The law governing Federal Student Aid (Title IV) categorizes students as "dependent"
or "independent" based on the premise the student and parents have the primary responsibility
for meeting the student's educational costs. This premise applies even when the parents
are not actually supporting the student.
The institution's financial aid administrator is given the statutory authority to
exercise "professional judgment" and declare a dependent student independent if he
or she determines this action would be reasonable in light of documented unusual or
unique circumstances.
NOTE: Parents refusal to contribute financially or unwillingness to complete the Free
Application for Federal Student Aid, or the student not being claimed on the parent(s)'
Federal Tax Return, or the student showing self-sufficiency are not reasons to declare
a student independent for Federal Student Financial Aid.
However, some unusual circumstances which qualify as reasons to declare a student independent may include, but are not limited to: parental abandonment of the student, leaving an abusive family environment which threatens the student's physical/emotional health or safety, or a student's inability to locate parents for a long-term and on-going basis.
Students may complete the Dependency Override process on Owl Express.
All requests for a Dependency Override must be processed by June 15th for the current academic year, for example, for the 2021-2022 academic year requests must be processed by June 15, 2022. Requests received after the June 15th date will not be considered.
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