Independent or Dependent????

Okay. I am mad. Very mad. Let me just tell you why.

When I decided to go to Salem College to pursue a MAT in Elementary Education my parents said I would be financially cut off. The only things my parents pay for me now are my car insurance, my cell phone, my gym membership, and my health insurance ( which I will soon lose anyway).

You must know in order to understand- My MAT program is seperated into 2 phases. Phase 1 is initial license. You can stop and go teach but will not have gotten your Masters and therefore no pay raises. Phase 2 is Master work. It takes about 12 more hours but the benefits are worth it. As of right now I am still in Phase 1.

So in order to pay for my master coursework I am having to apply for finanical aid. The first thing you do when you apply for financial aid is to decide if you are independent or dependent. There are three questions that make this decision. One- you have to be 24 in order to be independent. Two- you have to be married in order to be independent. Three- you have to be enrolled in graduate level course. Well one and two I have to say no to, but three I said yes to, which therefore makes me independent. Because I am independent I get around 10,000 dollars from the federal government to pay for my fall, jan. term, spring, and summer classes this year. With that money I figured I could take 8 classes between the fall to next summer and I would also have 3000 dollars left over for living expenses. Taking this many courses would allow me to student teach next fall and then finish my last three classes in the spring and graduate with my license and my masters. And then I could move on with my life.

Well yesterday I got a letter in the mail from Salem saying that my financial aid information was wrong and that I am dependent ( which means that the govt. thinks I still rely on my parents for money) because the course work I am doing is considered undergraduate work. The federal government considers Phase 1 undergraduate work and Phase 2 pure masters work (even though in Phase 1 my classes are considered masters level and my workload is more than the undergraduates in my class).

Well after a long talk with financial aid I will only be receiving at the maximum amount 7500 for fall, jan, spring and summer terms. Well if I decide to take all the classes that I have mapped out I will only have 500 dollars left over for living expenses. Pretty much I am screwed. Also because I am dependent on my parents, according to the federal govt., my parents will have to show their income levels and tax returns. My parents are well off according to these forms, so there is a large possibility that the government will not give me all 7500 because my parents should be able to help out with the remainder.

As of right now I am working two jobs in order to pay for rent, food, utilities, everything pretty much. I want to be able to visit my friends and have a good night out every once and a while but that will not be a possibility if I only get 500 dollars. Sure I could ask my parents for money but the whole point of my situation I put myself in is that I am independent of them. I will not ask for money.

So instead of taking 8 classes, I am only going to take 5 classes which will push back my student teaching to next May and thus put me almost a year behind. My whole thing was to get this over with but it is not working out how I want it to :(