Homeless Question on the FAFSA
If you're a dependent student who is unaccompanied and homeless, or self-supporting and at risk of being homeless, you may qualify for a homeless youth determination. If you qualify, you will be considered independent on the FAFSA, and your parent information will not be required.
You will be asked on the FAFSA if "at any time on or after July 1, 2023, was the student unaccompanied and either (1) homeless or (2) self-supporting and at risk of being homeless." If you answer yes, you will be instructed to indicated if a designated agency determined you were homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
Homelessness is defined on the FAFSA as listed below:
- Unaccompanied means you're not living in the physical custody of your parent or guardian.
- Homeless means lacking fixed, regular, and adequate housing. You may be homeless if you're living in shelters, parks, motels, hotels, public spaces, camping grounds, cars, or abandoned buildings, or if you're temporarily living with other people because you have nowhere else to go. Also, if you're living in any of these situations and fleeing an abusive parent, you may be considered homeless even if your parent would otherwise provide a place to live.
- At risk of being homeless-when a student's housing may cease to be fixed, regular, and adequate, for example, a student who is being evicted or has been asked to leave their current residence and has been unable to find fixed, regular, and adequate housing.
Agencies that can make a homeless and unaccompanied youth determination
The following agencies are authorized to make homeless designations:
- Your high school or district homeless liaison or designee
- The director or designee of an emergency or transitional shelter, street outreach program, homeless youth drop-in center, or another program serving those experiencing homelessness.
- The director or designee of a project supported by a federal TRIO program or a Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) grant.
- A financial aid administrator
Documenting your circumstances
You will receive a task on your My Financial Center to meet with an Enrollment Services Counselor to document your circumstances. You'll need to provide documentation of the homeless determination from one of the agencies above. If the documentation supports that a homeless determination should be approved, your status will be officially independent on the FAFSA, and your parent information will not be required.
If homelessness is not documented
If you are homeless but do not have a designation of homelessness from one of the agencies above, you may also be able to submit the FAFSA by requesting a provisional independent student status. Then, we will consider your circumstances to determine if you should be considered independent based on your circumstances.
If you do not have documentation of homelessness, or the documentation you provide does not verify a homeless determination, you may be considered a dependent student and required to submit parent data on the FAFSA.
Provisional independent student status
Provisional independent designations allow students who are homeless but have not received a homeless determination from an eligible agency, to submit the FAFSA as a provisionally independent student. Other unusual circumstances may also qualify you for a provisional independence designation. In that case, you will need to meet with an Enrollment Services Counselor to document those circumstances. We will review your request and determine if you qualify for a dependency override to be considered officially independent.
Contact us
If you have any questions about being considered an independent student based on your homeless status on the FAFSA, or to find out if you may be able to petition your particular circumstances, we invite you to contact Enrollment Services to make an appointment to discuss your situation. Counselors are happy to help you.