<p>Shouldn't you be grateful that you've gotten a 95% discount on a CORNELL education? Gosh...</p>
<p>I don't know why I even bother...</p>
<p>For the record our salary is 0. Not $9,000 - we'd be happy with that. It's 0.</p>
<p>I'm sure quite a bit of America makes under 60k, that's certainly not the cusp of poverty. 50, 40, even 30k is still doable.</p>
<p>Finding a job on campus for a first year student is not too difficult either
The dining halls are always hiring people for $8/hr and there are tons of other jobs available for even more. Most of the time, I see these people sending the money back to their parents. So I'm pretty sure you'd be able to support them even if you were not at home :)</p>
<p>I know that you are probably in a very hard situation, but luckily Cornell does offer services for its students. First, contact the office of Financial Aid and see if you can get an adjustment. You can appeal and it is not unheard of to appeal to a lower student contribution. Second, you probably will find a campus job easily. As mentioned, Dining is always looking for people and you probably could even find a job in one of the the libraries. Third, each college has a robust office of career services. They could help you find a summer job or give you good advice. There could even be an alum or two in your area to help out. You never know who or what you will find. In addition, you probably will land a good job after graduation to help you pay off the 12k. I know that I will have about that amount in federal loans when I graduate. Even if I plan to go to law school, I probably will take a year off doing AmeriCorps or being a paralegal to pay off those loans. Overall, you just have to be proactive and take advantage of the services Cornell offers.</p>
<p>There is definitely no excuse to not be working during the school year. There are plenty of jobs on and off campus. In fact, I worked 3 part-time jobs at the same time during my senior year.</p>
<p>It took me less than 10 minutes to find a job on campus. I also worked at Cornell Dining during my senior year because I had to pay for all of my housing, food, supplies, and health insurance and tuition on my own, with very little financial aid. I got a free dinner every time I worked a shift, and I got to make my own schedule so I worked every day. I made 4000 over a summer at an internship that gave me free housing, so I used that to pay my rent. I took out a loan for tuition and health insurance. I am graduating with 40K in loans because my parents EFC was around 12K and they could not pay anything, and my parents are about to lose their house too. What I'm trying to say is that if you work 10-20 hours a week on campus, get free meals or a discounted meal plan by working in a dining hall, live off campus in a cheap apartment after freshmen year and maybe try to graduate a semester early, that 12K will go away very very easily with money to spare. I know that you thought your education would be free, but I highly doubt that you will graduate with any debt so don't worry so much!!</p>
<p>O and about living in Ithaca over the summer and working full time. I found a full time lab job in Ithaca without much effort. My rent for the summer on west campus was $400 a month including utilities. I didn't have a car, I just walked or took the bus occasionally. I needed the lab experience anyway, and I made more than enough to cover living expenses and to save a bunch. It was the only thing that I could do that year because there were no science jobs near my house and jobs in supermarkets or the movie theater I used to work at would only give students 20 hours a week.</p>
<p>Speaking as somebody who actively supports low-income students every year as part of my annual giving to Cornell, I find your attitude a bit frustrating for many of the reasons exhibited by other posters. The fact that there is a modest self-help component (no matter the EFC) to the financial aid package of every single college in the country save for the military academies shouldn't exactly be news to you. Speaking of which, have you thought about joining ROTC? That would help your cashflow problems in a heart beat.</p>
<p>Moreover, it sounds like you are a bit unfamiliar with Cornell's financial aid policies. If you have a 0 EFC, Cornell isn't asking you to contribute $2k to tuition; it is likely asking you to contribute $2k towards your books, food, and other incidentals. </p>
<p>And don't be so naive as to think that a poor individual can afford to go without health insurance. Health care costs for the uninsured are the number one source of bankruptcy in this country, and we would be so privileged as to experience real health care reform in this country over the next two years. And so far only Massachusetts and Hawaii have woken up to this cold reality. Cornell is doing you a favor by requiring you to have health insurance. </p>
<p>But there is an easy solution to your problems: If you don't think that a Cornell education is worth $12k in loans or working 400-500 hours a year in easily-available on-campus jobs, then nobody is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to stay in Ithaca. Although my personal recommendation would be to attempt to stay at Cornell because the school offers many fantastic opportunities to its students and alums, opportunities that tens of thousands of people just like you would kill for.</p>
<p>Your situation is obviously a tough one and I wish you and your family the best. From what I know of you, it seems like that there isn't much of a job market or economy back at home, yet you are expected to return back home to support your family over the breaks. Have you thought about the possibility of staying/living in Ithaca to work and sending funds back home? </p>
<p>Life is not without sacrifice. But you need to decide what is worth sacrificing. I would strongly advise that you start talking to staff members in student services as well. They are there to help individuals in your situation.</p>
<p>I have an on-campus work study job - thought I should mention that. I send the money back home to help my family. </p>
<p>Thanks for your suggestions (to the helpful, not the flamers)</p>
<p>
[quote]
I grew up in an all-white, upper-class prep suburb, and even I feel safe in Ithaca. No comparison in Ithaca and Queens.
[/quote]
You posted this on a previous thread. Any explanation? I'm just curious :)</p>
<p>oh my gosh molly! i too thought i remember him saying that somewhere else..!</p>
<p>and cayuga you are soo right!</p>
<p>
[quote]
and cayuga you are soo right!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Now if only I can convince you that Ithaca isn't as seedy as you make it out to be. A couple of drug dealers trafficking from downstate does not turn Ithaca into a dump. Go to Schenectady or Utica if you want to see rough and tumble.</p>
<p>Cayuga! <3</p>
<p>a lot of my opinions on ithaca are a bit biased...though i'll admit they're mostly not my own...</p>
<p>a lot of it plays off from my fascination with Ithaca's Rants&Raves on (Ithaca.craigslist.org)</p>
<p>I'm pretty surprised myself Resurgam...It's not often that in an upper class white prep suburb, most people live in poverty, drop out of high school to get local jobs, have $0 family incomes, and worry about finding food to eat. The upper class suburb I grew up in sure wasn't like that - my sympathies, OP.</p>
<p>I'm starting to think this is a total lie, and if so, that's just pathetic. I looked at your posting history because I remembered your upper class prep comment, and also found this <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/637088-transfer-colleges-twice.html#post1061655989%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/637088-transfer-colleges-twice.html#post1061655989</a> Since you're planning on transferring out of Cornell since it's cold and miserable and falling apart, maybe you'll get better FA at your new college? Good luck. I hope you're happier in your dirt poor poverty stricken/upper class utopia down South.</p>
<p>
[quote]
a lot of it plays off from my fascination with Ithaca's Rants&Rave
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Oh God. You do realize that it's the same ten paranoid Ithaca Republicans posting on those forums, right?</p>
<p>The dirty secret about the Finger Lakes is that it's not Ithaca that has the problems, it's the outlying rural areas to the east and south that have a lot of problems. The Appalachian poor.</p>
<p>Actually, this rant and rave is pretty funny. Only in Ithaca would somebody complain about a grocer turning into Wegman's:</p>
<p>Greenstar</a> RANT</p>
<p>
[quote]
</p>
<p>Went into Greenstar the other evening and found the eatery full of premade sushi crammed into plastic trays. ***??? Not only is it packed in plastic trays you just throw out but it's full of mercury laden fish pulled out of the waters of TAIWAN??? First of all, isn't that the same as CHINA, the country Greenstar has a product ban on??? And secondly, there are basically NO laws or regulations concerning the over fishing of the area and the killing of DOLPHINS!!!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>i'm going to be graduating with 120k in debt how do you feel about that</p>
<p>12,000 for four years isnt bad at all. I mean i could understand that you mad that they said you would graduate debt free, but you should know that nothing is actually "free". Im not grilling you or anything, but you should just be happy your not gonna be in 100,000 dollars in debt. I know a couple people who will be graduating with that much debt and that wont have any parental contributions toward that debt so theyll have to pay that off themselves</p>
<p>Molly, maybe you should try to get all of the facts before you jump to a conclusion and make yourself look like an idiot, eh? I had no idea the majority of posters at College Confidential were so petty and jealous, that they lash out if someone has less debt than them. </p>
<p>I owe none of you an explanation, but for the sake of my thread going back to it's original intent and not a witch hunt, I will provide one. </p>
<p>As for the upper-class prep town - yes, that is correct, that's exactly how I grew up. Keyword: Grew up. Life changed very quickly after my parent's divorce and the parent I chose to live with lost their job. The other won't pay child support. We had to move out, and moved to a cheaper area closer to family - hence why I now live in a poverty stricken area where no one has a college education and entry level jobs are hard to find. I don't know where you got that I dropped out of high school, Molly. Guess you just made that one up.</p>
<p>I knew someone might question the comment I made growing up in a white upper-class neighborhood when I started a thread like this. I had never imagined the person who would question it would act like such a jealous-sounding witch. Seriously, grow up.</p>
<p>soccerguy, I do not think people are jealous, but rather they are angry. You have to understand where they are coming from just as they have to understand where you are coming from. I have friends going to NYU, Peabody, Cornell, and MIT that are going to have tens of thousands of dollars more in debt than you. And the fact that their families are relatively well-off (200k) does not excuse the fact that just their undergraduate education is going to put them in a serious financial hole. There are people that are easily going to have twice the debt that you have. So when you complain about having 12k in debt, you have to imagine that people are going to get emotional.
It is also the sense that you feel that you will not have to contribute anything to your education. For the University not ask that you contribute a little bit to your education is pretty farfetched. Just doing academic year work is probably going to get at least one thousand dollars, probably more. If, after consulting with your respective office of career services, that it is deemed impossible to get a decent summer job in your area, then you need to consult the fin aid office and ask for an appeal or budget adjustment.</p>
<p>My parents combined have an income of around $150k, but because of our house ($1.5mil), colleges expect us to contribute 34k a year, when my parents could realistly only provide 20k. They don't take into consideration our mortgage payments (5.5k/month) and the cost of living, and this will probably leave me with little to no financial aid. We're not poor enough to have most of it paid and we're not rich enough to where it doesnt matter. My point is, you should be glad that you won't graduate with over 100k in debt, where it would take you a decade to pay it off, and that instead you would only have 12k in debt. A job out of college would easily be able to cover that, your family, and you.</p>
<ul>
<li>I have two other sisters who will be college bound after me</li>
</ul>
<p>
[quote]
Molly, maybe you should try to get all of the facts before you jump to a conclusion and make yourself look like an idiot, eh?
[/quote]
Excuse me? I didn't jump to a conclusion. I asked you for an explanation. It's not like I said "OMG Soccerguy is a LIAR!", I said, "Any explanation?" I consider that pretty polite. I realized that there might be an explanation for two contrasting statments. And I didn't say you dropped out of high school, I said you stated you live in an area where many people do, which is why it's hard for you to get a job. So why don't you actually read my post next time instead of calling me an idiot and a jealous sounding witch. </p>
<p>And stop repeatedly calling everyone jealous. We're not jealous of you. Most people here pity you and are trying to give you advice - which, by the way, you should take. Whoever said ROTC probably gave you your best suggestion, assuming you're eligible for that kind of program.</p>