How can I pay for college? Independency?

Paying for College
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<p>I'm an incoming freshmen at UMASS Amherst, and picked it mainly due to my financial constraints and the fact that it's relatively close to my home. I figured it would be the only place I could afford, a cheap instate public university. If I had known it would be this much of a hassle, I would have set my sights a little higher.</p>

<p>To make the story short, UMASS costs roughly $20-22,000 a year. I've managed to to gather some funding, the standard $5500 in federal loans, $3700 from outside scholarship sources, and a $1500 work study. Needless to say, I still need to come up with atleast another $10,000. Merit based aid is out of the question, they don't offer it in the first year, regardless of the fact that I was somewhere within the top 2% of all applicants and made it into the honors college. How can I get the funding to pay for this difference?</p>

<p>I've been looking into declaring myself as independent, but I'm not sure if the college would go for it. And by no means am I attempting to commit fraud here. My parents are divorced and I haven't had contact with my mother for over 6 years. When my father submitted the FAFSA, our efc came out to $12,000, which UMASS has decided was just enough to warrant their decision to give me NO aid. However, despite the efc, my father can simply not pay this much. Or less, for that matter. He will be contributing absolutely nothing towards the cost of my college. Additionally, I live full time with my girlfriend, and my father doesn't pay for any of my expenses. (car, food, clothes, etc.) We've looked into loans, but that's not going to work. My father has horrible credit, history of defaulting on previous loans, two bankruptcies, and so on. And no agency or bank in their right mind is going to give a $10,000 loan to an umeployed 18 year old with no credit or cosigner.</p>

<p>It's just a complicated mess. And although I live full time with my girlfriend, my "permanent" address is still with my father. I am covered by his insurance, but this was a benefit from the state out of a retirement package. That is the only expense of mine I can think of that he "pays" for. I certainly have the need to receive the additional aid from UMASS, but is it plausible that they would decide my situation warrants this? I know colleges some times refuse to give more aid because they figure the student will find a way to pay for it, but that's just not an option with me. If I don't get anything else, I can't go to college.</p>

<p>What can I do? Is there anything else?</p>

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<p>You can’t declare yourself independent for financial aid purposes. For FAFSA the criteria for being an independent student are that you must be able to answer yes to one of the dependency questions - be aged 24 or over, married, a veteran, have a dependent you provide more than 50% support for etc.</p>

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<p>I realize this, but the college can overrule that. I know I wont be able to declare myself as independent on the FAFSA, but UMASS can “consider” me to be an independent student if my needs are great enough. Isn’t that how it works at most schools?</p>

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<p>Not for federal aid. There are dependency overrides but they have stringent rules. A parent’s unwillingness to pay and the fact that you are self supporting do not qualify for a dependency override. </p>

<p>from
[FinAid</a> | Professional Judgment | Dependency Overrides](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Dependency Overrides - Finaid)</p>

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<p>As your permanent address is with your dad and you have been on his insurance you are not likely to qualify under any of the exceptional circumstances. If it were that easy everyone parent would just say they were not going to pay and every student would be independent.</p>

<p>What a school does with their own funds is, of course, up to them. But for federal aid I doubt you will have any luck in trying to do this.</p>

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<p>Big Tea, did you contact UMass when you got your award and appeal for additional funding? It sounds like you’re a student they would like to keep, so it may be worth laying it out in a letter. They can’t change your dependent status but they may be able to come up with additional funds. It does sound like you’re going to have to reconsider your college choice or submit to alot of loans. Your dad should apply for a Plus loan anyway. When he’s refused, you will be eligible for an additional $4K in Stafford loans. Without a cosigner, it may be difficult for you to come up with the remaining $6K in private loans (not to mention that $15K in student loans for your first year is probably way to much!).</p>

<p>Would you consider delaying your entry for a year and reapplying to other schools or starting at a CC to keep your loans down?</p>

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<p>Thanks sk8rmom, the first thing I did was contact UMASS about it. They explained the appeals process, but they seem to have some pretty strict guidelines. There are only five scenarios in which they will accept an appeal, including death, divorce, medical expenses, significant loss of income, etc. The form is set up with a “check what applies” layout, so my circumstances are irrelivant to the appeals process. I talked with a financial counselor who told me that I was “**** out of luck” and was then billed $175 for the 15 minute meeting, which was about me not having money in the first place. Absurd right? The secretary told me off and said that it wouldn’t be possible to set up a meeting with the director of financial services and wouldn’t give me any contact information. I’m fed up with this school.</p>

<p>I actually just found out about the additional $4,000 in stafford loans after posting this thread. No matter what I do though, I feel like I just end up arguing with a brick wall. I told my father about it, and he flat out refused to apply for the parent plus loan. He told me it was a “waste of time” because I’ll still need the additional $6,000. So, unless I can come up with that first, it seems as if he’s set against me not going to college.</p>

<p>Actually, he seemed to be all for me dropping UMASS and attending a local community college. To be honest, I can’t bring myself to do it. I don’t want anything less than a four year university, and I already feel like I’m going to be cheated out of an education by attending UMASS. Several of my friends have attended this community college through a dual enrollment program while in highschool, and the general consensus was that the classes were far easier than normal highschool level. It just feels as if it would be a waste of my time and resources. The last thing I want to do is lose a year of my life! I’m also completely against the idea of a gap year. Although I could save up a decent amount of money in that time, I’d prefer to keep my mind active rather than going and trying to relearn things.</p>

<p>I’m thinking I’ll have to go to the school within the next few days and refuse to leave until I can talk to someone higher up.</p>

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<p>They charged you for a meeting with the financial aid officer? At the school? Or was this a private counselor you are talking about?</p>

<p>Please please make sure you get answers and the finances sorted out *before *you start at the school. Whatever you do, do not start school there thinking you will somehow magically work the finances out. If you can’t pay your bill for this semester you will be blocked from enrolling for the next semester. Then you will be unable to transfer to another school until you have paid the outstanding bill and will be in an even worse situation than you are now.</p>

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<p>Seems like you should take a gap year, and re-apply in Oct. with schools that offer a good FA package for students like you. I know you d</p>

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<p>You would NOT be losing a year of your life by working, saving money, and applying to other schools. swimcatsmom is right: do not start school at UMass Amherst without having all the tuition covered. </p>

<p>And if you don’t have all the tuition covered – and IMO, it’d be crazy to add $10K of debt to what you are already taking on – you MUST come up with another plan. Please, no black-and-white thinking here! No magical thinking, either. </p>

<p>Did you apply anywhere else? I think you should take a year off, use it to work, save money, and find other schools which DO offer merit aid to which to apply. Your mind isn’t going to go to mush just because you’re not taking classes, you know! And if you really wanted to, you could certainly take one or more evening courses (though I think a better idea is to self-study something, using the free sources around you, such as the public library).</p>

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<p>Just because you’re working, volunteering with Americorps, etc. does not mean you’re not learning! So many kids are more focused and perform better after doing this that I sometimes wonder if it shouldn’t be mandatory! Not to mention the leg up you might have on other scholarship/internship candidates!</p>

<p>I don’t really think you have other choices - it’s massive loans, wait a year, or start at a CC and transfer (anecdotal evidence aside, dual enrollment classes may not be an accurate predictor). Pick one that you think will get you where you’re going and commit to it fully. As they say, you can’t ride two horses…</p>

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<p>It’s very unlikely that this will become a reality. Yes, colleges “can” do a dependency override now…BUT there really has to be a good reason and not having a parent who is willing to pay for college isn’t a good reason.</p>

<p>If your EFC is $12,000, does your dad plan to pay ANY of that? If he paid half and you had a summer job, you would be mighty close to having the money for attending.</p>