Are your parents uneasy about handing over their financial information?
Parents may be hesitant to offer their personal and financial information to students — possibly because they may assume that doing so obligates them to pay for your college education, even if they don’t have the money to do so. However, you can reassure your parents that their financial information is only used to determine your eligibility for financial assistance. If they help by providing the needed information, you may get more financial aid. But if they don’t help by providing the needed documentation, you may have trouble being considered for any need-based aid.
Here are some tips on what to do next:
- Speak with a financial aid administrator of the college that you have applied to. They may be able to help intervene with your parent(s) and persuade them to help you complete the FAFSA.
- Remind your parents that the federal government and education system consider it the family's primary responsibility to pay for the child's education. So, even if you don't expect tem to help finance your education, you need their help to apply.
- Show your parents how much money you have and can earn to explain that you're doing what you can to cover the costs. Then show them how much it will cost and the size of the gap. Make it clear to them that if they don't help fill the gap by helping you complete the FAFSA and apply for financial aid, you won't be able to complete your education despite your efforts.
- Emphasize that their refusal to help doesn't get you any more aid. Some parents may think that if they don’t claim any income, you’ll get more help with school. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works.
- Discuss the serious consequences of not graduating from college and its potential harm on your future. Help them understand that times have changed, and more jobs today require higher education than when your parents were your age.
Under certain severe circumstances, financial aid administrators may have the ability to override a student’s dependency determination and thereby declare the student independent, so it is important to set up an appointment to speak with them if you can’t get all you need to complete the FAFSA.
For more tips on how to get parents involved in the FAFSA application process, visit http://www.finaid.org/otheraid/parentsrefuse.phtml.