Ask HN: Going to College with NIL Family Support?

Re:Ask HN: Going to College with NIL Family Support? by tokenadult on Thursday February 05, 2009 @07:56PM (#469101)

If they are professional class, their incomes will make it so he doesn't qualify for financial aid. If they won't cosign loans, it puts said young person in a very tough situation.

Yes. That is the problem. The college financial aid principles in the United States

http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/highered/fa/Econo...

make an assumption that parents are the funding source of first resort for any young person pursuing an undergraduate degree at the usual age, and young people not supported by their own parents don't have enough creditworthiness to borrow their way through an elite undergraduate college.

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Re:Ask HN: Going to College with NIL Family Support? by ktom on Thursday February 05, 2009 @08:18PM (#469151)

I am not certain if the works in the United States, but you could divorce yourself from your parents.

Then their financial standing would no longer affect you, because they would no longer be legally considered your family.

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Re:Ask HN: Going to College with NIL Family Support? by tokenadult on Friday February 06, 2009 @10:55AM (#469862)

Here's an MIT statement from the director of financial aid:

"For MIT, our definition of an independent student is one where there are no parents to rely upon for information (in cases of deceased parents or abuse or neglect). The bar is set pretty high, so we do not generally allow students to be considered independant."

http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/finaid/financial_aid/its...

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Re:Ask HN: Going to College with NIL Family Support? by tokenadult on Thursday February 05, 2009 @10:17PM (#469287)

It's called being declared legally emancipated in the United States, but I think it is not easy to do.

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