Per Section 480(d) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (as of the 2008 reauthorization), students under the age of 23 that are pursuing a Bachelor's Degree are not considered financially independent unless they fit into one of the following categories:

• Married
• In the armed forces
• A ward of the state prior to age 18

This is a critical flaw in our higher education system as it means that any student under 23 is obligated to provide parental tax information on his or her FAFSA. While in most situations this is understandable request considering students generally are unable to support themselves, and therefore need parental monetary assistance, there is a growing group of students who support themselves ENTIRELY, and therefore do not receive any assistance from a legal guardian, yet are still forced to provide the tax information from their parents in order to be eligible for financial aid. This causes FAFSA to give financial aid based on the assumption that this student has access to two sources of income: both his/her own, and that of his/her parents.

This becomes and even bigger problem if the student decides to go to a school outside of the state in which his or her parents live. Due to having to provide parental tax information, students under the age of 23 that do NOT fit into any of the above categories are automatically considered out-of-state students REGARDLESS of the amount of time they have spent in the state or where they have established domicile. The combination of being an out-of-state student AND having financial aid based on an incorrect collective income is both outdated and flawed as it causes many student to be unable to afford going to school since many students, like myself, aren't offered the aid to be able to afford the skyrocketing out-of-state prices.

My name is Jordan. I am 20-years-old. I moved to Colorado from Florida after my first year of college due to a variety of reasons. I am completely self-sufficient and I have applied to numerous colleges in the area, yet I am unable to attend because I simply cannot afford it. For the 2014-2015 year, I was offered $1,750 a semester in loans to attend a local community college. For an out-of-state student, the cost of 6 credits (which is the minimum amount of credits to be able to take out student loans) is $3,223.70, nearly double the amount that I was offered in loans. To make ends meet, I was offered a work-study opportunity (with no guaranteed position) to earn up to an additional $3,750 per semester. I work a full-time job from 8-5, making the possibility of finding a work-study position that I am able to attend slim to none, in addition to making time to attend either physical or virtual classes.

This year, the Higher Education Act is up for reauthorization. This is our time to voice that the laws that dictate financial independence are extremely outdated and in need of desperate change. The access to affordable higher education is not a privilege; it is a right to those who are willing to work for it. Why should students that are supporting themselves entirely have to even work harder just to be able to go to school? This ends now.