Parental Responsibility In Paying For College
(Why you need to provide financial information even if you’re not paying the bills.)

As a parent, you may have some questions about your role in financing the cost of a college education for your child. Many parents are willing to do whatever is necessary to get their child through college. On the other hand, some parents feel that their child should be responsible for paying for his or her own education, regardless of the parents’ income or resources. And then there are those who feel that the government should foot the whole bill.

One of the basic underlying principles of financial aid is that it is the responsibility of the student and the parents to pay for the cost of a college education to the extent they are able. This means the family’s financial circumstances will be taken into account first in determining the student’s ability to pay. After that, the financial aid programs kick in.

The first step in this process is to determine what is called dependency status. A student is considered to be a dependent student if they meet ALL of the following conditions:

• They are not 24 years old or older,
• They are not a graduate student,
• They are not married,
• They do not have children,
• They are not a veteran, AND
• They are not an orphan or ward of the court.
• They are not currently serving on active duty in the Armed Forces for other than training purposes.

If you have a dependent student, your information must be provided on the financial aid applications. This is true even if you feel you are unable to pay or feel you should not have to pay. Without parental data, the aid applications will not be processed and your child will not receive financial assistance for college.

This does not mean that you must pay college costs. As a parent, the only time you are financially responsible for educational costs is if you have signed or co-signed an application for an educational loan. If you want to require your child to pay for his or her own education, that is certainly your choice. But if in addition to withholding your own resources you also refuse to provide financial information on the aid applications, your child will be denied access to most financial aid programs, even student loans. In this case, your child might end up getting virtually no help at all in paying for college.

Paying for college is a family responsibility that requires family decisions. As a parent, your first step should be taking the necessary actions to ensure that your child has access to as much financial assistance as possible. In part, that means providing information on financial aid forms. Then you can decide as a family how you will cover any remaining educational expenses.