How does FAFSA work if I'm going to pay for school w/o parental help?

You are automatically considered independent because of your age. Here is the checklist to determine dependency status for the 2010-2011 school year (they don't have the 2011-2012 up yet): a href="http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/FOTWWebApp/fotw1011/WorksheetServlet?locale=en_US&wstype=WSDEP" rel="nofollow"http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/FOTWWebApp/fotw1…/a So, you'd want to add a year to the question "were you born before 1/1/87". If you were born before 1/1/88 by the time you're completing the FAFSA for the fall of 2011, you will be considered independent and your parents income will not be required.