Is it better to file as dependent or independent when your filling out the...

[some*girl]

...FAFSA financial aid stuff? Are you usually more likely to recieve financial aid if you file as independent instead of dependent?

I'm trying to go back to shool this summer, and my first semester was the fall '08 semester. I took the spring one off. I live at home still, but woudl like to move out. The first semester my dad helped pay for my classes, but he wont do that again. So I was thinking about how to fill out the FAFSA financial aid thing and wasnt sure if I should put myself as dependent and just live at home, or if I should move out, and put independent.

 

[Nycki]

Independent probably. I did dependently with my dad a couple years ago on the FAFSA. I think as a dependent, how much you get is based on your parents, where as if you did in independently, how much you get in loans and grants is based on how much you made that year. Cause your parents probably make more than you do because they've had so much experience and they're are two of them if not divorced.

 

[Christy]

It really doesn't have anything to do with whether or not you live with your parents. They will ask you a series of questions and determine if you're a dependent student or an independent student based on your answers. I've been paying for my own school for 3 years now, but b/c I wasn't at least 23, married, or didn't have a child, I was still considered a dependent student. I had to use my parents' income information.

If you are not 23 by January of this year or if you're not married or if you don't have a child, you're still a dependent. Sorry. It kind of sucks, but that's the government for you. It doesn't mean you won't be offered stafford loans through the school (these you pay back). It just means based on your parents' income, you may or may not get grants from the government that you wouldn't have to pay back.

Good luck with getting back into school. It's worth all the trouble.