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**Please note: For students to be considered independent through a legal guardianship, they must either currently be in a legal guardianship or were in legal guardianship at the time they reached the age of majority in their state of residence.**

Date & Time Recorded: August 27, 2025 (2-3 PM Eastern)

Identifying students as homeless on the FAFSA can be complex. To qualify, students must be unaccompanied (not living with their parents or legal guardian) and experiencing homelessness, or unaccompanied and at risk of homelessness and self-supporting.

This webinar walks participants through real-world scenarios to help professionals assess whether students meet this criteria.

In this webinar, participants:

• Explore real-life scenarios submitted in advance to be reviewed and addressed during the webinar
• Gain a clear understanding of who qualifies as an unaccompanied homeless youth on the FAFSA
• Apply their knowledge by working through common case scenarios
• Learn strategies to help students complete the FAFSA as an independent student

Presenters:

• Jillian Sitjar – Director of Higher Education, SchoolHouse Connection
• Caleb McKay – FAFSA Completion Senior Manager, SchoolHouse Connection