Take heart:
Whether you are able to get in-state tuition at Minnesota after moving and finishing your high school there, or if you stay in VA and head for George Mason… either is a pretty solid option.
You certainly are on top of things, your ID is hilarious, and you - despite having some family dynamics working against you - are really working your tail off to see this through. I’ve little doubt that wherher in Minnesota or Virginia, you’ll succeed.
If you don’t have money to go to college, then how are you going to have the money to live on your own in VA?
Can your mother postpone the move to MN so you can finish HS in VA? Then after graduation, you move to MN and take a gap year to wait until you qualify for MN residency?
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I’ve never applied for reduced lunch because I pack lunch.
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Well you should apply.
As for your mom moving to MInn. She should do so ASAP, so that you can qualify for instate tuition. I’m guessing that she needs to move there and live with relatives since her support will be ending in two years.
It would seem to make sense to move there now so that she can save her alimony payments rather than wasting them on rent now. She’s going to be in a bad situation in a couple years if she’s unable to earn much money.
I guess the two realistic options for me are GMU or community college for 2 years. I need to talk to my mom about this but if she bails on me and moves to MN, the only choice i have would be to find my own apartment and get a loan for community college correct?
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You should not be borrowing that much.
Your mom and you need to sit down and figure out a plan. If she’s going to move, she should move before her alimony ends so that she can SAVE that money for the future.
the idea of borrowing $9k per year for an apt for a CC is crazy.
@phokingtasty did you look into the Gates Millenium scholarship program? Do it!
@ucbalumnus
The net price calculators are not set up for divorced situations. If you include both parents…the assumption is they are married (unless the NPC asks…very few do) and things like the asset protection allowance are not going to be right.
If you put only one parent, the NPC calculates as if for a married family (unless it specifically asks…and most dont).
If you do two separate NPCs for schools that use both parents, you will get duplicate awards and of course you are only entitled to one Pell, one Direct Loan, one set of institutional grants, etc.
NOW to the OP. You will need to check the residency requirements in Minnesota if your mom moves there. Perhaps you could go to community college in MN. Some CCs are a little more lenient when it comes to instate status than four year schools.
In the meantime…read the links in the above listed thread. Perhaps you will qualify for a full ride someplace with your stats.
If you stay where you are to attend CC, do you have someone with whom you can live? Otherwise…how will you pay living expenses.
How would Gates work with schools that require the dad’s info?
And do we even know if that dad will submit the info? I suspect that he may not since he and the child are barely speaking.
Actually, the College Board net price calculator that many schools use includes a question on the parents’ marital status.
Gates (GMS) is a “gap filler” scholarship. They pay AFTER Federal and EFC and any institutional. So that will not solve the issue of affordability, but no $$ from the father, unless it is a FAFSA school. Perhaps Va Tech is a FAFSA school? IDK.
As @GMTplus7 notes, OP will have options with a decent standardized test score.
Probably the best way to get sustained guidance is to apply through Questbridge. They must see this all the time, and will have the sustained support you need to navigate through all of this. Look up questbridge.org.
Closing thread until we get the name changed. Since the name will change (or the member will be banned if he doesn’t agree to this) I am also deleting the posts that talk about the name. They won’t make sense once it changes.