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Being Independent

Many of us spend our lives as a child dreaming about the day we’ll be “grown-up” or independent. No rules, no parents, but making the decisions, and having all the freedom in the world! Eighteen is seen as the golden year of independence. When it comes to financial aid, however, the word “independent” is used a little differently.

Your Expected Family Contribution (the amount you’ll have to put toward your education) is directly affected by whether or not you’re the only one paying for it. Independent students don’t have to factor in a family contribution when requesting student aid — only a personal one — so their awards are generally greater in dollar value. Sounds great, right? Who wouldn’t want to be independent?

The federal government sets very strict guidelines defining independence for the purposes of allocating aid. Why? The basic assumption of the Federal Methodology, used to calculate need, is that it’s the responsibility of a student — and their family — to contribute toward college costs as much as possible. If every student could claim themselves an independent, then every family would be off the hook.

Saturday, May 30th, 2009, by Gem and is filed under "Graduate, Undergraduate, aid, being, colleges, financial, independent, student, universities ". Both comments and pings are currently closed.