Is FAFSA still free at age 24?

yes offcourse

It is NEVER too late to begin your higher education - many colleges even have a process to obtain credit toward a degree for life experience. Think of it this way - unlike an 18 year old who wants to party, you want an education.

So, check out your local colleges and public Vo-Techs to see what they offer and what interests you. You can work towards an Associate, a Bachelors, or just a certificate - tradesmen can make as much as a lawyer these days!

In terms of federal student aid (i.e. FAFSA), students are classified as dependent or independent. Dependent students must include parent information on their FAFSA, and parent income is taken into consideration when determining eligibility for aid. Independent students do not have to include parent information, and their aid is based only on the student's income. Independent students are eligible for a higher level of loan aid than dependents, and are frequently more eligible for grant aid, since typically the income is typically lower than it would be if parent income were included (but this isn't always true, particularly if the parent is low income and has several dependents). Dependency status is determined by a series of questions on the FAFSA application. What the quote you provided is referring to is those questions. A student will be considered independent if he is over age 24 on Jan 1 of the award year, or for other reasons such as being married, or a veteran, etc. Students often think that they are independent because they aren't living with their parent, or weren't claimed on a parent's tax return. What your school is telling you is that it doesn't matter whether you live with a parent or not --you are only considered independent if you meet the criteria on the FAFSA application. But, as an independent student, you are still eligible for aid---just a different amount than if you were a dependent.

No, that's not true. It means that, if you are applying for an academic year in which you will not be 24 years of age by Dec 24 (If you are applying for the 2018-2019 academic year, you will not be 24 years olf by Dec 31, 2018), you must include the income of your parents (as if you were financially "dependent" on them) when you report your income... whether or not they actually contribute to your college. That is unless one of the exceptions apply. The exceptions, or age 24, mean you will be considered independently of your parents' income.

What that means is that at age 24, you are no longer considered dependent on your parents, and their income is no longer taken into consideration. That often means that you can get MORE financial aid, if you're not making a lot of money.

FAFSA isn't the source of financial aid. It's just a form that you fill out with your financial information. Up to age 24, your parents fill it out with their tax information. After 24, only your financial information is included. You send that in, and they send the results to the colleges you apply to. Then the colleges decide what form of financial aid they can give you, which can include loans, grants, scholarships and work study. Pell grants are income based, and I know many students in their late 20s and thirties who get those.

Yes