<p>Hey guys I am a junior at a community college in southern California and I plan on transferring to University of Oregon in Spring 2012. I would like to plan out all my financing options since I have a pretty heavy dilemma.</p>
<p>The dilemma I have is that my parents are heavily burdened in debt and I just found out today that they are filing for bankruptcy. They make a good sum amount of money but all the money is going into credit payments. My parents wont be able to help pay for any of my college. I applied for Financial Aid last semester but I was quickly turned down, leaving me with the only option of student loans. I need to get money somehow to sustain me the planned two years of attendance at UofO. But now since my parents will have bad credit due to their bankruptcy, I have no idea if I will even be able to get any student loans to cover the COA of going to college. I really just want to finish my undergraduates so I can move forward with my life :/ I greatly appreciate any help and advise you can offer me. Thank you so much in advance.</p>
<p>Also if I move to Oregon to attend college, will I be able to file as independent so I can receive financial aid? Because my parents wont be able to support me anyways, Im 20 years old by the way. Thank you once again.</p>
<p>You will not be able to file as an independent student. There are strict federal criteria for this - supporting yourself is not one of them. You have to be 24, or have a dependent whom you provided 50% or more support for, be married, or be a veteran or on active duty in the U.S. military. There are some other new criteria but they all have to do with being certifiably homeless or in an abusive situation. Since it doesn’t seem like any of those apply to you, you will be considered a dependent student, and will need to report your parents income.</p>
<p>The other thing is that U of O likely won’t give you much financial aid, if any, if you are a CA resident. State universities exist to serve their state residents first; you will be seen as a cash cow, honestly. With that kind of income you will not be eligible for Pell, so the most you will probably get will be $7500 your first year at U of O in Stafford loans. It would be very unwise to borrow the rest of that in private loans, even if your parents do get approved somehow. If they can’t pay for anything, U of O will be very unreachable for you financially.</p>
<p>What is wrong with your CA state universities? CA has one of the best state university systems in the country. It would be far less expensive for you to attend a public CA university. Then you can go to OR (or wherever you want) for grad school or your first job. Especially since you only have two more years left! Does your community college have an articulation agreement with a public 4-year university?</p>
<p>It is a mistake to attempt to go to an OOS public school when you don’t have the funds. </p>
<p>Oregon isn’t going to help you with your costs. You would need co-signers for loans larger than $7500 per year. Your parents aren’t likely going to qualify to be co-signers.</p>
<p>Oregon is not going to be affordable. </p>
<p>Did you apply to any CSUs or UC? (I sure hope so!)</p>
<p>You won’t be declared an independent unless you’re 24, married, or a veteran. It doesn’t matter if your parents don’t give you money. And, they may still be carrying you on their insurance, their cell phone plan, your car insurance, etc.</p>
<p>I agree with the above posters, you need to stick with a CA school. As a resident of OR, I can tell you that we’d love to have OOS students and there have been a number of news articles lately about how many more CA students there are attending OR colleges recently. The reason of course is the same as the reason CA now wants more OOS students–significantly higher tuition charges.</p>
<p>Also, CA is not included in OUs WUE agreement.</p>
<p>Your parents can gift you something like $12K a year before gift taxes kick in. You might have them check out with a tax expert whether it would be smart for them to give you $12K before the end of 2010 (Even if it means selling a car or some such) – that might be a way for you to have some working funds before the bankruptcy kicks in. </p>
<p>Depending on the situation, maybe they could give you $12K in Dec and another $12K in Jan. That would be enough to get you down the road, educationally for 2011 in some fashion – I don’t know diddly about bankruptcy proceedings – as in what is legal prior to the bankruptcy paperwork being filed – but there might be some ways to cover your ass before it all goes up in smoke. Good luck. Sounds very challenging – please hang in there.</p>