Hello all,
I am a homeless student in Texas and live with a friend and his family. I am classified as homeless and independent in my school district under the McKinney-Vento Act, and work, making a little over $100 a week. I have to pay for everything, and have no idea where to start looking for scholarships as I attend a large public school with one counselor for several hundred kids. I was looking for any advice on where to start looking for scholarships, financial aid programs, and anything that I can do to ensure I pay for college. I have some scholarship money so far but don’t understand how financial aid works and what it will/won’t cover as I fall in a very low income level. I also know very little about work studies, I have a 33 ACT, 3.5-3.6 GPA, 2060 SAT, National Merit Commended, and am heavily involved in my community. I am also in Varsity Choir at my school, as well as 4 years in a sport and 2 years on Varsity, and attended the 2015 Texas Boys State Conference as well. I applied to UT Austin, A&M, SMU, Tulane, Sewanee, Rice, Washington and Lee, Richmond, Alabama, the University of Houston, Texas Tech and Georgia. I have only been accepted to A&M, SMU and Tulane, and deferred from Georgia, but have yet to be denied anywhere.
Any input or advice would be appreciated.
Get your financial aid application materials done ASAP.
Thank you, what financial aid application materials? I’m sorry but have no idea where to start
Look on each college website under “financial aid”. You will find a list of what is required…and it won’t be the same for each school. Pay particular attention to the deadlines. Don’t miss them.
You will need to complete the FAFSA 2016-2017 for all,the schools. And submit it.
You will need to complete the Profile for some.
Check to see what else each school requires.
Thank you! Do you think that it is possible for me to get enough Financial Aid to go to college?
It is very likely that you have an EFC of 0 which means you will have guaranteed Federal Aid per year of
Pell Grant 5.775
Freshman federal loan 5,500
I don’t know the Texas state grants but I don’t think they are too much.
The rest of the money really has to come from the colleges so it is key to apply to colleges where you will get in AND get enough aid to attend. You will need to get your award letters to see if they give you enough.
Outside scholarships are helpful but except for Gates they won’t pay for 4 years of college. It is a bit late for many scholarships. (email @CourtneyThurston and maybe she can give you a list)
Did you file your FAFSA yet? And did you submit the CSS Profile to the schools that require it? This is key because they cannot prepare the aid package for you until you do that.
Merit Aid/Scholarships: based on gpa and test scores for the most part
Need Aid: based on income. Some schools will give you enough need aid to attend and some won’t
Of the ones you mention, I think Rice, W&L, and Richmond promise to meet full need, don’t think the others although they may do for your if they want to. Likely you will only get merit from the OOS publics, they won’t give need to nonresidents (exceptions are UNC and UVA and Michigan somewhat) Trinity would be a good one too. You can still apply I think deadline is Jan 15
University of Alabama? You should get a full 100% scholarship based on your stats. Look on their website, because you needed to apply by 12-15, but you might be able to apply late if there is still scholarship money available.
You might consider applying to UT Dallas. The deadline is February 1.
Here is the merit scholarship info:
http://oue.utdallas.edu/aes/
@3mamagirls I think he qualifies for full tuition but still has room/board/books/personal/transportation costs to cover.
^^^If he gets the full tuition covered can he then use Pell $5775 and the $5500 loan to cover room and board?
Good luck samhoustonthomas! Stick around and the knowledgeable people will help you out.
When did you apply to Alabama?
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Pell Grant 5.775
Freshman federal loan 5,500
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Actually, as an independent, he’ll get 9500, but I don’t advise borrowing that much if it can be avoided.
^^ oh yes, that is correct
Full Rides available from
University of Arkansas at Monticello
Louisiana Tech University - Deadline Today!
Plus some HBCUs if you are open to those.
Thank y’all! I applied to Alabama on 10/18 but there was an error and some information wasn’t sent to me, so I’m in contact with the university working on that @mom2collegekids
My niece is in her final year at LTU - she had full tuition - she has been happy with her experience. She got a ton of AP credit, and she is graduating in 3 years. I encourage you to consider LTU.
Did you apply for Jack Kent Cooke? Hope so; you sound like the kind of candidate they look for.
Gates closes very soon too – maybe I missed your race in your post. But you may be eligible to apply.
Those are really the only two outside scholarships that’ll give you a full ride (I think Gates is just full tuition? I wasn’t eligible to apply, so I’m not sure about the finer details.)
Make sure you have a good merit strategy in place. After applying to realistic merit schools, I’d recommend throwing your hat in for local scholarships and if you have time left, try for some of the national competitions like Buick, etc, depending on what your anticipated major will be. Students in dire straights have a better chance at the bigger national competitions if they also have high stats (your ACT is high – and GPA will be fine for most scholarships’ cutoffs).
Did you just go away?
@samhoustonthomas - Tulane might come through for you, they can be very generous when they want you. At your income level they can choose not to package any loans. But they do require FAFSA and the CSS Profile. Both should be free for you to fill out as you would have fee waivers for CSS and FAFSA is free for everyone.
Are your parents living? In contact with you at all?