Thank you! I have a lot to figure out.
The reason OOS schools will take you is because you are a cash cow as an OOS student that isn't going to get merit or aid. Your lack of credits is a bonus as you would be a student paying OOS for longer. You should optimize all your local options. Your have an adviser?
Even IF your income was zero dollars…and that is NOT the case…
This would get you a $5900 Pell Grant, and a $6500 or so Direct Loan (you already have completed some college…so it’s hard to say how much).
That is NOT going to pay for Boulder…it’s just not. You would need a cosigner for the about $40,000 a year in Loans you will need to attend. Is someone willing to co-sign?
I just can’t believe you can’t attend any instate public in all of CA.
Something isn’t right with your story, why do you have two associates degrees? Why didn’t you take the courses needed to transfer to a CSU…or UC?
You can’t change residency status after you start. You need to look up Colorado rules and become a resident while not going to school but working at a paid taxpaying job. THEN apply to college.
You have to live there a year http://highered.colorado.gov/finance/residency/faq.html
So what are your academic credentials thus far? And your intended major? And how has you never had a proper job with a w2 by 23?. Are your AAs not useful for an actual job? Have you supportive parents that feed and cloth you?
How about if you take the remainder of this academic year…and get a real job…the kind where you pay taxes…and aren’t paid under the table.
@ucbalumnus can this student apply to any CSU campuses given his strange story bout having two associates degrees…but not completing the requisite courses to be a CC transfer?
To the OP…how did you pay for all of these community college courses?
WUE usually doesn’t work for those who don’t have the money to pay.
What is your home state
Your best bet as a transfer student is likely to attend a local state school.
Btw…spring transfers rarely get anything…
Doesn’t that income level pay no taxes? Just file all those years late, then fill fafsa… (Not professional advice)
And for the record…technically you earned $16000 and neglected to file an income tax return. $16,000 for the year FAR exceeds the minimum amount for which self employed folks like you MUST file.
For FAFSA purposes, you need to list your $16,000 income on the FAFSA. Your issue will come when you try to complete the non-filers statement. Getting paid under the table is NOT a reason for not filing.
And really, at 23 you want real jobs in your resume, you should look for jobs with tuition reimbursement. You have 2 AAs in what? This is what will realistically help you, a grown up plan for an adult student. Grown ups file taxes.
Colorado. “By law, an “in-state” student, or student’s parents, must be domiciled in Colorado for 12 or more continuous months immediately preceding the first day of classes.”
He may get instate tuition at CU after a year, but that’s still about $15k in just tuition and fees, and he’ll need somewhere to live and eat in Boulder (not cheap). There isn’t a lot of state aid available, and very little school aid. It isn’t like California where low income families can send their kids to UCLA or Cal. Colorado has many schools that are cheaper than Boulder, and that’s often where lower income students attend.
Would you qualify for Calgrant? EFC calculator for one independent student with $16,000 income shows an EFC around $1,000. So if you got a $4,000 Pell Grant and a Calgrant and a $12,500 loan (independent/junior standing), would a UC or CSU be affordable?
You must have taken some useful credits that you can transfer to a 4 yr CA school to get a bachelor’s degree, if you have two AA degrees.
If not, find out what classes you are missing and finish taking them at the CC.
But I agree, if you want Federal and state financial aid, you should straighten out your tax situation.
Go and talk to the transfer advisor at you community college…TODAY. Find out what courses will transfer…figure out if there is an option for you in the CA public university system that is affordable. They will all be less costly than CO.
Question…have you used Pell Grant money to get your two associates? Or Calgrant?
Finishing a degree is actually much more important to most employers than what your major is. As you are having your transcript evaluated consider choosing the major that will get you graduated with a four year degree in the shortest number of semesters.
Look again at all your in state public options.
If you really can’t do any of the CA schools, I know there are less expensive OOS options. For example, ASU at Lake Havasu is only $10k OOS and 7k in state tuition. https://havasu.asu.edu/finances
Before you move to establish residency anywhere, know that the location will work for you in the long run and what opportunities for California residents you will have to give up.
Establish residency in Colorado first. Then you will not be dealing with out of state residency costs. You can easily find a winter and summer job. Postpone starting college until the residency is established. At your age that feels like the smarter path.
It is quite straight forward…one year, drivers license, voter registration, domicile, work for 12 months prior to enrollment.
About the taxes: If this was all casual, random work, then you don’t get 1099s. But you do have records of what you earned. You can divide up your income by kind of work (so much for dog-sitting, so much for lawn-mowing, so much for house-cleaning, etc.) and complete a Schedule C for each of those “businesses”. If you had expenses related to any of them (e.g. had to buy safety boots to wear while mowing lawns, had to drive from your home to the work site), then those expenses can be used to reduce income from that specific business. All of the Schedule C income gets reported on the Schedule SE for self-employment. Then the figures from Schedule C and Schedule SE are used on the 1040. If you can do high school algebra, you can complete the calculations for this stuff.
If you aren’t anyone’s dependent for tax purposes, then I expect you won’t owe much income tax at all. What you probably will owe is the Self-employment tax. That is what goes into Social Security. Believe me, you do want to pay into the system. I have an elderly family member who fiddled their self-employment taxes for years and consequently cannot collect anything from SS in their old age.