FAFSA dependency status confusion - legal guardianship of niece but not adoption

Legal guardianship is actually one of the ways a student can qualify as independent on the FAFSA! If you have court documents establishing legal guardianship (not just custody), then your niece can file as an independent student. When completing the FAFSA, she'll answer "yes" to the question about legal guardianship. This means neither your information nor her biological parents' information will be required. Make sure to have copies of the court documents ready in case the financial aid office requests verification.

careful, there's a big difference between custody and guardianship!! colleges are SUPER picky about this. my cousin thought she was independent bc her grandparents had custody but financial aid office made her get her parents info anyway. brutal process.

I just found our paperwork and it DOES say custody, not guardianship. So frustrating! Does this mean we have to somehow get her biological parents' information? Her dad hasn't even been in the picture for years and probably hasn't filed taxes. This feels impossible.

i went thru something similar with my nephew but different...he had to get a dependency override. each school handles it differently but they all wanted like TONS of documentation and letters from "objective third parties" whatever that means lol. took forever but we eventually got it approved

yeah unfortunately we had to do it for each school separately :( some were pretty easy just needed the court docs and a letter explaining things, others wanted like professional letters from his therapist and his high school counselor. nobody made us contact his bio dad tho since we had documentation that he hadn't been in contact for years

BEWARE because even with a dependancy override, she will only be eligible for the base federal loan amounts as if her parents were contributing the full expected family contribution (EFC). My foster child got screwed by this - got the dependancy override but then hardly any actual aid because the system assumes independant students can pay more out of pocket somehow?? Makes NO SENSE.

I just got off the phone with someone at Federal Student Aid (thanks for the Claimyr tip @profile3, it actually worked!). They confirmed we need to pursue dependency overrides with each school since we have custody but not guardianship. The FSA agent said to gather: 1) Our court custody documents, 2) Letter explaining the situation, 3) Letter from a professional who knows the situation (teacher, counselor, etc.), 4) Any documentation showing we've supported her financially. They're going to add notes to her FAFSA record that schools can see. For the actual FAFSA, she should first try completing it with "I am unable to provide parental information" selected, then immediately contact each school's financial aid office.

For anyone dealing with these kinds of special circumstances, documenting the "unusual nature" of the situation is critical. Financial aid officers have told me they look for: 1. Evidence of abandonment/neglect by biological parents 2. Impossibility (not just difficulty) in obtaining parental information 3. Evidence the student is self-supporting or supported by someone else 4. Letters from professionals (not family friends) who can verify the situation Also, very important: dependency overrides must be renewed EACH YEAR. Don't assume it carries over automatically.

Just wanted to add that you might also want to contact the colleges directly to ask about their specific dependency override policies. Some schools are much more generous with these than others, and it could factor into her final college decision. I've heard that some private schools with large endowments are particularly flexible with special circumstances like this. Also, make sure to ask each financial aid office about their timeline - some process these overrides much faster than others, which could be important given those early priority deadlines you mentioned. Good luck!