medical decisions for you, you need to see a lawyer to set up a will, a healthcare proxy, a living will, a power of attorney, and other paperwork that will designate and empower the person you WANT to make decisions for you.

Absent a spouse (the person first in line to make decisions for you when you are incapable) or children (the next person in line), your parents have that right, if you don't designate someone.

I started college at 20 and was claimed independent; however it was a process. The easiest way to be claimed independent is to have a written statement from your parents declaring that they have not claimed you on their tax returns for atleast the last two years. When you fill out your FAFSA, do not fill out the parent part of the packet, and bring that into your school's financial aid office, along with the letter from your parents, and they will need to forward the paperwork.