Paying for College, Advice Needed

[iamshady]

I'm in dire need of some advice as to paying for college, whether or not it's possible to pay for it entirely on your own without the support of your parents. A couple of questions that I'm looking for answers are:

1) Will banks loan out a lot of money to a 18 year old undergraduate student?
2) Do colleges adjust their need based grants to students without parent financial backing?
3) The tuition at my college is around $16,000 per semester, currently it is around $7000 with aid, is this at all possible if I work at the same time?

Just asking fellow Anandtecher's for advice. I have asked these questions to others, but I'm in need of all the advice I can get. Please, serious responses only.

Thanks.

 

[Soybomb]

You need to have a nice talk with the people in your financial aid office. All I can say is that its harder than you'd think Btw I highly recommend against trying to work a lot of hours to keep the debt down...you'll be tired and not want to go to class...and thats dumb (was dumb for me)

 

[SuperGroove]

Have you tried applying for a federal loan? Fafsa.gov?

All 10,000 is being paid for by FAFSA. I also got some pell grants and a scholarship that I didn't even apply for. So yea, it's possible to pay your own way. If you become an Room Advisor in some schools, you get free Room and Board

 

[DDCSpeed]

Usually, schools have fiancial aid that helps students such as grants if u qualify and loans. I dont know if the state or the school u will go to offers it.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

1) I had a loan three months before turning 18, but it was only for $700.
2) not sure
3) not unless you're earning a fortune

 

[Antoneo]

I would like to know as well. However the school I would like to go to costs about 25,000. That is a friggin whole lot of money. Uhhh, its impossible to go to a school like that without the family contributing a portion, correct?

[Edit: Assuming no scholarships from the school itself.]

 

[Jzero]

<< I would like to know as well. However the school I would like to go to costs about 25,000. That is a friggin whole lot of money. Uhhh, its impossible to go to a school like that without the family contributing a portion, correct?

[Edit: Assuming no scholarships from the school itself.] >>

I think through the magic of student loans you can go to pretty much any school you want. You might still be paying for it when you're drawing a pension in 50 years, but you can go.

 

[iamshady]

I'm currently enrolled at Colgate University. I received one bad grade and I'm afraid my parents will go apesh1t. I did work my butt off, I received credit for the couse, but I doubt that I can convince them I can do better. They are extremely stubborn about these things, I hate being judged soley on grades my entire life and being expected to do as they command. I understand they are paying significantly for my education, but they always jumped the gun about these matters. They have threatened me with transferring me to another school if I did badly even before I was enrolled at Colgate! Sigh... doesn't look good

 

[Antoneo]

<< You might still be paying for it when you're drawing a pension in 50 years, but you can go. >>


Arg... That's what I was afraid of . Looks like I will have to go to a cheaper school.

 

[iamshady]

Bump, anyone else?

 

[MrBond]

Check out sites like Fastweb.com (or is it .org?) for scholarship stuff. Apply for everything you can find. If a place is asking for money in the application for a scholarship, or asks that you pay a fee to get information, don't do it. That's a common scam.

Stating on a scholarship form that your parents aren't helping you pay for college is sometimes a help. I don't think I've ever gotten any money because of that though.

I really don't think it's a good idea to work a job while in college, at least your first semester. College has a way of overwhelming people, and you really should get a semester under your belt first before you decide to work. That way you can judge just how much free time you'll have.

 

[iamshady]

Mr Bond: Thanks for the info, I'm going to look into that. I do have a semester under my belt, I'm just afraid of losing all financial aid from my parents after this semester (I talked about this in another post). I already pay around $2000 this year in PLUS loans, it doubles every year. I'm wondering, if my parents do stop supporting me, would FAFSA give me more aid? I really don't like the prospect of paying off my college loans until I'm 50, but it looks like I have no other choice

 

[Arschloch]

I would think that FAFSA would -have- to offer you more money if your parents no longer support you.

I was an undergrad for 4 years, then did a 1-year masters program. The four years were paid by me, with the help of my parents. The graduate year was paid exclusively by myself. When you fill out the FAFSA form, it generates a number that represents how much you (or your family) should be able to pay. I know that when I filled it out for the year I was paying by myself, that number dropped all the way to $0. It seems to me, then, that if the gov't says you are responsible to pay for $0 (which I imagine would be the same for you), then you should be able to get more money (unless your parents are also quite poor).

That said, I can't guarantee that you will definitely get more in loans because of that. I didn't, but that was because I didn't need more: I received a graduate assistantship that paid for all of my tuition and half of my general fees.

 

[Facin]

I paid for most of my college by doing my schools Co-oping program. It didn't interrupt any of my scholarships/loans and I was able to get out of college oweing a lot less than I expected. Of course, my college didn't cost 16k a semester, but I sitll think co-oping would help...plus you get good experience for getting a job afterward...definitely helped me get a job in the bad economy.

Hope this helps.

 

[notfred]

My girlfriend has never known her father. her mother ran off to Oregon with a drug dealer before my girlfriend finished high school.

According to the people who run the fafsa, my girlfriend is financially dependent on her mother until she's 25. They really make no exceptions. She needs her mother's signature before she can even turn in the Fafsa form, never mind that she hasn't seen her mother in 2 or 3 years.

Almost all government sponsored funding is like this - they consider you a dependent of your parents until you're 25, regardless of your actaul circumstances. I hate those fafsa assho|es. Good lucktrying to fund college on your own, private grants are a lot harder to get.

 

[sandmanwake]

Definately look into the co-op thing, it's helping to pay for my college. It doesn't matter if your parents are or aren't helping you pay for college, as long as you're under 22 (I think) and single, the college will think your parents are helping to pay for your college. Unless you can prove you're estranged from your parents, they will continue to think that your parents are helping you pay for your college. As far as bank loans, I'm not sure, though I do have quite a bit of federal student loans right now, which you can look into also. Federal student loans might have lower interests than bank loans anyway.

 

[sandmanwake]

notfred, try to get your girlfriend to prove that she's estranged from her parents. This is probably next to impossible to do, but it can't hurt trying. I don't even know where to begin the process of doing so, so you'd have to ask around.

Ok, the age is 25 and not 22 for when you're considered finacially independent of your parent. That sucks even more.

 

[pyonir]

if you claim independent status and your parents do not claim you as a dependent on your taxes then you will qualify for more scholarships, grants, and loans. i stayed as a dependent when i went to college because it gave my dad a tax break and that way i could stay on the insurance...but i wish i wouldn't have cause now i owe sh!t loads of money from loans. My parents never helped. oh and stay away from all those "free t-shirt" offers from the credit card companies on campus....it will only screw you in the long run..trust me.oh and stay away from all those "free t-shirt" offers from the credit card companies on campus....it will only screw you in the long run..trust me.

 

[iamwiz82]

<< if you claim independent status and your parents do not claim you as a dependent on your taxes then you will qualify for more scholarships, grants, and loans. i stayed as a dependent when i went to college because it gave my dad a tax break and that way i could stay on the insurance...but i wish i wouldn't have cause now i owe sh!t loads of money from loans. My parents never helped. oh and stay away from all those "free t-shirt" offers from the credit card companies on campus....it will only screw you in the long run..trust me.oh and stay away from all those "free t-shirt" offers from the credit card companies on campus....it will only screw you in the long run..trust me. >>



you have alot of t-shirts, dont you?

 

[iamshady]

I got an email from Financial Aid, I'm going to call them when I get home from work. Here's a snippet:

Financial aid awarded at Colgate is considered supplemental to the resources of the family, including the student, and aid received from other sources. Colgate University does not offer financial assistance to students who voluntarily declare themselves independent of their parents, nor are we able to offer assistance if parents decide that they no longer wish to support a student at Colgate.

In your case, this means that if your parent's withdraw financial support, you would be responsible for the entire family contribution which for this year was $15,941. You are correct in noting that without your parent's support you would incur major debt, however those options are available to you but would probably require a cosigner.

 

[iamshady]

Well, got off the phone a few hours ago. Supposedly banks are willing to give students loans with cosigners because education is a safe investment for the banks. Especially with the fed rates as of late, now is good time to borrow. For my college, I would still have to submit my parent's income taxes and my grant would be based on what my parents can afford. I'm afraid that since they won't pay, that amount would have to be taken up by me through loans. I guess I'll take another look into my loan situation tonight.

 

[NewCompGeek]

after you graduate and have a huge dedt consider going into a military branch

 

[Jumpem]

I'm in the same boat as the rest of you. My parents can't afford to help me with school costs so I have to come up with rent and tuition money alone. RIT keeps me so busy all the time that I only have time to work during the summers. Right now I'm trying to get a student loan for $12K to pay for this school year. Unfortunately, the lender( Citibank:disgust: ) denied my loan with my parents as the cosigner. Now I have to go see if my grandma will cosign for me.

Iamshady, I guess if the school won't give you anymore grants then you'll have to try getting a student loan from somewhere. Hopefully it'll go better than mine is currently.

 

[iamshady]

Yea, my grants are based completely on what my parents are able to pay, whether or not they will give me financial support. I wish you luck too man, I have a feeling in two weeks I'll be in your situation. Hopefully both of us can get through this

 

[Davegod75]

2) NO WAY...they don't care if you parents actually help you out or not...just how much they make. they call it "expected family contribution"


this is where i'm getting royally screwed right now.