<p>OP you need to get past some of the things you have expressed - people have explained FASFA; sorry your parents haven’t managed their finances well and are so desperate that they are committing fraud by taking out credit cards in your name and running them up.</p>
<p>Sorry your asthma has limited you with the military.</p>
<p>I understand you worked hard in HS and college isn’t working out in part due to financial issues. If your GPA was affected by an injury that you have now recovered…you mentioned something about some mental health issues - work through those issues and become stable so you can advance and move forward.</p>
<p>Any student debt you have taken out and plan to take out - be very careful. Student debt cannot be bankrupt-able. It will follow you until death or extreme disability.</p>
<p>You cannot dictate how your parents operate financially, but you can learn on your own how to be more financially secure. You mentioned your parents have maxed out credit cards and are paying for car loans etc. If your parents are in church, maybe they have heard of Dave Ramsey and ‘Financial Peace’ - it offers a great plan to get out of debt. As you say, your step dad makes too much money for additional FA. If your parents tightened their belt under a program like Mr. Ramsey offers, maybe they can get their spending under control. At present they are living ‘larger’ than their pocketbook and have been for years, that is why the debt.</p>
<p>Living at home and going to school would help cut your expenses. The other alternative would be working at a paying job and taking classes as you can afford elsewhere - like another poster said, have a room-mate in an apt.</p>
<p>At some point you are going to need to address the credit fraud. If your parents don’t pay off and close the credit cards in your name, you will need to find out via free credit report, what those credit cards are and contact them - they may require you to file a police report. Obviously this will be a breaking point with family relations. However your parents are at present out of control on their spending (they can’t afford car payments with other credit card debt - they should be driving cheaper paid for vehicles for example) - so much so that they are committing credit fraud. </p>
<p>Many people with a psych UG degree do other things and never pursue grad/doctorate programs. It is obvious to me that you will need to work your way through school. Almost everyone begins at a minimum wage job. The advantage of the city you are in is that there are job opportunities - however you do need to learn how to be a good employee (how to present yourself and the characteristics, what the employer wants from employees).</p>
<p>Work on yourself. You cannot fix your family. Don’t know if you have younger siblings, but if so, they are also in the same boat you are.</p>
<p>There are many young people that have challenging situations - you are not alone. Consider yourself fortunate that you are in the US and have upward mobility if you work hard and smart.</p>
<p>I hope things work out for you, but it depends on you.</p>
very sad.</p>