The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is an application that calculates the amount of financial aid you are eligible to receive while attending college. Your parents' financial worth, such as salary and assets, can drastically affect what you qualify for. To improve your chances of being offered a large financial aid package, you will want to exclude your parents' contribution from the application. If you're a dependent, you will have to include your parents' financial information, but you can be declared independent if you meet certain criteria.

Instructions

o 1
Be legally declared a foster child, ward of the court or an emancipated minor. You must have been declared this status after you turned 13. Also, if you were declared an "unaccompanied minor," or homeless, by your school's homeless liaison or a director of a runaway or homeless youth center or transitional living program, you are considered independent.

o 2
Turn 24 years of age before the beginning of the financial aid year. For example, if you are completing the FAFSA for the 2011-12 school year, you must have been born before Jan. 1, 1988.

o 3
Enroll in a master's or doctoral program at the beginning of the academic year. All graduate students are considered independent.

o 4
Join the armed forces and be deployed for active duty for purposes other than training before applying for financial aid. Veteran's of the U.S. armed forces are also considered independent; veterans include students who attended a service academy and who were not dishonorably discharged.