Federal Student Aid

When I started going to college I was 17 my mother had just passed away and my father did not talk to me. As if that was not bad enough, I was not able to receive federal student aid. Until you are 24 years old you are considered a dependent of your parents. You can bypass this by proving you are estranged or by getting married.

Proving you are estranged is a difficult task. It usually involves using some kind of legal document. This can range from you having been a ward of the state or some legal document saying that your parent(s) gave up on you.

In my case I could prove my father was the only living parent, but I could not prove that I was ‘estranged.’ If I had had enough money I could have gotten a lawyer and had an investigation done, but obviously I could not afford the cost.

After I finally found the person I needed to talk to at the financial aid office at UCLA, I was there constantly. Every time I came in the counselor needed some other document of information. Then when I would get a packet up to send to the board they would turn it down. I did convince a lawyer who I had known for many years to write a notarized memo on my behalf. That was the final piece of documentation I could come up with.

In the end without a court document there was nothing anyone was willing to do for me except show me how to take out private loans. I did learn an important lesson when dealing with bureaucracy, and that is to always have your paperwork in order, and try to learn as much about the system as possible before you enter. If at all possible known names of the people who have any connection to what you are trying to accomplish.

This is actually made much easier in the Army. Knowing how to write an Army Memorandum makes life so much easier when you are trying to get something done, because if you know how to write the memo you can just give it to your superior to sign, and they are always more willing to sign something if you have already done the paperwork.