Need Access Question Forum

[oreo3405]

I filed for Need Access where it asks "Does your mother/father live in your household" and since they do not and I live on my own, I was not required to put my parents information on either my FAFSA or Need Access. Is this correct? I am worried that its incorrect and won't go through.

[booboo]

For FAFSA, you do not have to report your parents information.

For NeedAccess, you do. Even if you do not live with them.

[oreo3405]

For FAFSA, you do not have to report your parents information.

For NeedAccess, you do. Even if you do not live with them.

Well thats where I get confused. Once I put no for both questions, need access brought me to the homepage and said my parents information was Complete without me putting any other information.

[rinkrat19]

For FAFSA, you do not have to report your parents information.

For NeedAccess, you do. Even if you do not live with them.

If you answer that your parents aren't in your household, NeedAccess immediately hides all the rest of parental questions (except whether they're deceased or not).

[booboo]

For FAFSA, you do not have to report your parents information.

For NeedAccess, you do. Even if you do not live with them.

If you answer that your parents aren't in your household, NeedAccess immediately hides all the rest of parental questions (except whether they're deceased or not).

Whoops, sorry about that.

[oreo3405]

For FAFSA, you do not have to report your parents information.

For NeedAccess, you do. Even if you do not live with them.

If you answer that your parents aren't in your household, NeedAccess immediately hides all the rest of parental questions (except whether they're deceased or not).

Whoops, sorry about that.

So then I filled it out correctly? Thank you for the responses!

[rinkrat19]

For FAFSA, you do not have to report your parents information.

For NeedAccess, you do. Even if you do not live with them.

If you answer that your parents aren't in your household, NeedAccess immediately hides all the rest of parental questions (except whether they're deceased or not).

Whoops, sorry about that.

So then I filled it out correctly? Thank you for the responses!

I hope so! I read somewhere that some schools require parental info no matter what, but if NeedAcess hides it, how are you supposed to fill it in? Lie on the household questions? I figure if any of my schools require it (and I do happen to know that the 2 schools I really care about don't), they can ask me for it.

[oreo3405]

If you answer that your parents aren't in your household, NeedAccess immediately hides all the rest of parental questions (except whether they're deceased or not).

Whoops, sorry about that.[/quote]

So then I filled it out correctly? Thank you for the responses![/quote]

I hope so! I read somewhere that some schools require parental info no matter what, but if NeedAcess hides it, how are you supposed to fill it in? Lie on the household questions? I figure if any of my schools require it (and I do happen to know that the 2 schools I really care about don't), they can ask me for it.[/quote]


I saw that American requires parental information which is why i got nervous in the first place since I couldnt put it in. thanks!

[rinkrat19]

I hope so! I read somewhere that some schools require parental info no matter what, but if NeedAcess hides it, how are you supposed to fill it in? Lie on the household questions? I figure if any of my schools require it (and I do happen to know that the 2 schools I really care about don't), they can ask me for it.

I saw that American requires parental information which is why i got nervous in the first place since I couldnt put it in. thanks!

You can never go wrong calling or emailing the school (financial aid office if you can find a number/email) to ask. I'd call and ask to make sure, since you know for sure American wants parental info.

[oreo3405]

I am doing that as we speak, thanks!

[kch3684]

What was the response from the school? I have the same question...

[homestyle28]

For FAFSA, you do not have to report your parents information.

For NeedAccess, you do. Even if you do not live with them.

I didn't have to on my NA app. I'm a bit older, but that shouldn't matter.

[oreo3405]

AU response:


I believe the question you are referring to is asking about the parents’ household. It is not asking if your parents live in your household but rather it is asking if both of your parents live in the same household. If you need any further clarification on this, you can contact Need Access at the number that appears on the application.
 

... Does this make sense to anyone? I might have to call need access because I don't want to screw myself out of need based aid since I'm going to be a broke newlywed in a few months lol.

[kch3684]

AU response:


I believe the question you are referring to is asking about the parents’ household. It is not asking if your parents live in your household but rather it is asking if both of your parents live in the same household. If you need any further clarification on this, you can contact Need Access at the number that appears on the application.
 

... Does this make sense to anyone? I might have to call need access because I don't want to screw myself out of need based aid since I'm going to be a broke newlywed in a few months lol.

Maybe you can register for future debt payments? (I have the best knives/plates/pots/pans from when I got married!)
But as to your question that answer doesn't answer your question! Maybe calling the financial aid office so that you can continue to pester when they give you a non-answer?

[registeredtosay]

AU response:


I believe the question you are referring to is asking about the parents’ household. It is not asking if your parents live in your household but rather it is asking if both of your parents live in the same household. If you need any further clarification on this, you can contact Need Access at the number that appears on the application.
 

... Does this make sense to anyone? I might have to call need access because I don't want to screw myself out of need based aid since I'm going to be a broke newlywed in a few months lol.

Here's what I think they're talking about. You filled out this form like I did, which was wrong:



You (and I) thought that Need Access was asking if our parents were in our household. That is not what they're asking. Look at what I underlined in red on that image; they want to know if your father is in your parent's household. Under Mother Information, they want to know if your mother is in that same household. If your parents are married and living together, you have to answer "Yes" to both questions and fill out a bunch of information about your parent's finances. The only way you can answer "No" to those questions is if your parents are divorced, separated, deceased, etc.

[rinkrat19]

AU response:


I believe the question you are referring to is asking about the parents’ household. It is not asking if your parents live in your household but rather it is asking if both of your parents live in the same household. If you need any further clarification on this, you can contact Need Access at the number that appears on the application.
 

... Does this make sense to anyone? I might have to call need access because I don't want to screw myself out of need based aid since I'm going to be a broke newlywed in a few months lol.

Here's what I think they're talking about. You filled out this form like I did, which was wrong:



You (and I) thought that Need Access was asking if our parents were in our household. That is not what they're asking. Look at what I underlined in red on that image; they want to know if your father is in your parent's household. Under Mother Information, they want to know if your mother is in that same household. If your parents are married and living together, you have to answer "Yes" to both questions and fill out a bunch of information about your parent's finances. The only way you can answer "No" to those questions is if your parents are divorced, separated, deceased, etc.

The goddamn thing is just like FAFSA, with an unanswerable contradiction built into the questions. It wants the number of people "supported" by your parents in their household, and insists you include yourself, even if you are independent AND don't live there. Is it just me, or does that NOT MAKING ANY FUCKING SENSE? My dad lives alone: I refuse to answer '2' for the size of his household!

I'm only worried about Northwestern, which doesn't want parental info anyway, but it'd be nice if it were even possible to fill out the stupid forms properly.

[dddhhh]

AU response:


I believe the question you are referring to is asking about the parents’ household. It is not asking if your parents live in your household but rather it is asking if both of your parents live in the same household. If you need any further clarification on this, you can contact Need Access at the number that appears on the application.
 

... Does this make sense to anyone? I might have to call need access because I don't want to screw myself out of need based aid since I'm going to be a broke newlywed in a few months lol.

Here's what I think they're talking about. You filled out this form like I did, which was wrong:



You (and I) thought that Need Access was asking if our parents were in our household. That is not what they're asking. Look at what I underlined in red on that image; they want to know if your father is in your parent's household. Under Mother Information, they want to know if your mother is in that same household. If your parents are married and living together, you have to answer "Yes" to both questions and fill out a bunch of information about your parent's finances. The only way you can answer "No" to those questions is if your parents are divorced, separated, deceased, etc.

The goddamn thing is just like FAFSA, with an unanswerable contradiction built into the questions. It wants the number of people "supported" by your parents in their household, and insists you include yourself, even if you are independent AND don't live there. Is it just me, or does that NOT MAKING ANY FUCKING SENSE? My dad lives alone: I refuse to answer '2' for the size of his household!

I'm only worried about Northwestern, which doesn't want parental info anyway, but it'd be nice if it were even possible to fill out the stupid forms properly.

This makes me dread filling this out even more....hopefully NU will just ignore that question since they don't care about parental info.

[kch3684]

I thought northwestern DID want the parental info and that's why you have to fill it out?

[rinkrat19]

I thought northwestern DID want the parental info and that's why you have to fill it out?

Nope...Northwestern for sure does not care about your parents' finances. NYU and/or Michigan must want the parental info, since those are the other schools I put down on NeedAccess.

[dswimmer]

I've been married for almost 2 years and have been completely financially independent. My parents will contribute nothing and don't even want to give me the information to fill out the forms. I called Davis about this and they said that it won't be used to determine parental contributions, but when I have looked at other websites, it explicitly says that the schools will try to determine how much your parents will give you based off of this form.

Has anyone found a way around the parental information? Is there a note section or another form where you can indicate that your parents aren't going to contribute (I'm sure they'd sign that)?

[sarahh]

I've been married for almost 2 years and have been completely financially independent. My parents will contribute nothing and don't even want to give me the information to fill out the forms. I called Davis about this and they said that it won't be used to determine parental contributions, but when I have looked at other websites, it explicitly says that the schools will try to determine how much your parents will give you based off of this form.

Has anyone found a way around the parental information? Is there a note section or another form where you can indicate that your parents aren't going to contribute (I'm sure they'd sign that)?

Schools sometimes make an exception, but usually only in cases were the student has no contact with the parent. You cannot just have them sign a piece of paper saying they will not contribute - everyone would do that if they could. I would tell them that they need to fill out the information for you to be considered for need-based aid and that it does not obligate them to give you anything.

[dswimmer]

I've been married for almost 2 years and have been completely financially independent. My parents will contribute nothing and don't even want to give me the information to fill out the forms. I called Davis about this and they said that it won't be used to determine parental contributions, but when I have looked at other websites, it explicitly says that the schools will try to determine how much your parents will give you based off of this form.

Has anyone found a way around the parental information? Is there a note section or another form where you can indicate that your parents aren't going to contribute (I'm sure they'd sign that)?

Schools sometimes make an exception, but usually only in cases were the student has no contact with the parent. You cannot just have them sign a piece of paper saying they will not contribute - everyone would do that if they could. I would tell them that they need to fill out the information for you to be considered for need-based aid and that it does not obligate them to give you anything.

Yeah, I know. If only life were that easy...

[TheStrand]

dswimmer I'm in the same boat, I can't even get an address or a phone number. I don't know if this was just specific to the one school that I had to do Need Access for, but there was a section that was kind of like "anything else you want us to consider?" and I wrote them a statement explaining that I did not know my parents' info and had no way of getting it and expected nothing in contributions.

[angiej]

What the heck is Need Access?

[rinkrat19]

What the heck is Need Access?

It's like a private version of FAFSA (which you have to pay for) required, in addition to FAFSA, by some schools. There's a lot more estimating of future expenses and income on it.