I’ve made the decision to go back to college, but have missed the fall deadlines. A silver lining to that is that this may give me more time to get things in order and figured out for the spring semester, but I’m wondering how applying for financial aid would work. Going into the school year halfway through isn’t exactly traditional lol. Does anyone here have experience with this?
Additional info: I’ve done some coursework for a two year community college, but will most likely be transferring to a four year in the spring when i go back. Money is tight at the moment, so having lots of financial aid and scholarships are the only thing that is going to let this happen, so i need to figure out if the money will be there or not before i do something drastic.
For federal aid, you follow the same procedure and file the FAFSA for the 2016-17 school year. Your eligibility for Pell grants and loans will be the same.
For aid from the school, it is up to the school. The school may have given out all their money by the spring or it may have funds from students who didn’t return after the fall and thus have work study and SEOG and perhaps some school money.
So if they don’t enough money to cover college bills and other expenses and i have to get some government grants or private loans, would i be completely screwed? I may be able to survive one semester with a little extra debt and get everything on track in the fall if needed.
What is the cost of attendance (COA) for the school that you want to go to? How much money do you need? And most importantly, where do you think it’s going to come from?
“They” who? Do you mean if the college and the government don’t give you free tuition, books, room, board, health insurance, etc., will you need to (find a cosigner and) take out private loans?
Their website says it’s $17,004 per semester. Which includes $762 for health insurance and $1500 for personal expenses. Not sure i’d need $1500 for a few months of extra monies, and i’m on my dads insurance for the next year, so that should save some money as well. I’m wanting to live off campus, but the money they have allocated for housing will cover an apartment in my area.
“They” being scholarships, FAFSA, and any student loans they can give me.
FAFSA is not a scholarship or grant, it is an application to get to federal grants and sometimes school money. Most schools don’t have a lot of scholarship money for just general disbursement. Many schools have talent scholarships, department scholarships, some form of need based aid and it’s up to that school to decide how to give it out. For example, my daughter had a talent scholarship for the year, but the audition for it was in January for the following school year. If you are starting in Jan '17, you would have needed to audition in Jan '16.
It sounds like you have a specific school you’ve been accepted to. Ask that school about your FA and what you need to do. Usually there is not as much aid available to spring-start students, but some schools do have funds and some schools even encourage spring starts.
Make sure freshmen can live off campus. Often it is not allowed (okay to live at home, not in an apartment). It also might be more expensive to live off campus because you may have a lease for a year, extra transportation costs, etc.
Haven’t been accepted yet, just planning ahead and know a couple of people who go there. Would it be too early to apply now? The fall deadline was just a week ago.
You need to look at the financial aid awarding policies of the school. You will be a transfer student. At some colleges, there are grants and scholarships specifically reserved for transfers. But this is the exception rather than the rule.
How old are you? If you are under 24, you need to include oarent income and assets on your financial aid application forms. Let’s say for sake of discussion that you end up with an exoected family contribution per FAFSA of $0. All this would guarantee you is $5800 in Pell grant money (for the full year…half per semester) and $7500 in direct loan money (assuming you are a rid year college student). If your college doesn’t guarantee to meet full need for transfer students…how would you pay the balance of your costs to attend?
Really…the best time to apply for admission is the fall term in most cases.
You are assuming you will get sufficient aid to pay for your tuition, fees, room and board. Why do you think you will get that much in aid?
Have you spoken to the transfer advisor at your community college? Perhaps they can shed some light on this subject in terms of where and when to transfer to a 4 year school…and perhaps where transfer aid is available.
Yes, I agree, start with exploring which 4 yr universities would be close to you, and how many of your credits they would accept. Then see how much tuition, fees would cost and what housing options you would have and if you could afford them.
If federal aid and loans won’t cover the costs and the school doesn’t offer aid then you might have to work as much as possible this year and apply to transfer next fall.
To clarify, at this stage I want to go back to college but am trying to figure out if it is a viable option, especially if i would be starting in the spring instead of the fall like everyone else.
I’m 24, turning 25 in September. I attended a two year college right after high school. I no longer live at home. The college i went to was extremely cheap, so my parents took care of what scholarships didn’t cover. I’m now wanting to switch paths from IT to programming, so there’s a little bit of a crossover. The college i want to apply at is one of the most affordable in the area, is actually good and not terrible like the one i went to, and has a decent chance of getting me a job post-graduation. Living at home isn’t much of an option because my parents are separated and both/either would charge rent. And they are very conservative and overbearing at times, so my personal life would suffer for the next 2-3 which isn’t acceptable.
My question is: Is applying for college and getting a head start now a good idea, or will it be too hard to find the proper financial assistance i need until the fall? I don’t have the money to afford college on top of my current expenses and will put everything on loans if i have to. I’m just wondering what i can expect going forward.
As an independent student I believe you can take out a $12,500 student loan. Pell grant and any state aid would depend on FAFSA EFC and if state offers FA.
So as a rough estimate and worst case scenario, i could take out a $12k loan for my $18k tuition. That just leaves $6,000 to be made up by fafsa, pell grants, other scholarships, and any money i make while working in college or in the summers. I’ve always gotten FAFSA money in the past, it’s just been so long i can’t remember how much i received at that time.
You’ve been working for up to 5 years - do you have any savings?
You can submit a FAFSA now using your 2015 tax return information and current reportable assets, etc. to find out your EFC in order to determine if you would get a Pell grant.
A full time independent undergraduate student can get $12,500 per academic year in federal direct loans for the 3rd and 4th year of college.
Will your parents agree to be on the hook for Parent Plus loans or cosign for private loans ($34,000 - $12,500 - any Pell grant = up to $21,500/year additional loans)?
The max Pell grant is $5800. You will need money for living expenses as well. You won’t be able to work full time while in school as a fulltime student.