<p>Look into West Virginia University - they have a great criminal justice type program and are pretty reasonable for OOS. If you can bring your GPA up to 3.0 and get at least a 1030 on the SAT you qualify for a 2000/yr merit scholarship as well. You would not need to go into a lot of debt and I hear WVU is quite a fun school.
If you really search I am sure you will find other solutions - don't give up, but you will have to look at some schools that are not necessarily "top" ranked.</p>
<p>i think once you're 18 you can get some type of aid by telling the school that you're parent's are not supporting you or something like that. they can't claim you as a dependant on taxes anymore though i don't think. also if you can go to a state school in another state, see if you have friends or relatives in that state and you could claim their address as your residence to get lower tuition.</p>
<p>Most schools have caught on to that. Your high school transcript gives you away for one and there are many rules about who can claim that they are independent. It's not that easy.</p>
<p>i think once you're 18 you can get some type of aid by telling the school that you're parent's are not supporting you or something like that.
something like that- actually more like this</p>
<p>
[quote]
For the 2005-2006 academic year, you're considered an independent student ONLY IF at least one of the following criteria applies to you:</p>
<p>You were born before January 1, 1982.</p>
<p>You will be enrolled in a master's or doctorate program (beyond a bachelor's degree) at the beginning of the 2005-2006 school year.</p>
<p>You're married as of the day you apply (or you're separated but not divorced).</p>
<p>You have children who receive more than half their support from you.</p>
<p>You have dependents (other than your children or spouse) who live with you and who receive more than half their support from you at the time you apply and through June 30, 2006.</p>
<p>Both your parents are deceased, or you are (or were until age 18) a ward or dependent of the court.</p>
<p>You're a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces. (A "veteran" includes students who attended a U.S. service academy and who were released under a condition other than dishonorable. For more detail on who is considered a veteran, see the explanatory notes on the FAFSA.)
If none of these criteria applies to you, you're considered dependent.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>can you get legally empancipated? I think then they'd have to reconsider fin aid (since they can't use your parents assets), although they'd still expect that you'd take loans out.</p>
<p>yea, i think your being pretty picky</p>
<p>out of state, no parents help, no loans, no fin aid, and only 15k/year (i think 15k is a lot for a person who is in college...but i guess it depends on what you plan to do ....15k with minimum wage would take forever if you take taxes into consideration)</p>
<p>but if you want to be legally "independant" as stated by FAFSA, your best bet would be to get married : )</p>
<p>morally i wouldnt get married to just anyone, but if you really want college with fin aid without loans, its the most realistic choice</p>
<p>i guess you can join the army or w/e....but sadly most ppl dont even consider that...and it would take a lot more time</p>
<p>good luck...</p>
<p>For two years, stay home and go to a community college. Do EXCEPTIONALLY well. Develop relationships with teachers who will write you excellents recs. Get a part time job, live very frugally, and SAVE YOUR MONEY.</p>
<p>Then, apply to out-of-state schools that will offer your merit aid. At that time, you will look like a focused, independent, academic kid. </p>
<p>Use your savings and merit aid to pay (most of ) your Junior and Senior years of college. Any remaining loan amounts should be modest.</p>
<p>Equally important, tell your plan to your parents and stick to it. By your Junior and Senior years in college, they may be able/willing to help you somewhat--but don't count on it.</p>
<p>Listen, no one is entitled to a free, parent-paid, college education. While some people get it handed to them, many/most people have to work hard for it. I was in the same category myself.</p>
<p>What about that legally emancipated stuff. Does anyone know about that? It seems like a longshot, but acceptable.</p>
<p>Also, I would consider the army, but you have to serve for something like 4 years for them to pay for college.</p>
<p>Nope, from the finaid.org website:
"Emancipated
To release a child from the control of a parent or guardian. Declaring a child to be legally emancipated is not sufficient to release the parents or legal guardians from being responsible for providing for the child's education. If this were the case, then every parent would "divorce" their children before sending them to college."
and
"Independent
A parent refusing to provide support for their child's education is not sufficient for the child to be declared independent."</p>
<p>then what does the finaid.org website say to do if your parents refuse to pay at all? I can't imagine this is that uncommon, and most children dont have enough accumulated wealth to take out 150,000+ in loans.</p>
<p>If your parents refuse to pay, that's sad, but there's really nothing a college can do about that. </p>
<p>Are your parents saying they won't pay anything? at all? For any school? What are they doing with thier rather high salarys?</p>
<p>hen what does the finaid.org website say to do if your parents refuse to pay at all</p>
<p>well while Seattle has the highest percent of residents in the country with bachelors degrees, it still is barely over 50% of residents.
a college degree is not mandatory, to get a job and raise a family.
It isn't even mandatory to be educated- we have free libraries and teh intranets, with enough to keep you busy learning till you are too pale and need to go outside ;)
work till you are 24, and then apply to college as an independent student if you can't see any other way.</p>
<p>I quite honestly think you're being very picky and unrealistic. You can't expect to go to an out of state college and not take any loans. Usually $15,000 is half of what is needed for out of state tuition. I highly doubt you will keep stellar grades and manage a (fulltime?) job judging by your H.S. GPA. You probably won't get any merit based aid also.
I was going to take $32,000 in loans but my parents eventually came around and they are now taking $30,000 in loans for Purdue. I would try and talk to your parents. At this point that's your only option if you're not willing to take loans.
Once again your bias towards loans will cost you. You will have to waste a year of your young life working at a fast food restaurant and another 1-2 years going to a low tier community college. TAKE THE LOANS. You won't regret it. I know I won't. College is the best part of most people's lives, don't let it go to waste because you're afraid to take loans.
On a sidenote, I don't understand how you expect to make a good enough salary with criminal/law/justice or w/e it is you're doing.. is an out of state school really necessary for that major? I've never heard of people paying lots of out of state tuition for that type of major.
Sorry for sounding harsh if I have.</p>
<p>Try to talk to your parents. If your parents still won't give you money, then take a loan. go to a in-state school. They are alot cheaper than out of state school.</p>
<p>I was the one--a page back--that mentioned a community college. Let's be clear about reality: You are a so-so student, without great extra curriculars, without parents who want to dish out a lot of dough, and who doesn't want to stay in-state, take out loans, and or serve in the army for four years. What's going to give? </p>
<p>My suggestion was to become an excellent student, save and work, and then go away to college for your final (and most important) two years. </p>
<p>I get the sense that you are still trying to defy gravity and get money to rise up from the ground. It won't happen. You have to make your own plan.</p>
<p>My older brother went to an one of our state univ. back in the day. Our parents had no $ to contribute and we certainly did not expect it. He worked every other quarter, 2 jobs, and saved the $ to pay for the next quarter. My parents thought they were doing him a favor by letting him live and eat at home while he worked in the off quarter. I believe they did him a favor too. They simply didn't have the means. My brother is a very successful civil engineer today. Self-made is a good thing folks. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>If you are white, look into Alcorn State where they give scholarships to white students.</p>
<p>I understand wanting to get away from your state too well but it seems the only way to do it for you is to go out of state and take out big loans (with your parents signature) or go to the state you want to be in, work for a year and apply for residency there and go to a community or state college there. The latter was my plan if I didn't get into a California college with enough money. Luckily it didnt happen but if you really want to get away, you have to do what may be hard.</p>
<p>Would you take a loan out for a great car, awesome sound system or blazing fast computer? If so, then why won't you go into a little debt for your college education? Simply because your parents have the money does not entitle you to it. Nor are you entitled to large financial aid because your parents won't help you. Right now, you have options (community college, state university of which Texas has many, gap year, etc) but they aren't what you want to hear. None of us know why your parents won't pay. Maybe they want to keep you close to home. You are a junior with no EC's and decent but average grades. Maybe they feel you have wasted the hours you have outside of school or feel you haven't worked up to your potential. If that is the case, they may feel that you aren't ready for the responsibility of being on your own with them footing the bill. </p>
<p>To your credit, you have started in your Junior year trying to work with counselor, etc. instead of waiting until January of your Senior year. You cannot change your current financial situation and no amount of pleading is going to change the current college financial scene for you. You've been given some good options although they don't fit into the perfect scheme of things. So, what else can you do?</p>
<p>Talk with your parents about their specific concerns and see what you would have to do to get them to agree to help. Are you willing to do whatever they request? Look at what you can realistically earn. $15,000 a year with just a HS diploma and full time college load is not realistic unless you do some type of computer work and even then it is stretching it. </p>
<p>Work really hard this next month and raise you GPA to 3.0+ and keep it there through at least the first semester of Sr. year. Sign up for last ACT/SAT testing this year to give you a feel of where you stand and then take it again Fall semester of Sr. year. Will parents pay for SAT/ACT review course this summer? If not, study on your own and show them you are ready to be a serious student. </p>
<p>After that, you can look at one option that takes you out of state although not East Coast. The University of Arkansas offers an out of state tuition grant to students from Texas and other surrounding states if they have a 3.0 GPA and a score of 24ACT/1090SAT. That grant basically covers the cost differential between in state and out of state tuition. You can then do tuition, fees, room and board for about $12,500. Fayettville is a great college town many hours from your home, the surrounding area has lots to offer in scenery and outdoor activitiy, Wal-Mart corporate headquarters is just down the road, the people are some of the nicest youll ever want to meet, they offer a major in criminal justice and they have rolling admissions. In a year or two, if you work hard and dont fall too deep into the party scene, you may have the stats to transfer somewhere else with merit aid. However, I know some University of Arkansas grads and once on campus they dont think you would really want to transfer. </p>
<p>Dont get too discouraged. There are ways to get what you want but there are tradeoffs you will have to make. Accept that and have that counselor work with you to really evaluate the tradeoffs so you can make some decisions. The counselor may even call the scholarship office at UA for you so that they can help you develop a game plan. Good Luck.</p>
<p>Is the OP going to answer the questions people have asked?</p>