Dependency Status

When you apply for federal student aid, your answers to certain questions will determine whether you're considered dependent on your parents or independent. If you are considered dependent on your parents, their income and assets as well as your own must be reported. If you are independent, report only your own income and assets (and those of your spouse, if you're married). Not living with
your parents does not automatically classify you as independent.

Students are classified as dependent or independent because federal student aid programs are based on the principle that students (and their parents or spouse, if applicable) are considered the primary source of support for postsecondary education.

For the 2002-2003 academic year, you're an independent student if at least one of the following applies to you:

• you were born before January 1, 1979;
• you're married;
• you are or will be enrolled in a master's or doctoral program (beyond a bachelor's degree) during the 2002-2003 school year;
• you have children who receive more than half their support from you;
• you have dependents (other than your children or spouse) who live with you and who receive more than half of their support from you and will continue to receive more than half their support from you through June 30, 2003;
• you're an orphan or ward of the court (or were a ward of the court until age 18); or
• you're a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces ("veteran" includes students who attended a U.S. service academy and who were released under a condition other than dishonorable).

In unusual cases, an aid administrator can determine that a student who doesn't meet the above criteria should still be treated as an independent student. The financial aid administrator can change the dependency status if he or she thinks circumstances warrant it based on the documentation provided by the student. But remember, the aid
administrator won't automatically do this. The decision is based on their judgment and is final-it can't be appealed to the U.S. Department of Education.

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