It's my understanding that you don't really apply for Pell Grants, they're just offered based on your FAFSA, right? The FAFSA thing with her parents has been a mess. She moved in with us last summer after she graduated high school, so her parent's claimed her on their '08 taxes. She then attended fall and winter quarter at the community college which her mom helped pay for (at the sacrifice of other bills, which is another mess in and of itself). It's my understanding that the FAFSA thing with her mom is basically an impossibility because of the other defaulted student loans. Honestly, her mother is pretty uncommunicative about it so I really don't know.
Her brother and I don't support her, other than to provide a free roof over her head. She helps pay for groceries and utilities, pays all her own car expenses, etc. She has a decent job for her age making about $1200 a month. Her parents won't legally be able to claim her as a dependent next year for '09 taxes, and we don't plan to either.
With her income will she be able to qualify for grants once she's filling out her FAFSA as an independent? Do grants cover living expenses as well, or will she be stuck balancing school and full time work? In the mean time, is there anything she can do to get aid for summer or fall quarter? She only has one quarter left before she can move onto a 4 year degree. Are there other grants she can research? If she could get grants for school rather than loans she has to pay back it would really give her the leg up that she hasn't gotten from her parents.
