This week has not been nearly as bad as last week at work! I've turned my frustration of not being able to help into a more constructive role of searching for solutions. I'm also taking the proactive approach to financial aid with this post to help sort out some common mistakes made when determining a student's independent status for financial aid.

Many posts ago, I covered the steps for qualifying as an independent student for financial aid purposes. That said, the FAFSA wording and other legal mumbo jumbo often confuse people. Heck, we financial aid advisors still perform research to answer some questions. Hopefully this information will help for those more difficult FAFSA independent questions:

• Graduating mid-year
• A lot of students begin an academic year as an undergraduate, then graduate, and return the following semester or quarter as a graduate student. When filing the FAFSA, you must answer NO to the question asking if you are working toward your master's or professional degree. If you answer yes, you will not be considered for undergraduate federal aid such as Pell Grant. Notify the financial aid office if you do graduate mid-year and return as a graduate student, as your financial aid administrator can make the mid-year change in your aid.
• Married or separated
• If you are still legally married but separated from your spouse at the time you file the FAFSA, still file as married. However, only include your tax and asset information on the form. If you file as married but mistakenly include your spouse's information, your application could be rejected by the federal processor and it may affect your financial aid eligibility.
• Have children
• To be independent by having children, you must provide over 50% of the child's support. Students who live with their child in a parent's home (the child's grandparent), usually are not providing over 50% support if the parent is paying for food, shelter, etc. For a student paying child support to another person, the student is not paying over 50% in most cases. Neither of these situations are ironclad reasons to answer NO to the FAFSA question, but if you say you have a child for whom you provide over 50% support, be prepared to document your support.
• Have legal dependents
• This one is tricky because of each state's laws regulation the term "legal". For example, my state does not recognize common-law marriage, so a boyfriend or girlfriend living with a student is not automatically a legal dependent. Foster children non-related people in your household may not qualify as legal dependents. To avoid delays in your financial aid application processing, consult your financial aid office if you have any members in your household that fall into this category before filing the FAFSA.
• Ward/dependent of the court
• This is probably the most common of all dependency mistakes. If you were raised by, or lived with, someone other than your parent(s), this doesn't mean you were a ward/dependent of the court. Legal guardianship by a relative or friend is not the same. Ward/dependent of the court is a legal procedure where someone assigned by the state is the guardian. Students who were raised by a legal guardian other than a state-appointed person, should contact the financial aid office if biological parent information can't be obtained on the FAFSA.
• Veteran status
• This is the second most common mistake I see on the FAFSA. All too often, students who serve in the National Guard or Reserves and serve on active duty for training purposes only, answer yes to this question. Unfortunately, these students are not veterans. However, if a student in the National Guard or Reserves was called to active duty with regard to the Iraq conflict, they are automatically veterans, even if they return to the National Guard or Reserves after their tour of duty. The key is being called to active duty for other than training. If unsure of your status, the financial aid office can determine whether you are a veteran by reviewing your DD214.

I hope you find this information helpful. As I mentioned before, it's difficult to give "blanket" answers to all of these situations because of individual state laws. Don't be afraid to check with your financial aid administrator before filing the FAFSA, as this will reduce the amount of time and paperwork it requires of you by filing correctly. 

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