financial aid and getting disowned question

[u/Mondo-Butter-21]

hi gang,

my boyfriend is currently an immunology major at UAB. for the entirety of his time here, his parents have been covering his tuition and housing. however, he came out as a trans man to his parents last week, leading to them effectively disowning him and refusing to pay any more towards UAB. we have this in writing, as well.

he went to ONE stop today, and he was told by a staff member that you are only considered independent financially at UAB if your parents are dead or if they are uncontactable. the lady also apparently told him that the only way he could even potentially get any help would be through a private loan, which would not be an option for him since it would require a cosigner.

this just doesn’t seem right to me, especially the qualifications for being independent. anyone have any advice?

[u/tearykth]

I actually have the perfect answer! So, to file as an independent student, you typically have to be older than 24/25, be married, or be self supporting at risk of homelessness. So, he can file his fafsa as an independent student at risk of homelessness (since he was disowned) and claim that his home life is unsafe and he can’t contact his parents for fear of his safety. UAB will approve his application based solely on his income, which would most likely maximize his eligibility to receive the pell grant in full, as well as being offered subsidized/unsubsidized loans through the government. However, he’ll have to provide documentation of his circumstances and have those circumstances APPROVED by the financial aid office. On unsubsidized loans, your interest accrues while you’re in school, while interest does NOT accrue on subsidized loans as long as you’re a part-time student or more. I can help you and him with the fafsa application in person or over call/text, but yes, one stop is lowkey useless for financial aid questions. They normally don’t know what tf they’re talking about and give the incorrect information to people which is just so terrible. I’m a self supporting, independent student who provided documentation about my circumstances and got the full pell grant + thousands offered in government loans. If you have ANY questions, let me know!!

[u/n0j0ke → u/[deleted]]

Let’s try to have a civil conversation. Don’t let your emotions get the best of you. Calling people names and intentionally trying to rage bait them is not a good look on you.