financila aid and dependency?

Question

my son is getting financial aid. he had to put my income down (mom) because they considered him a dependent. he is expecting a child in april. will that change his status to independent?

Answer 1

The answer is maybe - how old is he - and are you still claiming him on your taxes. There are lot more factors to consider too. I would need alot more information to give you an acurate answer. I would say right now he is still a dependent and he needs to file his FAFSA as a dependent asap - there is the possibility he could lose out on some need based aid his school might give in. In RI - for example - if he doesn't file by March 1, 2007 he will be ineligible for state aid. So - regardless of the baby being born in the future - he is going to need your financial information. You can use your 2005 taxes as a way to estimate your 2006 income (I would be surprised if you have filed your 2006 taxes yet).

Good Luck!!!

Answer 2

For the 2007-2008 academic year, to be considered an independent student, you MUST meet one of the following conditions:

* You were born before January 1, 1984.
* You will be enrolled in a master's or doctorate program (beyond a bachelor's degree) at the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year.
* You're married as of the day you apply (or you're separated but not divorced).
* You have children who receive more than half their support from you.
* You have dependents (other than your children or spouse) who live with you and who receive more than half their support from you at the time you apply and through June 30, 2008.
* Both your parents are deceased, or you are (or were until age 18) a ward or dependent of the court.
* You're a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces.

If he can delay his FAFSA until then, he can file as an independet.

Hope this helps!

Christopher S. Penn
Producer, the Financial Aid Podcast
Daily free financial aid internet radio, no iPod required
http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com
FinancialAidPodcast [at] gmail [dot] com

Answer 3

they dont consider him a dependant unless he is filed on your taxes as a dependant. if he lives on his own (or lives with you and files separately) and now has a child, he is an adult. you can prove all of this with paperwork and notorized letters (copy of birth certs, tax returns, leases, letter notorized by you/him that he is not your dependent).

loans i try to avoid, so here are a list of grants and scholarships that will help too. try FASTWEB (link is below) first.

try to aim for grants/scholarships more... they are not to be paid back. its confusing sometimes, but just keep applying.

every big (and small) company you see (manufacturer, orgs, corps and groups also) all have grants and scholarships they hand out like candy.

heres a link with a HUGE amount of some available. some you will need to copy and paste into a new window. also, fastweb (take the time to fill it in) will search databases and get back to you with a list of scholarships you qualify for.

Also contact all mens, womens associations in your state, they almost always have grants & scholarships. What ever field you are going into, contact the orgs, associations etc for them; Also check with professional organizations related to your career interests, such as the American Bar Association or the American Medical Association. they also always have scholarships. Research and dig, call then write. Its all worth it.

OVER apply; it doesnt hurt to have too many, and the extra funds can help with housing.

http://www.angelfire.com/nj4/njcomputerchick/school.html

MORE:
http://www.myspace.com/financialaidpodcast
http://www.sfa.ufl.edu:16080/scholarshipcafe/
http://www.fafsaonline.com/
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/
http://www.studentawards.com/
http://www.collegeanswer.com/index.jsp
http://www.studentscholarshipsearch.com/
http://www.studentscholarshipsearch.com/Detailed/Scholarships/Meta_indexes_and_other_scholarship_directories/Women_s_and_Non-traditional_students_scholarships_meta-directory_126.php
http://www.discovernursing.com/nursing-scholarship-search
http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/DSA/nsl.htm
http://www.nsna.org/foundation/
http://www.schoolsoup.com/
http://www.blackexcel.org/link4.htm
http://www.finaid.org/
http://www.rhodesscholar.org/
http://www.collegedata.com/
http://www.fastweb.com/
http://www.getreadyforcollege.org/gPg.cfm?pageID=139

STATUS of your gov loan or aid:
http://www.nslds.ed.gov/nslds_SA/

if you don’t have a PIN yet (for your loan / aid status) apply for one:
http://www.pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp

ESSAY HELP
http://www.scholarshiphelp.org/
http://www.gradesaver.com/resources/scholarship.html
http://www.collegeadmissionsessays.com/
http://www.nataviguides.com/broke_essay.html
http://www.princetonreview.com/college/apply/articles/process/essayjump.asp
http://www.freschinfo.com/tips-brainstorming.php
http://www.freschinfo.com/tips-topic.php

Answer 4

when the child comes, he will be independent for fin aid purposes. You can contact your school to tell them about the child and the need to change his status. If they give you a hard time, your son can do a petition where your son explains (on paper) his change in circumstances (i.e the child). After he submits this petition to the school's fin aid office, someone in administration will review it and determine if your son's status should be changed to independent.

Answer 5

Financial Aid goes off of the previous year's income tax return... so if you claimed him last year than he's a dependent regaurdless of whether he's having a child right now or not.

Answer 6

they go by last years tax return.. Once the baby gets here, he can take the BC and apply for "special circumstances" and they should change his classification to independent IF he's supporting his child. It won't help him for this Spring 2007 but it will for Fall 2007 or Summer 2007.

Answer 7

it extremely is an somewhat solid question. i'm susceptible to assert that because you have been legally accompanied and have been in no way in state custody after the age of 13 you're considerd based and could placed your accompanied mom and dad advice. while somebody adopts you they are your mom and dad for all intents and purposes. For greater desirable explanation and to get it "at contemporary from the horses mouth" (the dep. of education, the folk that oversee FAFSA) call them at a million-800-4FEDAID by way of fact i might desire to be thoroughly incorrect!!! solid success.

Answer 8

If he will be responsible for supporting the child, yes.