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September 5, 2013 • Issue no. 05 Volume 26
Boise, Idaho
First issue free
Financial flaws Dependent status leaves students behind
Ryan Thorne
What they want is to become declared an independent but the federal government has pretty strict guidelines on that and it’s not just as simple as, ‘My parents won’t help me. —Diana Fairchild
the option to file for status as an independent, the process isn’t easy. “It is very rare, but sometimes we have students who think, ‘Well, I will just go file a petition for a dependency override,” Fairchild said. “What they want is to become declared an independent but the federal government has pretty strict guidelines on that and it’s not just as simple as, ‘My parents won’t help me.’” Students filing for independent status must have extensive documentation proving
his or her legal guardian has not contributed financially in any way. “What happens more than anything is it isn’t a case of a parent being unable, its more unwilling and the federal government says, ‘Well, unwilling isn’t good enough to get someone declared independent,’” Fairchild said. Situations involving parents being incarcerated or missing completely would be prime reasons for filing as an independent, but solid documentation by school counselors or social
workers must be provided. “It’s pretty strict what the law will allow us to do, it’s not a simple thing to get done,” Fairchild said. Fairchild said students who file for independent status are few and far between, but for those who are stuck without the cooperation of their parents, attending Boise State can become an unattainable goal. “I think for the students that find themselves in that situation, it’s really, really, tough,” Fairchild said. “It certainly decreases their options.” Fairchild said becoming independent is difficult because the government tries to prevent families from circumventing the process of submitting financial information that would affect loan amounts. “The reality is, there are a lot of families that are trying to get around those rules and it really hurts those who are truly in need of help,” Fairchild said.
Connecting students with refugees Cheyenne Perry @CheyCP
vices’ Website. In the newsletter, Mayor Bieter mentioned the plan created by the City of Boise and the Idaho Office for Refugees—called the Refugee Resource Strategic Community Plan. It focuses on helping the resettlement of refugees in Boise. “Critical to the planning process was the trust and commitment of the resettle-
Photo Courtesy /Service Learning Center
Boise State has been developing ways to get involved with refugee resettlement. In order to help refugees adapt to living in a new home, the Boise community has created an outreach response. One statistic from the Idaho Office for Refugees‘ Website, shows refugee reset-
tlement as a prime concern for Idaho. “In 2012, 686 refugees and special immigrants arrived in Idaho from 20 different countries.” Boise Mayor David H. Bieter wrote a newsletter specifically about this refugee concern that was published on the Office of Refugee Resettlement, U.S. Department of Health and Human Ser-
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ment agencies,” Mayor Bieter said. Among these resettlement agencies are the Idaho Office for Refugees, International Refugee Committee (IRC) and Agency for New Americans. Boise State is not a bystander in the community refugee resettlement commitment. Through Boise State’s Service-Learning program, students and faculty partner with resettlement agencies to help refugees. In 2009, Boise State signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Mountain States Group– a part of the Idaho Office for Refugees—solidifying a partnership to help “refugees rebuild successful lives in Southwestern Idaho.” The team created through the MOA is called the Campus Community Refugee Collaboration Team (refugee collaboration team). The team meets regularly to discuss opportunities for students to engage in the Boise refugee community. “What started in 2009 was a big, campus-wide thing that actually came from the pro-
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FAFSA TIPS
Info/Studented.gov
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According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, 48.2 percent of undergraduates took out federal financial aid loans to cover the basic costs of tuition. But for those considered dependent according to federal standards, a legal guardians financial information determines the amount of aid offered. “What it does is determine the expected family contribution (EFC) for that student, whether or not the family can afford to pay or are willing to pay,” said Diana Fairchild, Interim Director of Financial Aid. According to Fairchild, this can limit opportunity for students whose parents aren’t helping out with school. “The problem with that is it doesn’t give students enough money.” Fairchild said. For students with parents completely unwilling to submit financial information, federal aid is not an option and the alternatives are few. “They would probably be looking for student loans and honestly that would be pretty tough too because often they will need to have a co-signer,” Fairchild said. “But, honestly it is really difficult if a parent is unwilling to fill out a FAFSA.” Fairchild said parents unwilling to participate in a child’s financial aid application process are generally misinformed about what their financial information is used for. “Filling out a FAFSA doesn’t obligate them to give any money at all to a student,” Fairchild said. “They think by filling it out, they are obligating themselves to pay for something.” Though a student does have
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When FAFSA on the Web asks you whether you are able to provide information about your parents, say no. On the next screen, select the option that says you don’t have a special circumstance but you still can’t provide parent information. The FAFSA explains if your parents don’t support you and refuse to provide information on FAFSA, you may submit your FAFSA without their information. You won’t get federal student aid other than an unsubsidized loan—maybe. You must immediately contact your school’s financial aid office to discuss the possibility of getting an unsubsidized loan. The financial aid office may ask for a written statement from your parents, indicating that they refuse to provide their information on the FAFSA and that they no longer support you. The financial aid office will look at your situation and decide whether you may receive an unsubsidized loan. That decision is final and cannot be appealed to the U.S. Department of Education.
vost office…that was bigger than us,” Kara Brascia, director of Service-Learning said. Brascia explained that Service-Learning has taken responsibility for achieving the goals of the MOA. Recently, the Refugee Collaboration Team hosted a panel at Boise State. The intention was to encourage a relationship between staff and faculty and partnering refugee resettlement agencies. Assistant Director for Faculty and Community Engagement for Service-Learning Faith Beyer Hansen, Ed. D., said the panel was “wellreceived, and we hope to do something like that again.” One topic discussed by the panel was how to best use the skills and expertise of the students at the resettlement agencies. One particular Service-Learning program that bridges the gap between Boise State students and refugee agencies is the SL2 program. This allows students to take work-study positions in refugee resettlement agencies. Brascia called these SL2 participants, “on-site assistant volunteer coordinators” for refugee agencies. One of these SL2 students is junior international relations major KaliKai
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DeClements. “I’m a liaison between BSU and IRC, helping them in any way I can to integrate into the community,” DeClements said. “As an SL2, you’re involved in the entire organization, and you get to see all the different aspects of it so it’s more in-depth when you’re an SL2.” This SL2 program is only one part of an extensive refugee partnership at Boise State. In the MOA, one of the goals is to connect Boise State with the community plan referred to by Mayor Bieter in his newsletter. Boise State hopes to connect student and faculty research with the broad Boise community plan. DeClements found the essence of these Service-Learning goals in a student she had last semester. “She was amazing in her efforts. She was working on ways to provide resources to refugees in the community… she created an entire list and then was able to help refugees know about those resources,” DeClements said. “That was the epitome of what a Service-Learning student is—you get passionate about something, you get involved in it and you, just go for it.”
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