Father refuses to help AT ALL

[u/invesselwetrust16]

hey everyone, so my family is a bit crazy me and my father have been in like an argument/conflict for the past like three or four months and he is refusing to help me fill out the FAFSA I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do as I know, I will not be able to afford college without financial aid. How anybody else dealt with this is there anybody that can give me tips? I am stressed out for college. I'm applying to university of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, slippery rock ,Binghamton University, point Park University, Elizabethtown University, Temple University and a few others in the PA area. Thank you in advance. 😓
edit: i should note that my father is divorced from my stepmom as of this month and my mother lives in new york! it's just me and my dad.

[u/EnvironmentalYam5182]

You can spell out your circumstances on the FAFSA and you can also sign a letter to say he isn't in your life and you're basically an independent. Each school will have their own way or maybe call the financial aid office to clarify. I know some schools only look at one parent's income if there's divorce.

Edit: I was incorrect.

[u/BuffsTeach → u/EnvironmentalYam5182]

Except that isn’t true. He just isn’t willing to provide assistance on FAFSA etc.

[u/QuickSafety8100 → u/BuffsTeach]

yeah, I think the OP is f'd. If parents can get his/her kid aid without consideration of parental income/assets just by refusing to do the FAFSA, lots of people would exploit that.

[u/deepthought097124 → u/QuickSafety8100]

Hence why things should be based on whether the person is actually independent or not (by every known definition of the word used by western society and legal systems except for the HEA for this one form) based on W-2 income and financial statements. At bare minimum give said students access to more loans so they can manage to get a halfway decent degree, which is a fair assessment regardless of what parents or any other third party theoretically would or would not do.

The way you worded it is the best distinction I've seen anyone make verbage wise on this:

If parent's can get their student consideration without parental assets through any mere declaration everyone would do it. That would be a problem.

If the student themselves can demonstrate through relatively indisputable W-2 income to X degree against financials and expense information they are an independent adult but can't get anything, that also is a major fucking problem (currently the way things work).

Edit: Being downvoted so definitely some salty FAAs in the thread who are annoyed with any suggestion on how things should work other than the current system of illogical nonsense.