Parental Income Forum

[hdunn85]

NESL has a financial aid packet with a section on parental income/assets that must be filed in order to qualify for institutional aid. My family is upper middle class but will not be providing any monetary assistance to my law school experience. Should I file this parental income section, and hope for institutional aid, even though my family is not "needy"? Will it hurt my chances of getting other loans ect. if the school findouts that my family has money?

[Bobalou]

NESL has a financial aid packet with a section on parental income/assets that must be filed in order to qualify for institutional aid. My family is upper middle class but will not be providing any monetary assistance to my law school experience. Should I file this parental income section, and hope for institutional aid, even though my family is not "needy"? Will it hurt my chances of getting other loans ect. if the school findouts that my family has money?

Not sure if this helps, but...are you trying to qualify as an independent student? In my case with FAFSA and Needs Access I was able to qualify as independent because I:
1) have not lived with a parent for more than 5 years
2) have not been claimed as a dependent for more than 5 years
3) have not accepted any gifts (read: income that you would need to claim on your taxes) from my parents in more than 5 years.

How old are you? Have you been claimed as a dependent? When you filed your FAFSA did you qualify as independent student? If not, you'll most likely be asked for your parents' tax return info. Full disclosure is key, do not lie on these forms. If a school says that you dont qualify for institutional aid because of your parents' income, take out GradPlus loans in your name. Also keep in mind that depending on the school, most of that "institutional aid" is only about $500 and probably not worth the headache of applying for.

HTH

[Georgiana]

NESL has a financial aid packet with a section on parental income/assets that must be filed in order to qualify for institutional aid. My family is upper middle class but will not be providing any monetary assistance to my law school experience. Should I file this parental income section, and hope for institutional aid, even though my family is not "needy"? Will it hurt my chances of getting other loans ect. if the school findouts that my family has money?

If the school requires it, you have to fill it out. Being independent for FAFSA purposes or knowing that your parents aren't contributing won't exempt you from their requirements.

[03121202698008]

NESL has a financial aid packet with a section on parental income/assets that must be filed in order to qualify for institutional aid. My family is upper middle class but will not be providing any monetary assistance to my law school experience. Should I file this parental income section, and hope for institutional aid, even though my family is not "needy"? Will it hurt my chances of getting other loans ect. if the school findouts that my family has money?

If the school requires it, you have to fill it out. Being independent for FAFSA purposes or knowing that your parents aren't contributing won't exempt you from their requirements.

You're automatically independant for FAFSA as you are a grad student. As a result, none of the law schools care and most ask you for it anyhow.

[ccs224]

Having submitted all my parental info, over their initial objections, I have to say that it seemed to have no effect whatsoever. I was offered the max available subsidized and unsubsidized fed loans and the rest in grad plus pretty much everywhere.