I went through basically this. Worked full time while I was at school at various jobs to make ends meet.

But I don't resent the school system for denying me aid. I understand that I represent a very small population of people who:

1) Want to go to college

2) Had very wealthy parents

3) Wanted nothing to do with said parents

In basically every other case, the system works reasonably well, and I'm not sure we should be making financial aid easier to get for the wealthier folks just because a few folks like me come along every year.

And you're how the system should work. I grew up to middle class parents but was largely in the same situation, except my parents had nothing to help with. Multiple bankruptcies, a failed business, and marital problems eventually led to my childhood home being foreclosed on. I've seen both wealthy and poor alike game the system. It's frustrating, especially when the hard times are from their own poor decision making. One family I knew could have entirely paid off their home, bought a modest used vehicle the desperately needed, and saved some money for college. They blew it on giving it away to friends and family vacations. Their car fell apart and their home was foreclosed on, their children were forced to drop out of college all because they made poor decisions and refused any attempts at listening to the warning we tried to offer then that they were making poor decisions. These were people below the poverty line. If they'd waited a single year they would have been able to have it all with what they and from paying off their mortgage.

By no means am I claiming to be perfect financially. We moved before we were ready because the neighbors we'd previously been close with became resentful as our financial situation improved beyond theirs. They would do really insane things, burning trash in their yards immediately after we washed our cars to get our cars covered in ash, putting a floodlight directly into our bedroom that would go off randomly at night, blocking our driveway. We bought a house below what we could have in a moderately nice, but not upscale neighborhood. It took us months of searching for the right house. I have to drive a bit farther for work when I can't work from home, but saving thousands a year in mortgage payments and living in what we've made our dream home is worth it to us.

People like you are what makes the system better. Putting in the work and earning it. I bet you're awesome at what you do.

I’m astounded that someone would waste their time on such petty nonsense. Maybe they’d have a chance at making more money if they didn’t waste their time engaging in such stupid antics

We were rather shocked as well. We were close enough that at one point we helped them pay their mortgage when they were struggling one month and had to choose between feeding their kids and paying for their house. It wasn't a huge mortgage and we were single and doing very well at the time so it wasn't like we were saints, but we thought we were good friends. Then the wife, who never worked, had a mid life crisis and things went wildly downhill fast. We used to have an awesome little dead end street too. Oh well.

Yup. I had to include both my parents tax information. It was assumed they would contribute a bunch of money, which zero was contributed from them. I got $0.00 in free money from parents or government. That was fun.

Yup, knew parents of good friends and my own that would help a little in a dire pinch but the expectation was to get scholarships and/or work through college for it. Makes sense particularly if you consider a family with 3 or more kids. I make good money but I ain't got half a million dollars to throw at Universities..

I've a dozen kids, so yeah...

As far as I can tell, the FAFSA is a bait-and-switch. You're enticed with grants and scholarships, but all you get is inadequate loans. I have never met anybody who got the grants and scholarships.

Perhaps it works if you are an independent student. For that you must do one of the following: wait until you are 24, get married, serve in the military, have a kid, go into foster care, or have your parents both die.

Or students that had a good relationship with their separated parents, but would deny any support from the wealthier parent in their loan applications.

Or students that had cash-paying jobs to keep their income low

Or those returning to school being penalized because they saved some funds in the intervening years (I guess this one's debatable... still annoying how they expected me to withdraw from my 401k equivalent, but didn't expect you to cash out your pension)

> Or students that had cash-paying jobs to keep their income low

So they committed tax fraud as well as financial aid fraud? (Presumably “cash” is another way of saying “unreported income.”

There are those that do, especially as students (often working in tip-heavy industries).

Just making the point that means-testing is fraught with hazards.