<p>so yesterday my dad told me to go to a community college or go to the nearby school where i live ( florida institute of technology) so we can save rent. he told me "think about it ". This is because my father currently struggling with money etc....
i have though about it and decided i DON'T want to stay where i live for another 4 years and to go somewhere further like maybe a 2 hr drive away. I want to exprience college life and live in the dorms etc.
Any suggestions on where i can get financial aid? please help!</p>
<p>No money for college.
Get used to the idea of your local cc.
If your Dad tells you he is having money problems then you need to grow up and put your dreams of living away for school on hold.
Let him get back on his feet and you may be able to transfer to FIT in 2 years.
No tantrums please.
Talk to your dad when you have calmed down.
Lots of families are in your situation.</p>
<p>On your other thread, you posted that you live in FL but your brother is your guardian and you are not considered a FL resident, although your brother also lives in FL and your are a permanent resident of the US. Is that right?</p>
<p>Is your brother your legal guardian as granted by a FL court? Do you have papers attesting to that? If so, I can’t imagine why you would not be treated as a FL resident for tuition purposes. Have you asked the residency office at the school you’d like to attend?</p>
<p>Have you filed your FAFSA yet and, if so, did you enter your father’s info or just yours? If you have a legal guardian, I believe you’re considered an independent student for federal aid purposes, which may increase the amount of loans you can take as well as your eligibility for other aid. But just remember, it’s not going to be much fun to pay off a bunch of loans that you took just to have the “college experience”. You could do a lot of living on the $8-10K/year that you’ll spend living in a small room with 2-3 other kids and eating cafeteria food!</p>
<p>thats the point. I want to be independent and live the college life.
i have not signed up for fafsa yet but will do probably today or tomorrow, and i need to enter my name or i think my brother’s info. My father does not live here, thats the problem. if my father did live here, then he would be a FL resident which leads me to getting automatic in-state status. However, currently we are working on getting this guardianship paperwork to send to schools, in other words “trying” to get in-state status because we are not sure if the paperwork we have will work. We are going to send what we have and see if it works, if it does not, then i will have to reclassify for in-state next year.
and also, do you guys know any scholarship sites? please list them and i will try and apply for most and see if it will help me.
but in the end, I AM NOT GOING CC NOR AM I GOING TO THE COLLEGE HERE (FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY)</p>
<p>Reality - if you want to be “independent” and “live the college life” when your father can’t help you with money then you need to pay for it yourself. That means a job or two, a less expensive school like CC, and probably a gap year. </p>
<p>There is no money fairy. I would like a BMW but can’t afford it so I don’t have one.</p>
<p>It sounds like you have a complicated situation and you may have to be a little flexible if you want to get an education. Basically, someone has to pay the bills…and you’re clearly not going to be independent for anything other than financial aid purposes (maybe), as long as someone else is paying the bills for you!</p>
<p>Anyway, if you are a permanent resident, you can file FAFSA but you will NEVER use any of your brother’s information. If he is your legal guardian (ie. a FL court has awarded him guardianship) then you will be considered independent (for FAFSA purposes only) and will enter only your own information. The FAFSA instructions explain all of this very clearly and I recommend that you read them. Btw, you’ll need to apply for a FAFSA PIN number before you can fill it out!</p>
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<p>MChief, I think you may not be understanding what Sk8trmom is asking.
If your legal guardian is not your parents, you will be considered an independent student on FAFSA. This is decided by FAFSA, and not by the schools. This would be a very good thing in your case because you would most likely qualify for the maximum in federal Pell grants.
If you are independent, and you live in Florida you already have residency. You should look into Flordia’s Bright Futures program to find out if you are eligible for any assistance through them, too.
[Bright</a> Futures Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/ssfad/bf/]Bright”>http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/ssfad/bf/)</p>
<p>If your brother is your GUARDIAN (legal) then you do NOT put his information OR your parents’ information on the FAFSA. Students who have guardians not their parents are considered independent for financial aid purposes for the FAFSA. You would enter YOUR information only. It is likely that you have little or no income and would qualify for an automatic $0 EFC. What that will guarantee you is $5500 in Stafford loans, and about $5400 in Pell grant money…just a little less than $11,000 for the whole year. That is ALL you are guaranteed to receive by completing the FAFSA.</p>
<p>If $11,000 will cover your costs of attending a residential college farther away…you are all set. If not, you will need to get the rest of the funding from SOMEWHERE. The school won’t care where but they WILL expect the bill to be paid…or they won’t allow you to attend or live in their dorms. </p>
<p>You, yourself, will not likely be able to secure private loans as you have no steady job or collateral. You would need a cosigner for any loans…who would be able to do that for you? It sounds like your father is not able to. Does your brother want to put himself at risk for these loans?</p>
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<p>Please keep an open mind. If you don’t find a way of funding another option at a residential college, these might be your ONLY college option for next year. As said above…maybe you could do your general ed requirements and transfer. Don’t close your mind to the only financially viable option you might have.</p>