should we erase FASFA?
First off the system is based on an ideal no one is by law required to follow. Fasfa is designed to help parents pay for a students college. Parents are not by any law required to do so. This goes under the assumption mom and dad are paying. Parents are not even required to house you after 18. Second if your parents were like mine only gave the bare basics becuase they do not by law have to teach you to drive, help you get a job, pay for college, care about your well being. All that is required is they give you food and a place to sleep till 18. Even if living away from home unless you are an orphan/foster or join the military first are still declared a dependant under these standards. This system is unrealistic or idealistic with ideals which are not even being enforced.
Comments (9)
I hope you receive this response in the spirit in which it is being sent. Fafsa is designed for "parents" not for a set of people who have given birth to a child. For your own health or to lose the appeal to emotion, don't confuse a "parent" with a "Mom" or "Dad" because everything you list after your first couple sentences, are necessary life skills to teach and instill in your child which Mom's and Dad's do but not all "parents" feel obligated to do.
A little bit of both. If you had a Mom and/or a Dad that has taken the time to look out for your well being beyond what the government mandates then they already feel a fair degree of obligation to seeing you thrive in life, not just survive. Government's make sweeping decisions on the minimum amount a child needs "to be" in line with becoming a contributing member of society. And in doing so establishes what a Parent must provide but that is quite different than what a Mom or a Dad feels obligated to help with in raising their children.
Granted, the law does not require the parents to actually love their child(ren), or even find them sort of likable and/or amusing. Society generally considers parents who do not at least LIKE their child(ren) to be BAD PARENTS.
But in general the law requires parents to care for their children and prepare them to be productive citizens.
For one, Fafsa stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. It's not a grant or loan by itself.
Secondly, the grants are federally funded.
Thirdly, (almost all) of the available loans do not require a cosigner. The student can take them out on his/her own.
Unless you're complaining about this coming from taxpayer dollars? Which is a whole different question.
Well, Bitter Crank is right. It's not required of any parent to subsidize a dependent child, but it is assumed that you would want to.
But I'm still not quite clear what your particular criticism is. Are you criticizing that it lists you as dependent until 24 regardless of living situation? I imagine that is a rule in order to preempt people taking advantage of the system. People who would otherwise be able and willing to pay for their kid would just have them move out long enough to claim they were independent just to mooch off the system.