{"id":269,"date":"2014-09-25T09:45:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-25T15:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/delayed-adulthood-and-the-college-financial-aid-process.html"},"modified":"2015-03-01T22:12:20","modified_gmt":"2015-03-02T04:12:20","slug":"delayed-adulthood-and-the-college-financial-aid-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/09\/delayed-adulthood-and-the-college-financial-aid-process.html","title":{"rendered":"Delayed adulthood — and the college financial aid process"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So yesterday I commented<\/a> that a graduate student is automatically defined as an \u201cindependent\u201d student and hence eligible for financial aid based solely on their own (presumably paltry) income and savings. \u00a0This was not what I had remembered from the last time I looked at these regulations<\/a> \u2014 and there were a couple other surprises as well. <\/p>\n

Once upon a time \u2014 and this is going from memory \u2014 there was a true dependency test: \u00a0if, for two years or more, you were living on your own, not supported by your parents (no rent money, no car, no car insurance), you were considered \u201cindependent.\u201d \u00a0That\u2019s gone. \u00a0Instead, there\u2019s an age cut-off: \u00a0you\u2019re \u201cindependent\u201d at age 24. \u00a0Alternatively, you can be married (hmmm . . . \u00a0a rare instance of a benefit to being married as opposed to a \u201cmarriage penalty\u201d), or have a kid for whom you contribute 50%+ in support (so I guess dads paying child support \u201ccount\u201d but possibly not a baby-mama living at home with her parents), or be a veteran.<\/p>\n

What if you live apart from your parents but are under 24? \u00a0Too bad, basically. \u00a0If your parents don\u2019t provide their financial information, except for extreme cases (parents are incarcerated, you literally can\u2019t contact your parents, you were abused, or you are at least 21 and \u201chomeless or at risk of being homeless\u201d \u2014 and you can prove it), then \u201cthe most you would be able to get (depending on what the financial aid office at your college decides) would be a loan called an unsubsidized loan.\u201d <\/p>\n

This is brutal. \u00a0Gobs of money for grad students \u2014 because there are no limits for grad student loans, and it\u2019s my understanding they\u2019re now also eligible for income-based repayment. \u00a0But undergraduates? \u00a0Everyone complains that they\u2019re not taking on the responsibilities of adulthood, but these regulations certainly force college students into dependency much more so than their prior incarnation.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: \u00a0according to this third-party site<\/a>,<\/p>\n

Before 1992, one could become independent if the parents didn\u2019t claim the student as an exemption on their tax returns for two years and the student provided evidence that he or she is self supporting. This is the old definition, and is no longer valid.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So I guess that shows my age.<\/p>\n

This in itself is a very interesting page, though: \u00a0if a parent refuses to pay for a kid\u2019s education, or even refuses to fill out the financial aid form, the advice is basically to cajole the parents in any way possible, to ask the financial aid office to nag them as well, and to remind them that it\u2019s their moral responsibility to do so. \u00a0The unanswered question is this: \u00a0how much cash are parents morally obliged to fork over?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So yesterday I commented that a graduate student is automatically defined as an \u201cindependent\u201d student and hence eligible for financial aid based solely on their own (presumably paltry) income and savings. \u00a0This was not what I had remembered from the last time I looked at these regulations \u2014 and there were a couple other surprises […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[202],"class_list":["post-269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-financial-aid"],"yoast_head":"\nDelayed adulthood -- and the college financial aid process<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So yesterday I commented that a graduate student is automatically defined as an "independent" student and hence eligible for financial aid based solely on\" \/>\n<meta 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