I’m currently in my 2nd year of community college, and I have no way to pay for school. After graduating high school, I worked 3 jobs for 6 months, and saved up 6,000 dollars. I’m currently in school and working 2 jobs and can barely pay for school. I got into my state school (Pitt) and can’t afford the tuition for the next 2 years (17,000/per year). I’m the oldest of 9 kids, my dad’s a janitor, but I’m not getting much financial aid. I’m currently building up my credit, and have a credit score of 648. I’m unable to get a loan, and I have no one to cosign a student loan for me. I’ve applied to public schools, private schools, and film schools, and I can barely afford any of them. I also spoke with a counselor at PSU, and she said most of my credits from freshman year won’t transfer, so I might have to repeat that year. I’m just lost. My dream school is Queens College or Baruch College and I can barely afford those. I just don’t know what to do. People kept telling me to take my first 2 years of community college and I would save Money… but I would argue that these past 2 years have been a waste. I wouldn’t recommend going to CC your first 2 years. Any advice?
Are there any univs near your home that you can commute to?
Can you get a job that helps pay for tuition…Starbucks has an online option, Home Depot helps pay, AT&T helps pay, and there are others. You probably would have to take a year off of school, because those companies may require the employee to work a year before they help pay for college. I know a few people in your situation and AT&T and Home Depot are helping them pay for college.
I assume that all you’ve been offered is a full Pell grant and a 7500 loan?
@mom2collegekids
Im currently working at Starbucks, and their tuition assistance program is VERY strict, and they dont have a film studies/production program. I applied for the program, but who knows if I will be accepted. I’m the oldest of 9 kids, but both of my parents have semi-good jobs and make enough money, so my EFC is pretty high. I can’t live at home while in school. Both my father and step-father are both making me pay rent to stay at either of my homes… I’ve never been close to my parents, but 600/month is ridiculous to live in my own home with 8 younger siblings. I’m definitely going to move out. I’d rather pay 1000/month and live in complete silence… I’ve always had to do things on my own, I just have to continue that. Idk what to do.
You could join the Army or Air Force Reserve. I rarely see people on CC take that option, but the education benefit is very good.
Your best option might be to just finish your AA or AS degree at the community college, then take a year off. During that time, work with the Transfer Advisor at your CC to identify good targets for your transfer applications. If you have excellent grades and LORs, there may be good options out there for you.
Reality is, young people have a really tough time getting a traditional “college experience” without any help from their families whether it’s money or a free place to live. You may need to broaden your picture on what college will look like which I know is difficult.
You have to be careful in what school you pick but an online degree might be a good option for you. You could work, save and wait until you are 24 and can be independent and perhaps qualify for more aid. You could be a part-time student. Sounds like you are already work for a company that helps with tuition. Your local state (or any in state public) will be the best bet for transferring the most units. Does your community college have an IGETC… intersegmental transfer curriculum? This is an agreed upon list of classes that state public universities agree will transfer as completion of lower division work even if they don’t have similar in their school. You may have already done most of them. This would ensure you don’t lose time and have added expense if you can get to the university.
You may be able to be a RA at a school once you can get a campus/college worked out.
If you are healthy/meet physical requirements, look into the various military service options. Test with them to see where you can get placed - maybe a better situation than you currently are looking at.
Your parents may not value higher ed or what you want to study, IDK. They may be getting tired of parenting and have a ways to go with the youngest getting through HS.
The journey makes you stronger in your determination. Don’t give up but look around and assess where you currently are, where you want to be, and the choices you can make to get there.
Tough love here: Even if you got a degree in film production, you would still probably have to support yourself with a side gig at Starbucks. You need to find a first career that brings in the cash money then follow your passion for the arts. Changing major would open up more school opportunities to you as well - arts programs tend to have lousy financial aid.
If your current community college credits aren’t transferable, you could do a third year of community college focusing on the transferable classes only so that you don’t have to repeat a year. Another option is to get off the transfer degree path and look at the career preparation programs and study something that will make a decent salary with just an associates degree. In alignment with your interests, the community college might offer a video or multimedia editin certificate. Or, in alignment with job prospects, something like a medical technician program leads to a job with pretty good pay for not having a four year degree (such as medical assistant, dental assistant, x-ray technician, etc.)
Go talk to the career advisors in your community college and see how you can get on a path to something that pays well enough to pay the bills. If you decide to continue on the transfer path, talk to the transfer advisors and understand well which classes transfer and which don’t.
As you may have noticed, the state of Pennsylvania has lousy financial aid for low income students. If you can get a job in a better state and work for a while to obtain residency, you may have an easier time paying for college. Usually you have to work for a year, change over your drivers license, etc. Read the how to establish residency page on the state university system website for any state you are considering moving to.
The other thing about the arts besides the lousy financial aid – Art schools are the least likely to accept transfer credits. You can much more easily transfer general education credits to universities with fine arts departments, but even then the fine arts credits may not transfer until they to a portfolio review of the work you accomplished, especially if you are leaving your in-state system.
I know a theater tech/design AA graduate (lighting emphasis) who now is a manager for Starbucks. That person shows no signs yet of going back to college, but may be waiting out until age 24. This could be a route for you to consider.
Are you working at all in film? Any random related gigs out there that would help you build up your portfolio? That could make a big difference when you are applying for transfer. I don’t know any film people, just theater tech/design and stage management. The tech/design folks who did finish a bachelors degree are supporting themselves in the arts by being willing to take just about any stagehand gig as well as the random community theater design gig. So there isn’t a clear promotion track, and no hope of benefits like you have access to at Starbucks. The two I know best have had it with the community theater scene and are both headed into MFA programs this fall hoping for better professional contacts. I know one stage manager who is now working on the entertainment team on a cruise ship, and another who has decided to only take theater gigs she really cares about, and has supported herself in both retail and hotel management. Both of those are full-time employees and do have decent benefits because of the companies they work for.
Did you take the federal student loans your first two years at CC? It may not help you now but for others - you can take the loans the first two years, bank the money and pay for CC with your earnings. The use the loan money you banked plus your new loan money for junior and senior years plus new earnings to pay for junior and senior year.
Film production, depending on what exactly you’d be doing, can fall into the “trade” category and may not require a college degree. You may want to investigate apprenticeship programs.
Hi @Tyler000
I see that your dream school is NYC.
Do you know anyone who lives in NYC that you can live with? have you thought about moving to the City and getting a job? If yes, once you live in the city for 6 months you can apply for the Made in NY Production Assistant Training Program (it is free to NYC residents). It may be worth looking into
Let’s start with the basics…you are not a resident of NY so your costs for Baruch or Queens College are going to be in the over $30,000 a year range. If you can’t afford Pitt, you can’t afford CUNY schools.
You need to talk to the transfer advisor at your CC, as well as to your academic advisor to see what schools have articulation agreements in PA and will accept your credits.
What instate PA schools might be affordable for you…any?
If your FAFSA EFC is $0, you will get a $6000 Pell Grant, and as a sophomore transfer, you can also take a $6500 Direct Loan.
You may have to consider going to college part time, and working full time to make ends meet. It’s not your ideal…but you wouldn’t be the first student to need to do this.
Please, to those who are saying for the OP join the military for educational benefits, please stop!
@CottonTales why do you say that?
I agree with @CottonTales
Folks should go the military route because they actually want to be in the military…not because they view it as a cash cow for college. The tuition benefits for our military veterans are well earned as members of the military. But this choice should be made because they want to actually serve our country.
@itsmegina, @SOSConcern, @BrianBoiler
The military is not a scholarship service. Please don’t recommend it to students as a way to pay for college.
But the military recruiters recommend it all the time. There is a military recruitment office right near the Family Resource Center where I volunteer. Fantastic people there.
It is a legit way out of poverty for many.
I think it is naïve to expect only those who actually want to serve our country are applying.
But I wholeheartedly agree that the military is not for everyone.
I want to applaud OP for working through school. It may be necessary to take a couple years off, and work to try to save, but please keep the dream alive. There are lots of students every year who can’t afford to go to college. There are also many, many people who take a non-traditional path and don’t graduate until their late 20’s or 30’s.
A bit of irony that occurred to me. In the Vietnam era, young people went to college to avoid the military. Now they join the military to go to college.