It all is based on her being a dependent on her taxes. Most college students (and probably the case here) are still covered under their parents insurance until the age of 25, as long as they remain a full time student. That alone probably is having her listed as a dependent, and falling back to being based on parent income. If she is employed somewhere and has her own insurance, or provides her own independent insurance (such as Cobra), and her parents are not claiming her as a dependent on their taxes - she probably should have no problem appealing.

I went through a similar situation but backwards. I needed to stay a full time student in order to keep current insurance under my parents plan. You can imagine the hours I piled up being a full time student for almost for almost seven years - many classes I took was just to remain a full time student. Appalachian music is still the best class I ever had, my two bowling classes were a close second.

I was in the same boat in a sense as well - not wealthy enough to afford all of college, but didn't qualify for aide - had to get some student loans. The ONLY good thing about student loans, is that if she takes graduate courses while gainfully employed from the bachelors degree, even one a semester - you can get them deferred. I did this and was not required to make payments, however, I paid as much as could, when I could, and took a big chunk out of them.