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A severe situation exists in your family that prevents you from obtaining your parents’ financial information, such as physical or emotional abuse, severe estrangement, abandonment, parental drug or alcohol abuse, mental incapacity, or another such situation beyond your control.
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PERSONAL STATEMENT
- On separate paper, tell us in your own words why you should be considered an independent student. Please tell us about the events in your life that led up to your current separation from your family. Include a description of your past and current relationship with each of your parents (mother, father, or stepparent), and provide a timeline with the approximate dates of the events leading to the breakdown of this relationship. If you are receiving support from friends or relatives, describe the nature of that support and how you came to receive it. If you are self-supporting, explain how you came to support yourself, and over what period of time you have done this. Your personal statement must be signed and dated.
REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION
- Provide statements from at least two adult professionals who are not family members and can confirm the family circumstances you describe in your personal statement. Signed statements should be on official letterhead or have the person’s business card attached. Adult professionals include clergy members, lawyers, guidance counselors, family counselors, teachers, professors, doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists or other qualified mental health professionals, and law enforcement officers. If you were raised by a family member or another person who is not your parent, one of the required statements may be from that person. The persons providing statements must explain how they know you and how they came to know about your family circumstances. All statements must be originals, not photocopies, and signed. If you are self-supporting, be prepared to submit Federal IRS Tax Return Transcripts for 2022 and/or 2023. You may be asked for other financial documents to prove self-support. If you have other documents that you believe support your appeal, such as death certificates, police reports, apartment leases, utility bills, etc., please submit copies of these documents.
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You are a non-U.S. citizen (who is otherwise eligible to receive federal financial aid), your parents currently reside in a foreign country and you are unable to obtain parental information because of longstanding political policy or civil unrest in that country that prevents mail or funds from passing between you and your parents.
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PERSONAL STATEMENT
- On separate paper, tell us in your own words why you should be considered an independent student. Please describe the situation where your parents live that prevents mail or funds from entering or leaving the country. If you are receiving support from friends or relatives, you must describe the nature of that support and how you came to receive it. If you are self-supporting, explain how you came to support yourself, and the period of time you have done this.
REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION
- Provide a statement from an official from the embassy (or other diplomatic office) of the country where your parents live or from an appropriate refugee agency that describes the long-standing political policy or civil unrest that exists there. The statement must confirm that it is impossible to get mail or funds in or out of the country. The statement must be an original, not a photocopy.
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None of the above.
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If you do not meet one of the above situations, you are not eligible to submit a Dependency Status appeal.
If you have general Financial Aid questions, please visit our Panther Station Virtual Office and a representative will be available to assist you.
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