Financial aid question...am I totally screwed?? Forum

[operagrl71]

Okay, so I've been out of college for a few years working in the non-profit sector making a pretty pitiful salary/working part-time jobs to cover my expenses...my parents however have a pretty substantial income (divorced for 10+ years, but together they're probably in the $300K+ range). Neither of them claims me as a dependent, neither helped me pay for undergrad (end result is $70K undergrad debt), and neither is going to help me pay for law school.

I'm old enough that FAFSA doesn't require my parent's income, but young enough that most schools will still want to take it into account...so essentially I'm just trying to figure out how screwed I am for need-based financial aid at law schools, particularly the T-14.

A few additional details:

My mother got re-married last year to a retiree who has a hefty nest-egg, he and I don't have much of a relationship since I've only known him for a year, but they're planning to file a joint return - will this hurt me??

My father was kind of a non-entity in my life prior to college so my mother and I succesfully petitioned to have his income excluded from my undergrad fin-aid calculations, is this something I can do with law schools as well??

Kind of hate putting all my business out there but I'm flying blind here and would really love to get some idea of what to expect...thanks!

[bk1]

Very few schools give need aid and many of the ones that do don't offer much.

[kwais]

this happened to me. I was independent for tax purposes for 6 years, no help from parents for law school and schools still wanted all parental financials. It screwed me big.

[bdubs]

Very few schools give need aid and many of the ones that do don't offer much.

This

[operagrl71]

this happened to me. I was independent for tax purposes for 6 years, no help from parents for law school and schools still wanted all parental financials. It screwed me big.

Yeah that's kind of what I anticipated, guess I'll just plan on getting nothing in the way of need based aid . I'll tell ya, state school is starting to look more and more appealing every day...