Is financial aid for online students available?

College financial aid for students whose parents wont help them?

• Ok, so I know this may be a weird place to post an important question like this, but I figure it couldn't hurt any to get opinions from some other people. I am 20 years old, and graduated from high school last year. I have a fairly average GPA(3.1), nothing fantastic, nothing terrible. I never really was the outgoing type in high school, and didnt participate in many extracurriculars, so I didnt recieve any scholarships. I am trying to go to the community college in my town, because they are nearby and are far more affordable than other colleges. My family does not have alot of money, and I wasn't expecting my parents to be able to help me in paying for school. Therefore, I knew that the majority of my college payments would be coming from federal financial aid, depending on how much I qualified for. This is where the problem is: Me and my parents dont get along. There are days when we dont even speak to each other, and we are constantly, constantly arguing. In June, I told them that the deadline for filling out the FAFSA to get financial aid was August 28th. They STILL have not filled it out, and about a month ago I realized that they are not going to. I've mentioned it to them on multiple occasions, and they just wont do it, for one reason or another, depending on the day's events. My problem is, I am only 20 years old, and the law states that any student under 24 MUST HAVE their parents financial/tax/income information. The only exceptions they make to that are if the parents are dead, in jail, or if the student is a ward of the state, or if the student is a single parent or married. I don't fall under any of those categories, and when I asked the financial advisor at my school what my other options for aid are, she said to me, and I quote, "Frankly, your other options suck". She told me that I can TRY and take out student loans, but that the interest rate would be much much higher without my parents information, and that I also do not qualify for any federal grants. She then gave me her card and her number and told me to have my parents call her, which if she was listening to me she would have realized that my parents are not the kind of people who are going to call her. I'm sorry this is kind of a rant, but I just wanted some non-biased opinions, and thought maybe other people had been in the same sort of situation and could share some of their wisdom/ideas/solutions. What other ways, without providing my parents information, can I use to pay for school? Or are students like me basically out of luck until we turn 24? ANY insight would be greatly appreciated :)

• Answer:

  With all due respect to the person above me, it will not matter whether you establish your own residency/income. You will still have to use your parent's tax information until you turn 24. Your going to need the tax info in order to qualify for any federal aid. I would suggest that you try to make peace with your parents, and at least get the info from them. Don't expect them to fill out the application, you are going to need to do that part. If this is not possible, then you will have to pay out of pocket or try to take out private student loans. I will say that you will need a cosigner with good credit to get the private loan. There really isn't any other options. I hope you can figure something out and Good Luck!