How will my financial aid turn out if....?

Question

Alrite I'am about to apply for financial aid but my dad died when I was younger...My mom got re-married a year ago and now my mom's husband, my two brothers, and myself all live together. My step dad did not adopt me and I am not legally binded to him in any way, but he does make a nice salart(6 digits) Will this affect how much money I get when I apply for FAFSA?

Answer 1

All you could qualify for student loans because you are a dependent student under 24 years old. However, the FAFSA form goes by the entire household income and savings regardless if he is your step dad or biological dad. Unfortunately the government does nto care either way if he adopted you or not when it comes to financial aid. However, it does not stop you from applying for outside scholarship money. I will include some free resources to locate college tuition money.

First, your high school guidance office has a list of local scholarships for its students to apply for consideration. These are the easiest to obtain compared to the national based scholarship competitions.

Second, the local public library has a book listing scholarships with some not even listed on the web.

Third, search for academic grants from your state on Google.com and Yahoo.com. Some states offer grants for students with certain GPAs.

Finally, join several free membership scholarship search websites. You fill out a profile, and they will search for scholarships matching your profile. There is a scholarship for almost anything out there including wearing duct tape to the prom. There is a scholarship at Halloween.com.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Unfortunately, you will have to put your moms and your step-dads income on the fafsa application. You will likely be eligible for the Unsubsidized Stafford Loan (max amount as a freshman is 3,500) to pay for your education, so I would try for as many scholarships as you can. Your parents would be eligible to borrow for you as well, sometimes called PLUS loans.

You can definitely go to places like www.fastweb.com and similar, but you will have a better chance of getting a scholarship from either a local agency (your church, your local high school, any clubs you belong to like the Boy Scouts) as well as the college you will be actually attending. Most schools have their own internal scholarships, be sure to check their website and ask specific departments about scholarships as well. Open on for those who want to be Spanish majors for example.
Good Luck.