Both of my parents have not contributed anything to my college living expenses. I lived with them through two years of community college and am at my second year at a university, living out on my own. My dad makes a good ammount of money, so the ‘expected family contribution’ would be more than enough to pay for my education and living. All I recieve from my parents is health insurance and car insurance. All the government offers me is unsubsidized loans.

I have scraped together money saved from working in highschool, internships during college, and some very decent scholarships. I work during the school year, which complicates the already high difficulty of engineering school. I have taken out loans, but find myself needing more money to survive, even in my relatively low standard of living (I’m eating canned corn as I write this at a desk I found on the side of the road).

How do I convince my parents to give me some of the money that they are saving by having me as a ‘dependant’ on their taxes?

I’ve worked so hard and am so close to the end, I don’t want to drop out of school just because I can’t afford it. My loans would come due, and that would kill me. My little brother isn’t even able to go to school because they won’t finance his education either.

My parents live in a million dollar custom home on prime real estate in the foothills, and were stupid enough to invest hundreds of thousands in real estate they planned to ‘flip’ back when that was the cool thing to invest in. Aparently deadbeat investments are worth more than their children.

What is worse is that my scholarship money is disbursed to my mother’s account by the university. Last time she claimed that I couldn’t get it because ‘she had to make the house payment’, and threatened not to write me the check if I forgot to buy her cigarettes on my way to their house (ITS MY MONEY DAMNIT).

Do I talk to the financial aid office? I heard they can’t help me. Do I try to override dependant status?

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