No access to parents financial records

[Kincaid]

I'm sure this is a common complaint, but what is with the 'dependent student' status until I'm 25 years old? I'm only 19. My parents and I don't get along, to make a long story short. To make it shorter, they're not going to produce financial records for me to apply for financial aid and scholarships. My question is what can I do now?

Please don't respond with "reconcile with your parents". Without getting personal, it isn't going to happen.

My question is whether or not I'm able to apply for scholarships and loans without this information. I can't be the only student that can't get this information. Is there some kind of default value if the financial papers aren't available?

As a side rant, whoever thought up 'expected family contribution' should be strung up and whipped. They deduct it from our available aid like taxes or something, as if we're actually going to get that money. Unless colleges and/or the government can require parents to produce that expected contribution, I don't understand how they can just arbitrarily list it as an asset.

[scholarmom]

Hey Kincaid, sorry to hear.  I don't know that there's anything you can do, but I do know that not all schools require it.  When my daughter applied, only one school would not offer her a finance packet because her father would not give his financial info.  Good Luck to you, I hope it all works out.