Why the heck...

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should how much money my parents make determine how much money I receive for college. I am paying for college almost singlehandedly (besides for books I get money for those so about 400 out of 20,000) but yet I still dont get any scholorship type money because my parents make too much money, this makes no sense to me.

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The rationale is the assumption that ones parents will pay as much as they can to put their children through as best an education as they can. It's not true, but that's the idea. Another reason is that most policies are written in such a way as to avoid possible abuse. If they were based on how much actual financial support that parents provided, the parents could simply say they didn't give any, even though they might, and thus be eligible for funding they don't really need. This is an oversimplification, though. The real reason probably has to do with opponents of educational support lobbying for whatever limitations they can justify, and this is the compromise the legislators ended up with.

No

As a practical matter, it is very hard to prove that "X person has not given me any support" especially if the support was given off the books.

I don't think this is right (there should be exemptions when the parent refuses to pay) but it will probably cost a great deal of money (taxes) to check references .. let alone references that you never gave.

Even funnier course, independ students can still have parent support but get the grants/loans that you can't have.

BTW, you are independent if:

You are 24 years of age or older.
You are getting a masters or doctorate degree. (huh???)
If you are currently married. (Not sure if this applies if you were married, but are now divorced; and still under age 24/)
You provide support for children or other dependents. (Technically, they must recieve more than half of their support from you.)
You were an orphan/ward of the court (in foster care) until You turned 18 (or you still are a ward if you are currently under 18).
You are a veteran of the armed forces. (This applies if you went to academy but withdrew in good standing.)

So, some easy ways to become independent: wait until you turn 24 before going to college, get married, have a baby (and raise it), or join the army and go to college after you finish your tour.

[Obviously, these are hard enough that it is unlikely that anyone will do them just to change their classification. Waiting until you are 24 is the easiest and most reasonable, joining the army is equally reasonable (but harder).]

Supposedly, there are other ways to be classified as indepedent as well (these are lumped together as "extenuating circumstances") but I have no clue what these would be. Mere parental refusal to pay is never a good enough reason, though.

I get thirty pound a week EMA, which is useful as my mum doesn't have a high income as she doesn't have a job (though she does have four children at home so I think thats justified).
It annoys when people complain about how little extra help they get when they live a finacially stable life (mostly).
I mean most people who don't get EMA is because their the parents which they live with earn more than thirty thousand pound a year. Often people over look that if like my house hold your on seventeen thousand pound income then you can't afford things such as an adequate computer with the internet, reliable transport, holidays, good stationary, nice clothes etc. We don't own our home (the council does) but alot of my friends parents do.
Also most of my friends have PARENTS not parent, my mum is single and my supposed father does very little to support.
Any way it all adds up to alot of stress on the family, and the EMA helps because I'm always loosing my pencil case etc.

Sorry. I was being U.S. centric again.

Endersdragon which country do you live in?

The US system does suck, as it'll help out if your parents are poor but will let the starving 18 year old who has been kicked out and gets nothing from very rich parents suffer.

Oh, yeah I understand. I thought he was talking about EMA.