<p>I am currently a sophomore and commuting this year because I didn’t have my finances set straight at the end of last year. Anyway, my school absolutely has no housing for Juniors and up, and instead they have private apartment complexes build on their property. </p>
<p>As a student, I can’t apply the bill to my tuition. I also have a weird financial situation:</p>
<li><p>I have about $32,000 left as a college fund from my grandmother. I go to a state school and pay about $5000 per year. I get about $5000 in grants and scholarships, which seems like a pittance. </p></li>
<li><p>The apartments have a 1-year lease and are not billable to tuition; they expect monthly payments.</p></li>
<li><p>To access my fund each bill has to be transported across the country to be signed by my aunt and uncle. I can’t do this every month. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>So, I technically have the money to pay for an apartment bill, but no real way to access it. I am hoping to get get loans next year to pay for my bill in full, then to get enough extra to pay for an apartment. I’d just pay back the loans with my savings after graduating. </p>
<p>With this situation, I don’t really know what to do. I am scheduling a financial aid meeting this week, but I’d appreciate hearing constructive suggestions. Do keep in mind that my parents do NOT have the money to pay for housing, and “getting a job” doesn’t help when the apartment bill is $600-$800 monthly. </p>
<p>(cross-posted in Financial Aid and Student Life, because they have very different audiences. If one post must be deleted, remove the Student Life thread.)</p>
<p>You didn't say specifically, but I'm assuming that you currently get need-based aid from your College.</p>
<p>Remember that the college determines your "need" by subtracting your Expected Family Contribution (from FAFSA) from the school's estimated Cost of Attendance (tuigion, room & board, books, and misc.). Currently, your COA doesn't include room & board because you opted to live at home.</p>
<p>When you apply for aid for next year, you'll indicate "off campus" for your living arrangement, not "at home". Then the school will increase their COA by their estimated average cost of living off campus, including apartment and food. So your need will go up, and most likely your aid will go up.</p>
<p>Now it may or may not go up by the full cost of renting an apartment and buying food. Depends on the school, and on your ability to find cheap housing and your ability to be frugal with meals.</p>
<p>On the "accessing money" issue, I don't really understand the problem. USPS will transport a check across the country in 3 days for 42 cents.</p>
<p>Or you can set up an account at a bank with branches all over and deposit the money into that account. Heck...that is how we get the money to DD across the country. She has an account at Bank of America and we go to the one here on the East coast and make the deposit on a Saturday. She goes to the one on the West Coast and the check clears by Tuesday. If we make a CASH deposit, it clears into her account IMMEDIATELY.</p>
<p>Grandparents could deposit into the account on one coast, and student could access it on the opposite coast.</p>
<p>sblake --- I understand the financial aid part, and I am planning on changing my FAFSA accordingly when I do it again. I don't know if my aid is need or academic. I only accept a AES scholarship for about $2000 and a school academic scholarship; I don't take the loans because I have the money and when I do take a Stafford, they always change the actual amount I get, leaving me with more to pay when I think everything's taken care of.</p>
<p>The transport of the bill isn't an issue, it's the lazy lawyer work. The account is handled by a lawyer and she is extremely sloppy. The problem is any school bill sits in her office for a month before being sent to my aunt in California, which only takes a few days. Obviously changing lawyers is not an option.</p>
<p>thumper --- I can't directly access the account, it's a fund left from my grandmom in a group trust (along with money for my father, uncle, aunt, and so on). The account stipulation is that I can only use it for school until I'm 21. And, as stated, getting access to it on a monthly basis is impossible because of a lazy lawyer. </p>
<p>Heck, even for my semester bill, it usually takes at least 3 months. For Spring 2008, I sent out a bill in Feb. and it didn't get paid until August. </p>
<p>This is why I am thinking a private loan, perhaps backed by AES, is the way to go.</p>
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<p>I can't directly access the account, it's a fund left from my grandmom in a group trust (along with money for my father, uncle, aunt, and so on). The account stipulation is that I can only use it for school until I'm 21. And, as stated, getting access to it on a monthly basis is impossible because of a lazy lawyer>></p>
</blockquote>
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<p>You know...someone ought to talk to the lawyer. She/he can set up an automatic withdrawal from the trust and an automatic withdrawal to your bank account...it can happen monthly. No one does these things by hand anymore. It can all be done electronically.</p>
<p>Hm, I can definitely talk to my dad about getting it set up, but I have a feeling this lawyer is so lazy and scummy she can't or won't set that up. The trust will says that any bill for me has to be signed by my aunt and uncle, but it can probably be set up to happen automatically.</p>
<p>Now, apparently next year my fund is going to be handled by a beneficiary that I hire (?) myself at a bank. In that case, I can always deliver a bill by hand and have it signed on the spot, but I can't really know for sure.</p>
<p>I think there is still something I may be missing. But, why don't you have the full amount of your monthly rent for the semester taken from the trust all at the beginning? Then you deposit it into your free checking account (or even a savings account to get the interest) and pay the monthly rent yourself from that account? Then you only have to go through your lazy lawyer once per semester.</p>
<p>Hi, any withdrawal has to be explicitly for a school-related purpose and approved by my lawyer, aunt, and uncle. Depositing the money into my own account is not guaranteed to go towards schooling so it is not possible, since they can't verify exactly what I'll use it on.</p>
<p>However, one apartment complex does list the total price of housing for a year. I may be able to pay it up-front in full.</p>