<p>I have decent enough grades to go to possibly JMU, GMU, VTech, American U., and George Washington U. But I do not have good enough grades for merit or most academic scholarships.</p>
<p>Unfortunately I can't even afford to go to these schools... My dad, who has not been to college (my mom hasn't either so im first gen -im white, asian, part hispanic), thinks its impossible to pay for college for we live almost pay-check to pay-check.
He although makes about 140,000, which wont qualify for fin aid (I think he pays 3,600 mortgage, and over 25,000 taken out for taxes).</p>
<p>My parents do not have drivers licenses, and I do not even have my permit yet- and when I do get my permit I would have to wait 9 months since I am under age (I am 16, senior, age in my county is 19 for drivers license).
Soooo it would be hard for me to even commute to NOVA community college- about 30 minutes away. GMU is about 30 minutes away from my house. </p>
<p>So my parents want me to go to GMU or NOVA, and use public transportation or possibly get a car, and not pay for room and board, but do not understand the time and experience I will be losing from doing room and board. (Both colleges I prefer NOT to go to)</p>
<p>My parents say to find a job instead of going to college or join the military (my dad was in the military). But I am not ready for both of these, and want to go to college and learn languages and do a major, but can't cause my parents somewhat refuse to pay for college... </p>
<p>I don't know what to do or how to convince them. What should I do? I want to major in IR and specialize in languages such as Arabic and Turkish</p>
<p>Go sit down with your high school guidance counselor, and find out more about options for a solid student who is first generation.</p>
<p>Lots of parents refuse to help pay for college. Some won’t even file the FAFSA so that their kids can borrow student loans. You need to come up with a strategy for getting your education. Starting at NOVA is not a bad thing. Here on the other side of the river, lots of our kids start at Montgomery College. Happykid commuted there on the bus (a 30 minute ride) for two years, and then transferred to Towson.</p>
<p>You may qualify for some funding-not merit based but need based. If you have siblings, that counts into the income. Your advice needs to come from your high school counselor as well as the local counselors at the colleges. Start asking some questions!</p>
<p>I will directly ask my career counselor this time. </p>
<p>I have one other sibling who is two years younger.
My parents are willing to file FAFSA but know they wont get much financial aid, especially from public schools. (I think GW and American would give me more but not enough)</p>
<p>And what if I want to get involved and make more friends in college? I am kind of an introvert and need to be pushed to make friends, and can’t when I will have less time to join activities and have a roommate (which I would at-least wanna try). I think a 30 minute ride to CC or GMU might be too much of a hassle, especially with public transportation.</p>
<p>If you join a club, or a sports team, or get a job on campus, or take a lot of classes that require team projects, you will meet people. Happykid was a Theatre Tech/Design major. She made a bazillion friends - some of whom she met on that 30 minute bus ride to or from campus.</p>
<p>You need to find out if your patents will pay anything at all for your education. Until you know their figure ($0? $500? $10,000? More?) you really can’t start this process.</p>
<p>my dad says they cant even afford 5000 a year for college, I might get some aid from my grandfather (who might be able to pay 500-1000$ a month) and older aunt (who has a good amount of money in savings bonds). But I will be relying heavily on others.
And I think especially if I join clubs and sports and internships, the transportation times would take a huge chunk out of my time I could be doing homework or essays. especially for American and GW.</p>
<p>This is what community colleges are for. A Stafford (Direct) loan will usually be enough to pay for classes.</p>
<p>Don’t you already have a thread about this same issue?</p>
<p>The issue isn’t so much that you will or won’t qualify for some/any aid, the issue is that your parents income is high enough that they’ll have a substantial expected contribution that they can’t pay.</p>
<p>So, it won’t matter if School A gives you “some aid” if the same school expects your parents to pay $40k.</p>
<p>You need to ask your relatives how much they could contribute EACH YEAR for FOUR straight years. It won’t work if they can help this year, but not two years from now.</p>
<p>Your high school counselor probably won’t be much help with this. They don’t deal with the money issues.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1566575-cant-afford-college.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1566575-cant-afford-college.html</a></p>
<p>A solution is to go to the Financial Aid forum and look at the “Guaranteed Full Tuition/full ride” and “Competitive Full Tuition” threads. See if some work for you. Then you could attend a residential college.
What are your stats? (SAT/ACT, GPA, other relevant info)
You need to find out where you can get merit aid for your stats. Merit aid means you’d be in the top 25% (if not top 10%) of applicants and would thus be in the Honors College, not a bad deal.
Christopher Newport has a program for students with 3.9/1250 and another one for students with 4.1/1350 (I’m assuming weighted).
Randolph has a full tuition scholarship for 3.7+ and 1400+ and there are lower awards for lower stats.
At Hampden Sydney, the highest awards go to 1400/top 5% class rank, and there are lower awards for lower stats, too.
Start typing “scholarship” or “merit aid” in each school’s website.</p>