Parents with financial assets might be doing some students more harm than good.

Over 9,000 students in California have been declared “dependent students” by the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) meaning those students still depend on their parents for assistance or help with going to college but will still need financial assistance when FAFSA is not always enough.

According to FAFSA regulation; a dependent student is one who at the time of application is not 24-years-old, married, a veteran of the armed forces, have dependents that receive more than half of their support from the student or are a foster child or a legally emancipated minor.

FAFSA determines how much federal aid a student gets, but oftentimes students do not get as much as needed, due to FAFSA assuming that the parent’s salaries alone can pay for college.

Fastweb.org states that at the start of the 1992-93 school year, Congress changed the criteria differentiating between a dependent and independent student. The federal government decided that parents had more of an obligation to pay for their child’s education than the government did.

Under the Skyline section of the FAFSA Website, during the 2015-16 school year, Skyline has received and accepted 1,615 financial aid applications that have determined the student to have a dependent status.

Director of Financial aid Services Regina Morrison says the government determines a student’s need for aid based on the expected financial contribution students or their families can make minus the cost of attendance at a college that the student expects to attend.

A student who is 24 or younger and does not fir the criteria can still receive another type of financial aid. From there, the only federal aid a student can get is to possibly qualify for an unsubsidized student loan that is not guaranteed.

There are certain cases called, “unusual circumstances.” Based on the SMCCCD 2015-2016 form, students will fill this out when their FAFSA is rejected due to any unusual circumstances such as the students having parents that are incarcerated, leaving home due to an abusive situation, or if they are not adopted but do not know who their parents are and cannot contact them.

A student can also qualify if they are older than 21 and homeless or at risk of being homeless. In those instances, the financial aid office can determine that this is an actual circumstance of being determined as an independent student and waive the requirement for the parent’s financial information. Whatever the determination is, it is final and cannot be appealed.

Skyline Student Tyler Hudson said that he does not qualify for independent status even though his dad is disabled.

“They said his disability and my mom’s income will help out,” Hudson said. “I work and just go to school part time so that I can pay for myself and help out my parents.”

Other students have parents who are willing to pay out of pocket.

“They are not from this country and the form confused them,” Skyline student Cassie Belcher said. “They just pay for me.”

Students who aren’t so lucky are encouraged to seek other options.

“There are scholarships,” financial aid technician at CSM Thanh Pitetta said. “They fill out the FAFSA, then apply for scholarships. Or get a job to help with the cost. That is all there really is.”