Hello /r/personalfinance
I am a Junior transfer at a University of California school (so public) and am from Southern California. My parents divorced when I was young and I stayed with my mother. My biological father has a new family and does nothing to support me or my mother. My mother has also remarried, but my stepfather also never supports my education. He does things like buy gifts and food for my mom and provides her housing, but he will never give money for my tuition or college housing.
So this past year, I was lucky to have a $15 thousand transfer scholarship which meant I only needed another $15 thousand in loans for the rest of my tuition / housing (I live on campus, so both are billed together). However, next year, I will have to take $30 thousand in loans. I already talked to financial aid, and they said they can't help me. I am required to include my parent's finances in FAFSA because they don't want parents "saying they won't support" their kids just to get FAFSA support. So I am stuck with loans.
Now here comes the part where I need help, I will have an internship this summer that pays $1200 a week ($30 an hour, and am not sure if I can work overtime yet) for 12 weeks. I am planning to put all of that towards my loans. However, I am taxed pretty heavily because of my parents finances. My stepfather claims me as dependent even though he doesn't support me at all, which I think must me illigal. Can I file my own taxes and let the IRS know I don't receive any financial support and am independent of my parents? I am 22 by the way (I know that my stepdad can't claim me dependent once I am 24, but that is still 2 years away).
Submitted March 17, 2019 at 12:01PM by college_neglected https://ift.tt/2Ck6XWv