Answer: Yes, the student can amend his FAFSA— and in fact, technically students are required to amend changes in their dependency status. There’s information on this here. Reading your description of the student’s situation (no keys, “allowed/permitted” to stay, “for now”) it seems like the student’s situation is still unstable, and he remains at risk of homelessness, even though he is back home. He does not have to be unaccompanied and homeless now to qualify, since he was after July 1. But of course, the purpose of the policy is not for youth who leave home in a brief crisis and then return to a safe and stable home life. In this situation, it seems like he is a youth this law was designed to help.
I have a 20 year old who was kicked out of his family home in July and spent two weeks in his car before he was allowed back in the house. He did his FAFSA and did not report himself as an unaccompanied youth. Can he change his FAFSA now, since he did have an episode as an unaccompanied homeless youth after July 1? He no longer has keys to access his family home, but they do permit him to stay there for now.
Feb 18, 2020 | Q and A