When you complete the FAFSA and DC OneApp, you will need to answer questions to indicate whether you are a dependent or an independent student for financial aid purposes. Most first-time undergraduate students are dependent, which means your parents’ income information must be taken into account when determining financial need.

• If your parents are divorced or separated, include financial information about the parent you lived with more during the previous 12 months.
• If you didn’t live with either parent, or if you lived with each parent an equal amount of time, then use information about the parent who provided the greater amount of financial support during the 12 months prior to the date you file your FAFSA application.
• If you didn’t receive any parental financial support during that time, you must report information about the parent who most recently provided the greater amount of parental support.
• If on the day you file your application your parent is remarried, your step-parent’s information also must be included.

You may be considered independent for financial aid purposes (and therefore do not need to include your parents’ income information) if you meet at least one of the following criteria. You are:

• Born before January 1, 1985.
• Enrolling in graduate school.
• Married or separated (but not divorced).
• A parent and provide more than half your children’s financial support.
• Supporting dependents (other than your spouse or children) who live with you and receive more than half of their financial support from you.
• A veteran of the armed forces.
• Currently serving in the armed forces for a purpose other than training.
• An orphan (both your parents are deceased), or you are (or were until age 21) a ward or dependant of the court.