A question for a friend!!

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My friend have been married for about 4 years and on all of her documents she puts that she is single including her nursing application but now that she's about to graduate she wants to change her last name to her married name. The reason she have been doing that is because she is scared that she will loose her grants and she nor her husband can't afford to come out of pocket for tution. So my question is what can she do to change her last night without being in any kind of trouble? No negative comments please!!

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Specializes in PACU.

So has your friend been using her maiden name professionally, and now wants to switch everything over to her married name? Or is there potentially some sketchy financial reason and possible fraud? The school is potentially going to question the name change and this could open a huge can of worms for your friend if I'm reading your post correctly.

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No fraud or nothing just professionally!!

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Specializes in PACU.

Then as long as she has been filling out all her financial aid correctly and truthfully (ie saying she isn't married so her husband's income isn't included in calculating her grant aid) I don't foresee it being an issue.

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Ok thanks

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Specializes in OB.

So from what I read here you are saying that she has been listing herself as single and declaring only her income in order to qualify for grants that she might not have been eligible for if her husband's income were considered. Is that correct? If so she may have problems when she changes her name as the documentation of legal name change will likely indicate the date of her marriage as the time her name changed unless she went though processes to change it legally later.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
Then as long as she has been filling out all her financial aid correctly and truthfully (ie saying she isn't married so her husband's income isn't included in calculating her grant aid) I don't foresee it being an issue.

As I read the post (and it is quite confusing), OP's "friend" has not been declaring husband's income for 4 years in order to continue to quality for financial aid. If that isn't the case, why wouldn't the friend change her name as soon as she got married? That equals fraud in my book. Just because OP says "no fraud or nothing" doesn't make it so.

Not sure if or how this would be caught but I sure hope it is.

Oops, made a negative comment:yes:. Oh well, when you post in an online forum, you really don't get to control the responses.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
My friend have been married for about 4 years and on all of her documents she puts that she is single including her nursing application but now that she's about to graduate she wants to change her last name to her married name. The reason she have been doing that is because she is scared that she will loose her grants and she nor her husband can't afford to come out of pocket for tution. So my question is what can she do to change her last night without being in any kind of trouble? No negative comments please!!
If she has been putting on official documents that she is single and she is married....that is willing falsification of official documents...which is lying. If she continued to do this to keep financial aid it just may very well be fraud. I would tell your friend to contact a lawyer and ask them.

This is a legal question and as per the Terms of Service we cannot give legal advice.

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OP, if your friend submits knowingly false, knowingly misleading information to her State Board of Nursing when applying for a nursing license, they can either deny it based on that....or pull it completely at any point should they discover the fraud. "Loosing her grants" won't be the worst thing that'd happen; losing her ability to ever work as a nurse looks more likely.

Sounds like it's definitely "Fraud or something" to ME!

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

someone eventually will do a background check and this will come up. Your friend is not being professional. She is cheating.

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Specializes in hospice.

Federal student aid fraud won't be any picnic once the government figures it out either. The least bad outcome I can imagine is that they're forced to repay the fraudulent aid, and the IRS will assist by withholding income tax refunds and garnishing wages until the amount is satisfied. And she'll probably never be able to get federal student aid again.

Why can't your "friend" just be honest and work her ass off within the rules like the rest of us do? She's stealing taxpayer money to which she has no right.

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Specializes in PACU.
As I read the post (and it is quite confusing), OP's "friend" has not been declaring husband's income for 4 years in order to continue to quality for financial aid. If that isn't the case, why wouldn't the friend change her name as soon as she got married? That equals fraud in my book. Just because OP says "no fraud or nothing" doesn't make it so.

That's what I thought. This definitely is a very sketchy situation and I have a feeling the OP isn't being forthcoming to the extent of how this is involved with financial aid. I strongly believe their "friend" is willfully committing fraud, and will be caught either by the school or the BON.

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