Click here to go to the NEW College Discussion Forum

We are temporary guardians to a 17 year old high school junior. She hasn't lived with either of her parents in 5 years, and they do not support her financially.

Does anyone know how she can get the most money based on her actual inability to pay for college? If she has to use show our income tax returns, she won't be eligible for as much as she should but we are really not able to pay anything towards her education.

By Justin185 (Justin185) on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 02:28 am: Edit

Financial aid is funny thing. My parents make a decent income but my dad has thrown all the money away so my parents could not pay for me and my brother to go to school. However, we did get decent grants and loans through the school but still had to take out additional loans to cover the parents' contribution amount. I have loans for over $13,000...this is what my parents should have paid for me. According to the FAFSA information they should have been able to afford it but the FAFSA does not show personal debt. I transfered to another school late in the financial aid process so I had to take out a loan for $9000. All of the loans that I have personally acquired were done so with a very generous cosigner. That cosigner is the only reason I am able to go to college for the past two years. In my experience, my inability and my parents' inability to pay was never considered.

By Vadad (Vadad) on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 01:21 pm: Edit

I would doubt that a temporary guardianship would be viewed by the DOE and the colleges as a relationship that compelled you to make a contribution, but that's a guess. If she is sufficiently emancipated from her parents that she is under different legal guardianship, it would be pretty comical to count their contribution. The only way that I know of to determine this, though, is to call a financial aid office and/or the DOE.