Completing the FAFSA FAQ

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a form that must be filed each year to determine eligibility for financial aid for prospective and current college students.

You can complete the FAFSA at www.studentaid.gov.

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If you are a dependent student, you will report your and your parents’ information on the FAFSA.

• Your answers to questions on the FAFSA determine whether you are considered a dependent or independent student.
• Not living with your parents or not being claimed by them on tax forms does not make you an independent student for purposes of applying for federal student aid.
• If you answer no to all of the dependency questions on the FAFSA, then for federal student aid purposes, you’re considered to be a dependent student and you must provide information about your parents on the FAFSA.

You still must answer the questions about your parents if you’re considered a dependent student.

If you have no contact with your parents and don’t know where they live, or you’ve left home due to an abusive situation, you may be eligible for a dependency override. See more details about dependency override>>

You cannot be considered independent of your parents just because they refuse to help you with this process.  If you do not provide information on the FAFSA, the application will be considered “rejected”, and you are not eligible for any need-based financial aid.  In special situations you may be eligible for unsubsidized loans; you should contact the financial aid office for additional information.

An adoptive parent is treated just like a biological parent.  For reporting income and assets, a stepparent is considered a parent if married to a biological or adoptive parent.  However, a stepparent who did not adopt the student cannot be the sole parent.  If the other parent dies, the student would then use the other remaining biological parent, not the stepparent.  If no biological parent remains, the student should answer yes to being an orphan and is independent.  Foster parents or legal guardians are not treated as parents for financial aid purposes.

The following people are not your parents unless they have adopted you: grandparents, foster parents, legal guardians, older brothers or sisters, and aunts or uncles.  You should not list their information in the parent section of the FAFSA.  If you live with someone beyond your parent and you cannot answer yes to one of the dependency questions, generally you would need to provide your biological parent’s information.

*Consistent with the Supreme Court decision holding Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional, same-sex couples must report their marital status as married if they were legally married in a state or other jurisdiction that permits same-sex marriage, without regard to where the couple resides. 

If parents become separated or divorced after the FAFSA was filed, the family may request a review of their special circumstances by completing a Special Condition Form, which is a way of reporting a drastic change in the family’s situation causing a major reduction in income.

If the student is planning to get married, careful consideration should be given in deciding whether to file the financial aid application before or after the wedding date.  A student cannot put a future date on the application because they plan to be married by that date.  It is strongly recommended for a student to make an appointment with a financial aid counselor to discuss their marriage plans and the effect on student aid in detail.