<p>My school didn't give me any grants to help pay for school because apparently my step dad made too much last year. I received $3750 each semseter and with tuition/fees/food/books/ect school at UNC Charlotte costs a good $21000 a year They fail to realize that all that "extra" money is going to bills and debt. My parents have so much credit card debt its ridiculous! They have NO money leftover for ANYTHING after paying for food, car payments, pretty much things they need to pay for so we can function! Idk why FAFSA doesn't take into account that families have other stuff they need to pay for other than a $13000 college bill. What the am I supposed to do? I can't go to a community college because I'm a psychology major and they offer nothing for me and the credits I have. I would have to start over, wasting 3 years and a crapload of $ I would work but I'm too broke for a car to get anywhere and even if I had a job, minimum wage won't help me pay for anything but maybe food. And I guess I'm not smart enough for any scholarships because I've never gotten any. I can't join the military because I have asthma and too many health problems. Like, what am I supposed to do in this situation?</p>
<p>Go to a community college where you can commute from home. You will have the tuition and fees only. Work part time and go to school full time…or work full time and attend school part time.</p>
<p>Consumer debt (credit cards, for example) are a choice. Your family could have chosen to live within their means and not have this debt.</p>
<p>Re: other costs…EVERY family has rent or mortgage, utilities, food, clothing, etc. Do you think your family should get an extra allowance because of this?</p>
<p>I just stated community college would be a major step back in my education and I wouldn’t be able to do anything with my psych credits…and I could have gone without the condescending tone. I have no idea how my parents got into so much debt and neither do you so please don’t comment on it like you know what we could or could not have gone without. As for the other costs, I was simply stating that it’s ridiculous that the FAFSA automatically assumes your family income will go to college and not other necessities. </p>
<p>I would imagine that the money your parents are currently paying towards their credit card debt would be the contribution towards your education. Thumper1 was just being honest with you. </p>
<p>The FAFSA formula has almost nothing to do with your financial aid award. The colleges take your FAFSA EFC…if you are eligible for federally funded aid, you get it (at least a partial Pell Grant for EFC less than $5000), and everyone can get the Direct Loan.</p>
<p>The huge vast majority of colleges do not meet full financial need at all. Your FAFSA EFC is the minimum that you can be expected to pay. Most schools expect you to pay far more than your EFC.</p>
<p>At this point, you need to make lemonade out of lemons. Figure out a way to get your education. My own husband worked full time and attended night classes at a community college. He subsequently matriculated at a four year college with a co-op program to complete his bachelors degree. </p>
<p>Did it take longer than four years…sure did. But we didn’t have the money for him to attend college and not also be employed at least some of the time.</p>
<p>I was stating the facts…and they would be the same to anyone who posted the same questions. Consumer debt is considered a choice. Every family has living expenses. </p>
<p>What most people do in your situation is that they have to find a job, at minimum wage, maybe less, and take the college courses, one at a time, eking their way through school. My cousin had to get up early in the morning to get a ride with a parent to a locale where he could catch a bus to his college, stay at the school, a state school all day, and catch a bus back and someone would pick him up, sometime on a paid basis to come back home. He did find some part time work at the school, and spent the entire day there, doing the job and studying and getting to know the university and students since he was pretty much stuck there until a given time. In time, he got to know people who lived near him and he could snag rides. He saved enough to buy a car in three years, not a great one, but to get him to school, work and back. He borrowed for the courses all 5 years he was there and it was a tough go. Though he did qualify for SOME financial aid because his parents did not make much money, he didn’t get full need met. He was gapped. </p>
<p>I do wish there were some class action suit going after the fin aid system so that kids whose parents should be able to pay but won’t or can’t for whatever reason are eligible , but frankly, if that happens, it isn’t like the floodgates of money will open. With still the same amount of funds available, there would just be more kids gapped even worse. And those parents who would have paid would still do so, under the table if they have to, just as some grandparents do these days.</p>
<p>So if you can’t find anything to do, you have to stay home and be the family houseboy/girl, live in help for them or become a couch potato, until they kick you out or you find some alternative. Happens a lot If you have no place to go, you go to the cops and tell them and they either show you the curb or take you to a shelter. There are a number of middle aged and even elderly folks who never made that big step to independence in this society. There are some in our family. </p>
<p>So I suggest you sit with your parents and come up with some ideas as to what your alternatives are. Couch potato, live in help, maybe get dropped off somewhere every morning so you can pound the streets to find work or commute to a school somewhere that is affordable. Change your major and study plans to some certification program that has promising jobs out there that you can do after a stint at the local comm college and go for that psych degree later when you get the money to pay for it, or do it little at a time. </p>
<p>Those are your choices. </p>
<p>They do realize all the ‘extra’ money is going to food and rent and clothing. Everyone has those things. I have two in college and I still have to pay my bills and rent and their tuition and bills and rent. Your family makes ‘too much money’ to qualify for a government entitlement (Pell grant). You also make too much to qualify for food stamps, medicaid, TANF yet you probably don’t blame your parents for not qualifying for those entitlements. FAFSA formula does take into consideration all the bills for necessities people have and there is a line where if you make below that, you get assistance. If you make above that, it start to phase out. If you have special circumstances (medical bills, job loss), there is a place to explain.</p>
<p>You actually have lots of choices. You can live at home and go to CC. You can borrow more. You can work. You can go part time and work full time. You can wait until you are independent (24). You can join the military and go to college after you get out. It sounds like you already have credits at UNC? Talk to a counselor about what you can do. If you are an upper level student, get a job as an RA. If you want a job in psychology, get a weekend job at a group home and sometimes you can live there during the week too. You are not a Rockefeller, so you have to work. That’s life.</p>
<p>I do qualify for medicaid and I also have medical bills from passing out and hitting my head last year. I just didn’t think they’d take that into consideration. I’m trying to borrow more but I need a cosigner, and I don’t believe my parents credit is good enough for that. As for military, I tried, I have too many health issues. I have no problem with working, that is in fact my plan. I just don’t know how a part time job is going to help make up for thousands of dollars </p>
<p>Are you in-state or out of state for NC? The reason I ask is , NC has some of the best and most affordable schools. In looking at UNC Charlotte website, tuiton is around $6300 for the year, lets round that to 7800, for misc, books, tuition etc. If you live at home, with your aid and a direct loan in your name, then you have more than enough to attend. This means you have to commute, no living on campus. Now given that you said it was 21k, I guess you are out of state, and therein lies the problem. You need to find a school instate to which you can commute. Sorry sleep away college is a luxury not a privilege. </p>
<p>do you expect taxpayers to give you money because your parents spent too much and resorted to credit cards. </p>
<p>you say your SD made too much money…what about your mom?</p>
<p>is there a 4 year school that you could commute to from home?</p>
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<p>and I am sure that the $1000 they charged on Amazon were all necessities, right? </p>
<p>Even w/o that $1000 debt in your name, you would not have qualified for those loans because you don’t have the income to support them.</p>
<p>You are trying to borrow too much anyway. You probably have full Direct Stafford fed loans, which if you are a junior, are 7500 per year. If you add 8-9000 per semester, you will have waaaayyy too much debt when you graduate.</p>
<p>How much have you borrowed so far? is this your 3rd year of college or 4th year?</p>
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<p>exactly. You need to commute to a local univ. It sounds like you are instate, but unless your family pays, you won’t have the funds. </p>
<p>@partyof5 his costs would be higher if he were OOS. with costs of $21k, that sounds like instate.</p>
<p>The $21k is how much Charlotte estimates the cost of tuition for IN STATE students. Tuition for me last semester was $8000 and some change not including food and books ect. I live 2 hours away from Charlotte so commuting is not possible. Idk where you saw that low estimate but ask anyone who attends UNCC, it’s NEVER that cheap.@partyof5</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids I have no control over what my parents (mainly step dad) did or do. I JUST found out about all this credit card bs. And of course they weren’t all necessities, but I can’t control what they do or buy…obviously. I am simply asking for options/advice. I know how this crappy world works and that I’m not going to just get free money! I’m looking for OPTIONS if I have any. 'm getting a little tired of all these snide comments about taxpayers and whatnot. It’s not helping me in anyway so could you please just not.</p>
<p>Of course you had no control over your parents spending. </p>
<p>However, these responses are because of your threads’ title. FA isn’t a joke, however sounds like your parents’ spending habits are. You are pointing fingers at the wrong place. </p>
<p>As for solutions, there aren’t any besides commuting to a state school that is near your parents home. You can’t get a private loan, NOR SHOULD YOU.</p>
<p>What is your goal with psych? Is your goal grad school? (and MORE debt?) </p>
<p>Learn from your parents’ mistakes…loans are not the answer…they create MORE problems.</p>
<p>damn you really do seem to be strapped. I think you can finish your courses then pay to get the credits on the transcript (someone check on this). So continue your classes and try your hardest to find a job (I know it’s very difficult to do in today’s economy …). I think you need to talk to a counselor at UNC. </p>
<p>Right here from the website are the costs for instate and out of state, so again I ask if you are instate, I dont know why the cost to attend would be 21k. I see you said you live too far away to commute so I guess they are adding in room/board. It looks like you may have to find a full time job maybe that offers tuition reimbursement.</p>
<p><a href=“http://finance.uncc.edu/sites/finance.uncc.edu/files/media/Main%20Campus%20Undergraduate_7.pdf”>http://finance.uncc.edu/sites/finance.uncc.edu/files/media/Main%20Campus%20Undergraduate_7.pdf</a></p>
<p>I’ll have to take loans out either way. Whether I’m at UNCC, or a school right down the road from me. And yes FAFSA is a joke, everything in the american education system is a joke. Fafsa, it helps out as little as it can. It’d be different if the US would stop raising the price on tuition and loans and profiting off of students going into debt but thats a whole other topic for a different forum. And yes my parents spending is terrible. I didn’t know it was possible to screw up that badly. BUT thts the family I got, so what do you do. Anywho, what exactly is the problem with private student loans? Thts the only way a lot of students are able to afford school…
And yes, I was going to Grad school? Am I not supposed to do that either? I’d like to get my Masters so I can council people or become a pysch physician assistant @mom2collegekids </p>
<p>@partyof5 I am telling you the bill I got was for $8000 plus last year for one semester times that by 2 it’s $16000 then add books, doctors appointments other miscellaneous junk, meal plan per semester and housing per semester whether its on campus or apt it comes up to about $20000 per year which is what MY school estimates costs for EVERYTHING is per year </p>
<p>Its hard to answer this without know your stats coming out of high school. Did you have an opportunity to go somewhere with a scholarship?</p>
<p>@partyof5 I went to a middle college (we take college classes 11th-12th grade) and I graduated with a high GPA and honors. Got accepted everywhere I applied to including UNC Chapel Hill, Wingate, Western Carolina and even NC State. I did numerous scholarships apps and received none. I had all the volunteer hours, grades, all the goods that would’ve gotten me a scholarship, I just didn’t. The only kids who got them at my school were athletes…</p>
<p><<< And yes, I was going to Grad school? Am I not supposed to do that either? I’d like to get my Masters so I can council people or become a pysch physician assistant @mom2collegekids</p>
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<p>You misunderstood. My point was that if you try to borrow too much as an undergrad, and then add on grad school debt, you are going to have mega debt by the time you graduate. You need to minimize debt as an undergrad.</p>
<p>IS THERE A UNIV NEAR YOUR PARENTS WHERE YOU CAN COMMUTE?</p>