You know what really makes me mad? The fact that I have to put down my parents’ income every year on my FAFSA. As a student who works up to four jobs at a time to pay for school and does not receive help for paying my school costs, this seems incredibly unfair.
I know many of you feel the same way that I do. From not being able to report our own tuition and school costs on our tax forms, due to being listed as dependents, to not receiving a well-deserved Pell Grant because the government decides that our parents should be giving us thousands of dollars each year, I have to say that I am tired of a broken system!
I am about to start my next round of taxes for the upcoming year and I am already dreading the results. Isn’t it time that students get to report what is actually being paid for their tuition costs instead of reporting what some higher power thinks should be happening? I am tired of being penalized for the money I make and having nothing in the bank to show for it at the end of the term.
What are your thoughts and how do you deal with the “FAFSA nightmare”?
So I was living with my Dad the first semester of college but in December he got into a serious motorcycle accident. I had to drop out of my second semester so I could use the money to pay the mortgage and bills. That was all the money I had saved up and family had given me for school. Now its all gone. On top of that I’m now living on my own and working full time. No one in my family can afford to help me pay for school. Its ridiculous that I have to use my parents income, though it is fortunate (in terms of Fafsa) that neither of them are making much money so I do qualify for 5000 dollars. (yeay me I can now afford to go to the cheapest community college in the state!) The problem now is that the IRS won’t take my address even though I’m copying it letter for letter from my Tax returns, so the retrieval tool isn’t working. If it doesn’t work soon I’m going to miss out on another semester. Really looking forward to that!