<p>I received an offer for no tuition at a college close to my parents' home. I am currently still living with them and it is just not a safe environment (it never has been). Living with them is not an option anymore. So far I know:</p>
<p>-Total cost now is just dorm+fees+books = ~12k
-Plan to take out full 5.5k federal loans = leaves a gap of 6.5k
-FAFSA: EFC ~6k. Filed to live on campus. I haven't gotten my FA package from them yet. I'm worried they might not give me anything since technically I don't "have to" pay to go there.
-Submitted TAP application. Don't know if/what I'm getting for Perkins/TAP/work study.</p>
<p>-I'm very interested in and confused by the American Opportunity Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit. I don't want to ask my parents for money but I think they're going to keep listing me on their tax report/so I'm still dependent. I want to get a job and pay for college myself. Should I not tell them about the tax claims for these two and claim it myself? Or tell them and risk them not giving me the $4,500 they'd claim? Would I even get the full amount of return if I claimed it myself?</p>
<p>That's all I can think of so far. I applied to a few scholarships but I haven't heard back and it's kind of late in the game to apply for more. I will look though. Any help is much appreciated.</p>
<p>Edit: btw, it is still possible that my parents will contribute some money for this. It's just that now that I'm an adult I want to have as little contact with them after what they've put me through</p>
<p>Wait for your financial aid offer letter. That will explain some more information for you. Most students cannot afford to work and support themselves. The American Op and LIfetime credits are CREDITS listed on your parents’ 1040 tax forms for next year; you don’t get any money from that, and the government doesn’t give any cash back to your parents, (other than what was overpaid by the employer), so there’s no money to give you. Did you list living away from home?</p>
<p>Many colleges and universities, at least where I live (East coast), offer their full-time employees the chance to take one or two free classes each term. Some other employers (around here, banks and hospitals) also offer a tuition benefit. It would take longer, and you certainly wouldn’t have the classic college experience that so many students seem to want. On the other hand, you’d be an independent adult who wouldn’t need to depend on family members who don’t seem to want to help you.</p>
<p>Where do you live? Which employers have a tuition benefit? (Hint: I bet your local community college financial aid office has a pretty good idea.) How can you get yourself hired in an entry-level job?</p>
<p>Yes, I listed myself as wanting to live on-campus. </p>
<p>Q about the tax credit then: I thought it was money subtracted from the taxes you pay? i.e. you usually pay $20,000 in taxes and get credit of $5000 so you end up paying $15,000 in taxes? Or is it the $5,000 of your income that you don’t get taxed on?</p>
<p>I live in NYC. I was thinking I would just get a job as a waitress or receptionist or something of the like while in college. From what I understand of the program that I was accepted to, all of my classes are free. Room & board is not covered. Now that I think about it, fees & books might be.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s realistic to expect to work full-time to support yourself and also to attend college full-time.</p>
<p>Unless your parents are criminally abusive to the point where you could get yourself declared legally emancipated (i.e. you would not have to wait until age 24 for college aid purposes), I would recommend that you try to make peace with them temporarily to the point where you could live at home, attend college tuition-free, spend a lot of time in the library away from them, and graduate debt-free as quickly as possible so as to achieve true independence more quickly.</p>
<p>Even if you should receive TAP, there will be no money coming back to you as it will be used to offset the tuition that is being paid by CUNY.</p>
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<p>Fees and books are not covered. You will have to pay for them.</p>
<p>If you receive TAP, you will not be considered independent as an undergrad until you are 35 years old.</p>
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<p>Has any of this ever been documented by your school? Have you reported this to a counselor? Has ACS ever been involved due to your living in an unsafe environment. If you can document, document, document, perhaps you can get a dependency override</p>
You can’t get both the AOC and the LLC. Only the one that reduces your tax the most. You can’t get either one if your parents claim you. The AOC has a credit part that reduced the tax you owe, and a refundable part. You can’t get the refundable part unless you provide more than half of your own support FROM EARNED INCOME. </p>
<p>So unless you’re prepared to get a full time job and fully support yourself, these are not available to you.</p>
<p>"Edit: btw, it is still possible that my parents will contribute some money for this. It’s just that now that I’m an adult I want to have as little contact with them after what they’ve put me through
klyn257 is offline " </p>
<p>You’re talking about dangerous, abusive parents and then this ^. You have to go one way or the other on this. You take the time and troubel to get out of a dangerous situation, and then work on getting to college. Mixing these things really does not make you believable. There are those who are in truly dangerous situations, that do need to “divorce” their parents, you know. You do have to be very focused in doing these sort of things because it is a serious accusation to make, and can result in some truly life changing events.</p>
<p>Unless you go through the process of going to court and becoming a ward of the court, you will need your parents, in order to make college work because you will not be an independent student for federal aid until you are 24 (35 for state aid if you are still working on a bachelors).</p>
<p>You can’t have your cake and eat it too; meaning, you can’t accuse your parents of abuse, needing to get away from them and still wondering if you can get $$ from them. If you are really willing to go all the way with your parents alleging abuse, are you willing to sever all ties with them?</p>
<p>For 2013, this year, unless the OP is going get out soon and be totally self supporting it is doubtful he can be the one claiming the credit anyways. The way the IRS rules work, if the parents CAN claim, then that is the way it goes. </p>
<p>Usually colleges will simply credit the dollar amounts so that parents can get the max tax benefits. One can apportion the awards towards the room/board and other expenses. One has to play around to see the way it best works.</p>
<p>I understand, I can either cut myself off and get more FA or stay with them/ask for money. I don’t know how “believable” I sound but despite the fact that they are abusive I don’t know if I can turn them in. I have a younger brother to think about (He hasn’t been physically abused so far). Even if I wanted to, I turned 18 recently and despite having wanted to speak up about it when I was younger I never did. I’m also going to forget about the tax credit for now; it seems that it’s not something that’s helpful to me. </p>
<p>I guess what I’m asking is if there are any loan options I could take on by myself besides the Stafford loan. I guess my details so far aren’t really too helpful since I haven’t received my FA letter yet. I don’t know if anyone would know the answer to this, but if I live close enough to the college to commute daily and still listed myself as wanting to live on campus, would I still be considered for aid? Or would they deem it unnecessary and ask my parents to pay for it?</p>
<p>Lastly, I haven’t lived in “the real world” yet so I get that my expectations are unrealistic - but still I thought it was feasible to bring in 10-20k+/yr while being a full time student, at least in NYC. That would at least give me enough to live on and cover my room+board. Is it really that hard for college kids to find a job, or am I underestimating the amount of time that is going to be spent on attending classes and studying?</p>
<p>Klyn, it is a difficult go to be self sufficient. I have college grads struggling with that right now full time.</p>
<p>The way it works is that your parents are first line in terms of paying for your college. With their FAFSA numbers, tax returns verified, you might be eligible for PELL, Staffords, TAP and whatever else a college will give in terms of financial aid. Most schools do not meet need. </p>
<p>Becoming independent before age 24 is not an easy procedure, and involves making a huge stink. Basically, you make the break and become homeless. Truly homeless. You can’t have one foot in your home crying abuse and do this. It’s game over when you do this. Then you can be considered independent and your own finances are considered for aid, though from what I can gather for NY TAP, that may not be possible. You could then borrow $9500 rather than $5500 from the Staffords, get PELL based on your income and the max PELL grant is for $5600. The rest would have to come from your school and again, I repeat that most schools do not meet full need and may just give you federal and state entitlements. </p>
<p>Becoming self sufficient is a huge deal and difficult to do. You want to walk the walk, you need to work on doing this full time. Truly live as a homeless person and try to get some job. Can it be done at college while doing your work and going to college? Possible, but I don’t think so, not from what I can gather from your posts showing that you’ve really not done a lot of planning and research in this and are just spouting off. Those who attempt something like this and are successful, do a lot of research and planning and no announcing until they have the whole thing in place, and do not look for info from this sort of forum where no one is that knowledgeable about these things and the info is all second/third hand and maybe not valid, including anything I am writing.</p>
<p>Since you are 18, if you are still being abused the expectation is that you call the police and press charges, the same way you would if you were abused by a stranger. You will have to build a really strong case in order to get a dependency override for pell. </p>
<p>You would still not be eligible for TAP. On the off chance that you were to become eligible for tap, the amount of TAP for independent students ($3025) is less than it is for dependent student (5k). Even then, any monies you will receive for TAP will be absorbed by CUNY to offset your free tuition (you would not gain from TAP).</p>
<p>Also be reminded that you have to keep a 3.5 GPA to remain in the Honors program and to keep getting your free tuition. This maybe hard to do while holding down a full time job.</p>
<p>Why are we talking about the poster needing to work full-time while in school? They have a full tuition scholarship. They just need to come up with 12K for room and board and books. </p>
<p>Most students can come up with ~10K of self-help:
5.5K Stafford Loan
2K work-study (or just a job on campus)
3K summer earnings. </p>
<p>Assuming the 12K is a reliable figure, that isn’t so far out of reach. A Perkins loan could help close the gap. </p>
<p>OP, do you have any savings? A summer job lined up?</p>
<p>Student cannot automatically get a perkins loan. CUNY would have to have the funds to give the loan.</p>
<p>Op states that she needs to work (possibly full time) because she wants to leave her parents house. Even if she comes up with 19k in self help, she still needs to eat, purchase books and get to school because the dorms at CUNY are not walking distance to the school. In addition, she would have to get someplace to live once school is out.</p>
<p>I realize that a Perkins loan is not automatic, but the student could ask about it. I was assuming that the student was including food and books in the 12K. Obviously if the 12K is not a reliable figure, then the student is probably out of luck. What does a transit pass cost? Are there no shuttles from the dorms to campus?</p>