@ErinsDad she thinks it’ll be easier to pay because she wants me to have a job working minimum 30 hours a week
Not easy to find a job in Buffalo
@“Erin’s Dad” ^^
@4kidsdad I would hopefully be working at the trader joes about an hour away from the school
Isn’t 30 hrs a week too much to work off campus when going to school fulltime? Also that would only give you a few hundred a week, how would the other $1 k a month get paid?
@mommdc we looked at my schedule and if I work weekends and Monday, Wednesday and Friday I would work 39 hours. I don’t know where the other 1000 would come from but I have until August 1st to apply to the community college near me. My mom wants me to just go buffalo and let it work itself out. Which I don’t think will work which is why I’m still considering community college
Your high school GPA is an 80. It’s unrealistic to think you can work a minimum of 30 hours a week and keep your GPA up. And you want to commute an hour each way? That’s not a good plan.
You can’t set up a payment plan because you can’t afford to get to school but not be allowed to take classes because the bills weren’t paid. You’d have to leave (NYS will NOT let you stay and rack up a bill). You’d have debt, but no degree. It’s not a good idea for your mom to try to borrow it either.
Stay in NYC and commute to one of the CUNYs. Your Pell and TAP should cover a lot of the costs. Many kids commute to college. The important thing is to get a degree without carrying a lot of debt.
My son commutes to our local SUNY. Tuition and fees is ~$8k/year (~$4k/semester). We use the payment plan so I don’t have to worry about sending a check. The money is debited directly from my account. In about 3 weeks we’ll owe ~$800. Four weeks from then another $800, and so on thru December. In January the process starts all over again. Does your mom have $1,000 to give them in a couple weeks? If she can’t raise an extra $1,000/month, what makes her think you can?
30 hours a week, while going to school full time, coming in with a B average is not setting you up for success. There will be payment deadlines that you may or may not be able to meet based on how many hours you do and don’t work. Bills are bills sounds like code to me for, it doesn’t matter if payment is late. Except it will and you could have your enrollment rescinded, deposits held and any credits earned held up until you pay up. If that happened you wouldn’t be able to transfer anything you did earn. This is all based on a mythical job you don’t have yet, and now up to 39 hours. The Pell and TAP will not even cover the first semester, this is not a plan that can work. You have to pay before you start and while there are different plans, none will be achievable without significant loans which is not a good idea in your situation.
It looks like they are charging you for health insurance and you may not have the cheapest meal plan or dorm. According to the website, total cost without books, insurance and “other” personal expenses (aka direct costs to the school) would be $20,401. That assumes you have your own insurance though and could qualify for a waiver from the school (see the site for the deadlines for that).
With the money the school is giving you for Pell and TAP, plus a student loan of $5500 which is the max you can take, you’ll still be short $8259 or so a year. That is more than you’ll likely be able to earn and keep on track with payments. If you had been saving all summer, and had a job already lined up, maybe but right now there is no safety net for the fall payments and it leaves zero extra for books, transportation and other personal expenses. Most colleges may estimate a student can save about $3,000 over the summer to put towards school. Even if your mom had good credit and was willing to cosign, between the 2 of you it would be 55K in loans over the course of 4 years and that is not a good situation to head into law school with at all.
I understand the desire to go away, are there any friends going to CC that you could possibly room with? A job at more the 20 hour a week level during school, save up for a few months and then possibly move in with someone locally and then sock away as much as you can during breaks and summers. Or another relative? If you are able to work, live at home, do the CC thing for a couple of years you may be able to save enough to have your final 2 years relatively debt free and be in a much better spot.
I would call Buffalo as you have nothing to lose by asking for an aid review as well as work study options. Be frank in that it is unaffordable given your family’s EFC. Given what you’ve said, it is unlikely that your mom would qualify for a loan and you will not be able to cover the difference on your own without her co signing.
20 hours is the MAX you should work. Ideally less. Most colleges that offer work study will actually not allow more than 20 so that kids can actually be students. Your gut instinct is correct regardless of what your mom is telling you.
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She said “it’ll work itself out don’t worry about it”
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If that sort of thinking worked or was true, would your mom have bad credit??? No.
Frankly…it’s that sort of thinking that often CAUSES people to end up with bad credit.
Your instincts are correct…you know it’s not going to just work out.
Please do not do what your mom is advising.
We have seen too many stories like yours. Kids who end up going anyway, end up with unpaid schools bills and then the school will not let them register for the following semester. AND…worse…the student can’t transfer because there is an unpaid bill.
the idea that you can just work that much is crazy. What if you get ill? What if work cuts back your hours? What if you have to cut back for studying.
What about dec? Are you supposed to stay in Buffalo and work all thru Christmas Break …and also in summers?
What if you have car issues and need repairs?
College is not all that easy to do full time. It’s even harder when you are working full time an hour away from the school.
You need to work on getting the best possible grades…with the least amount of debt.
Honestly, the payment plan isn’t going to work. You need to earn $3000 a month to net $2000 a month.
And you absolutely need time to study and keep your grades up. Those grades will definitely be a factor for any grad or professional school after undergrad.
And how are you going to get from the school to the job…and back? Public transport isn’t free…and neither is owning a car.
I’m glad you are keeping to community college on the list just in case. You are smart not to think things will just work out. So many kids don’t think the way you do and take their parents at face value and follow the magical thinking. Good on you for knowing better.
It can’t hurt to call and talk to someone and explain your situation and see if there is any help or options they can offer you. I like you doubt anything will come of the phone call.
Check with John Jay and Brooklyn College to see if they are still accepting people for the fall.
Working practically full time sounds like a recipe for disaster. Then, where would you be if you can’t pay the bills and your grades suffer? Living at home with no degree?
You may not want to hear this, but here it is:
With an 80 average, you got into Buff State by the skin of your teeth. It is too late for Op to get into a 4 year CUNY unless they are applying now for January admission. Even then, the tap and pell will barely cover tuition.
GPA is a little to low for gen admissions at John Jay
http://ithsnyc.org/2013/files/CUNYAdmission-Profile-Freshman.pdf
Go to your closest community college with your official transcript (if you attend school a NYC public school, go wherever your school is having summer school as your principal & parent coordinator will be there), your $65 and what ever else is required and do an on the spot admission. Are you eligible for SEEK/College Discovery? If yes apply as it is one of the most missed opportunities that low income students don’t look into at the CUNY CC level.
https://www.cuny.edu/admissions/undergraduate/downloads/SEEK-ASAP-Worksheet.pdf
If you can get in to College Discovery, it will change to SEEK at the 4 year CUNY level , EOP at the SUNY level and HEOP and the NYS private school level that have HEOP programs.
http://www.highered.nysed.gov/kiap/pdf/HEOPWebBrochure2009.pdf
Do really, really well in community college, get your associates and apply to the CCTOP at NYU (you would get a very generous financial aid program with a minimum half tuition scholarship/non HEOP)
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/cctop/
If you can get college discovery, finish your associates and apply for HEOP and a full financial aid package if you can get in to HEOP (NYU HEOP now covers the cost to live in the dorms).
If your EFC is under 3k (yours is approx $1900), you will not even have to pay $100 seat deposit.
IF there are no seats in College discovery, find out if you can still get into ASAP. If you can get ASAP, your tuition, fees, books and a monthly metro cards will be covered.
IF you are going to law school, at the end of the day, only 2 things will matter if you want to attend a T-14 or get some major scholarship $$; GPA and LSAT scores
all the best
Listen to @sybbie719! She knows her stuff regarding NYS aid.
you can get there, but not with your mom’s plan.
I don’t know if you are a current TJ’s employee but it doesn’t sound like it. I doubt you’d be able to waltz in and set you own schedule and hours over other employees. I hope this all works out for you.
OP,
your plan is a recipe for disaster.
There is one of the major things that you must take into consideration; the more you work, the higher your EFC is going to be and the less aid (TAP and PELL) you are going to receive.
Let’s entertain this for kicks and giggles;
Any monies that you make over 6k is going to raise your EFC. So if you work to earn this 12k short fall, that means that your EFC will go up approximately 3k, essentially wiping out your TAP and greatly reducing your Pell.
How will you and your mom come up with your full cost of attendance out of pocket?
Bottom line, Buff State is not an affordable option for your family.
And an off campus employer is not going to care about your college schedule and finals. You are not just attending school for a few hours and do a bit of hw like in HS.
You will have classes at different times of day, have hw, need to study, work on projects, prepare for midterms and finals.
I’m enrolled at Nassau Community College now and financial aid covered my entire cost, thanks for the advice. My mom is kinda mad but she’ll get over it