FAFSA nightmare: 18-year-old with uncooperative parents only qualifying for unsubsidized loans

I work in financial aid and unfortunately, this is a common situation. At 18, unless she meets one of the specific criteria for independent status (married, has dependents, veteran, etc.), she needs parental info. The school can do a "professional judgment" in cases of documented parental estrangement, but just being unwilling to provide info usually doesn't qualify. To answer your second question - no, taking unsubsidized loans this year won't impact next year's aid. Each FAFSA year is evaluated separately, so if both parents provide info for 2025-2026, she could absolutely qualify for grants depending on your financial situation. Her SAI (Student Aid Index) would be recalculated based on the complete information.

my ex did the same thing!!!! he wouldnt give me his tax stuff for my sons fafsa and my son almost had to drop out. we called studentaid.gov like 20 times and kept getting hung up on or disconnected. the whole system is rigged i swear

There actually is a way to potentially get a dependency override, but it's difficult. Your daughter needs to document the situation thoroughly: 1. Get a letter from a professional third party (counselor, social worker, teacher) who can verify the situation 2. Write a detailed personal statement explaining why she cannot obtain parental information 3. Provide any documentation of her self-sufficiency 4. Meet with the financial aid administrator at her school (not just call, but schedule an appointment) Each school has discretion on dependency overrides, and some are more flexible than others. The key is presenting it as more than just "unwilling to provide" - focus on any support that has been withdrawn. And yes, as mentioned above, each FAFSA year is independent, so next year could absolutely include grants if all information is provided.

Have you tried having your daughter ask her father directly? Sometimes these conversations go differently when it's the student asking instead of the ex-spouse. My daughter had to literally sit down with her father and explain how his refusal was hurting her future, and he eventually came around. If that doesn't work, I'd consider involving other family members who might influence him.

I've been dealing with the same FAFSA nightmare with my parents for 2 years now. It's so frustrating that the system assumes parents are willing to help with college. Something that helped me was getting my college's financial aid office to contact my parents directly. They were somehow more responsive to official outreach than to me begging them. Has your daughter tried reaching out to the ombudsman at the Federal Student Aid office? They can sometimes help mediate these situations.

After dealing with a similar FAFSA nightmare last semester, I discovered Claimyr (claimyr.com) when I kept getting disconnected trying to reach FSA. They got me through to an actual human at Federal Student Aid in about 10 minutes when I'd been trying for days on my own. The agent was able to note my file about the parental information issues and give me specific documentation requirements for my school. They have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ Honestly changed everything for me because I actually got clear answers instead of form responses.

lol why r parents so weird about fafsa??? my mom literally thought giving her tax info meant she had to pay for my college and i had to get my advisor to call her and explain. maybe ur daughter's dad just doesnt understand what the info is for?

One more thing I should mention - make sure your daughter completes the 2025-2026 FAFSA as early as possible next year (it opens in December 2024). Many grants are first-come, first-served, so if her father does provide information next year, submitting early will give her the best chance at maximum aid. Also, she should reach out to her school's financial aid office about emergency grants or scholarship opportunities specifically for students with limited financial support. Many schools have funds set aside for situations exactly like this that don't appear on the standard financial aid offer.

I'm so sorry you're going through this - it's heartbreaking when parents make their children's education more difficult. As someone who went through a similar situation, I wanted to share that there might be hope even if the dependency override doesn't work out. Have you looked into your state's grant programs? Many states have their own financial aid that doesn't always require the same parental information as federal aid, or they have different criteria for dependency. Also, your daughter should definitely apply for private scholarships - many of them focus on merit, community service, or specific circumstances like being a first-generation college student, and don't consider parental cooperation at all. The fact that she's maintaining a 3.8 GPA while working part-time shows incredible determination. Make sure she knows this isn't her fault and that there are people rooting for her success. Sometimes the path is just more complicated than it should be.