Financial Aid assistance Problem!! Urgent!?

Ok here is the problem, My friend has recently movd out of her parents home, a whole story in its own but the quick version is mistreatment and shes also 20 so like its not time right, but anyway, she wishes to attend community college but is in desperate need of financial aid! Here then lies the problem while filling out the FAFSA forms there is information that is needed on the parents such as annual income and other tax form questions. The problem is they refuse toprovide her with any answers or means to getting the answers to these questions! Therefore she can not complete the form and is subject to denial because her parents wont cocoperate! Please i appreciate any help but someone who has a real solution please help us, i feel that there has got to be away to get the education aid with out the parents, i mean do 30, 40 year olds who apply put how much there parents make!!?? Thank you for the help in advance!

Whether or not parent income information will be required on the FAFSA depends on a series of questions on the application itself. These questions appear in Section Three. A student must meet at least one of the following circumstances in order to be considered independent on the FAFSA, therefore voiding the requirement for parent information:

24 years of age or older, married, have children or dependents of your own that live with you and receive more than half of their support from you, working on a master's/doctorate program, are an orphan or ward of the court (in foster care till age 18), or are a veteran of the US Armed Forces.

If she does not fall into any of those situations, she is considered dependent and therefore is required by federal regulation to provide parent info on the FAFSA.

There is only one exception to these rules. This is called a Dependency Override.

She must apply for a Dependency Override through her school's financial aid office. The Dependency Override is a professional judgement used by your Financial Aid Counselor in order to change a student who normally does not meet the requirements for independent status on the FAFSA into an independent student anyway, thus overriding the dependency status. There are very strict circumstances that warrant a dependency override. There must either be a case of ABANDONMENT or ABUSE between the student and the parent.

ABANDONMENT: the student literally has no contact with the parents. This does not mean the student chooses not to speak with their parents, but that they literally do not know where they live nor have a phone number for them. A common example is a student who has never known their father and who's mother is deceased. They could apply for a dependency override to waive the requirement for the father's info since they have absolutely no way of contacting him.

ABUSE: there must be documented proof of an abusive situation which would make contact with the parents harmful to the student. The financial aid office will not require you to contact your parents if doing so is likely to cause the student harm.

When filing a dependency override you must have official documentation of the abandonment or abuse and also third-party witness letter from a professional that is familiar with your situation. Note: this must be a professional, such as a doctor, counselor, minister/preacher, social worker, teacher, police officer, etc.--a friend or family member is not acceptable. A Financial Aid Counselor at your school will review your information and documentation and make a decision to grant you independent status for the purposes of applying for federal aid via the FAFSA. If denied, parent information will still be required.

Based on your brief mentioning of "mistreatment" she MIGHT qualify for a Dependency Override. As I stated, documentation will be required and the mistreatment must be abusive (since she obviously doesn't qualify under the abandonment definition of a dependency override due to having contact with her parents).

If she believes she might qualify, she should contact her school's financial aid office right away to speak with a Financial Aid Counselor.