<prompt> Human: Hello all! I am currently 17 years old and a senior in high school. I turn 18 next week if that is of any importance. I have no health insurance and I was denied federal financial aid for college because my father only living parent has not filed taxes for several years and is also unemployed. I work at a food chain and make 11 an hour with a mostly reliable vehicle. My father lives with me and I pay the rent at 650 a month. Though his name is on the lease Hes not disabled or anything, he just does not do any over the table work. As I approach graduation I have began looking at colleges, though being denied federal financial aid has made the idea fairly daunting. Loans are there of course however I would like to avoid them if possible. I have spoken with the financial aid advisors for a couple schools and the informed me that while my situation is not very fruitful, I would not qualify for a dependency override as my father is still alive. So I am stuck as a dependent who cannot receive any federal help until I turn 24 to my knowledge. I am close to a promotion to make 13 an hour, but my situation otherwise will remain unchanged the next year. My current mandatory monthly expenses are: Rent - 650 Car Insurance - 115 Food - 200 Gas - 140In the coming months I would like to acquire health insurance and possibly enroll in a community college Roughly 3000 a semester but am at a loss - I cant find room in my budget for both Or either for that matter. What are my options? Note, I live in a state that did not expand the medicaid bracket so I make too much money to qualify for medicaid, but too little to receive a reduced premium through Obamacare.Edit: Thanks for all the help so far. Looking into taking light hours for my basics while working an extra job might be what I look into. Also I realized I phrased it poorly. I was not denied by FAFSA, I was unable to complete any forms without tax information and finaid.org states Even if the guardian does not claim the child as a dependent and if the student displays complete financial independency, this is not sufficient grounds for a dependency override which is essentially my case. Will also start looking into becoming emancipated. Assistant: Im in the exact same situation. I have a single parent, and my dad hasnt filed taxes in seven years, but I still got accepted for FAFSA. And I get full benefits because his income is 0. Are you sure you filled it out correctly?EDIT:On the page about parents income which only includes my dad I putFor 2014, has your father completed his IRS income tax return or another tax return?Not going to file.This grays out questions until:How much did your father earn from working wages, salaries, tips, etc. in 2014?I put 0.00Was your father a dislocated worker on the day you submitted your FAFSA?I put noDo you want to skip the remaining questions about your and your fathers income and assets?This is the final question. I put in yes.That is the end of the fafsa. So it will say you are done with the fafsa and theres nothing to do but wait. If youre being told the school cant do anything they may be lying to you. They asked me to fill out a paper stating how my dad affords to live and his expenses for their own agenda. Nothing to do with the government and I got financial aid once they deemed it acceptable.Human: As soon as I selected unable to provide tax information it automatically forwarded me to Sorry, go get some loans. My counselor at school tried to help and had no luck. If I was able to file as an independent it would be a much different story, I just dont have sufficient grounds to be classified as one. How did you fill yours out without tax information?Assistant: You should be getting full aid. If your dad is unemployed and has no income, you dont need his tax information except for the fact that he made 0 and is not required to file taxes. I have parents who have not had an income for many years, and I have gotten full aid by filling out FAFSA the last 3 years by stating their income was 0 thus calculating EFC to 0. When you get to the section where you have to put in parents financial info, simply state that they were not required and did not file taxes for that year this is an option.Human: I will try that! Thank you!  <response>: Also for the insurance you could look into student health insurance provided by the school you go to. My premium was 1200 for a full year give or take 