<p>Your mom wants your dad to help with your college expenses, but it looks like he’s too busy with his own stuff to do that. Find a place where you won’t need help other than the occasional plane ticket home from either of them. Truly, you will be much happier about things. Unless you can commute to a CCC or CSU you might not be able to afford any of those on your own. Without some help from your parents, tuition and fees at the UCs will almost certainly be out of reach even if you can commute.</p>
<p>With a 3.5 and 34 you qualify for some of these: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html</a> Read the current list on the last page. You have not missed the application dates for all of them - Alabama has been extended to 01/06 and it is a quick online application. You could do it this afternoon.</p>
<p>You also would be eligible for some of these: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a> Read through the whole thread to find the ones that might work and that you haven’t missed the cut-off dates for.</p>
<p>If you are a US citizen or legal permanent resident, you are eligible to file the FAFSA and will automatically qualify for $5,500 in student loans your freshman year. The figure goes up to $6,500 sophomore year, and then to $7,500 for both junior and senior years. You don’t need anyone’s permission to take out those loans. You just need the parent that you live with the most over the course of the 12 months before filing the FAFSA to enter their financial information into the FAFSA application. If your mom refuses, I’d bet that your step-mother would pony up her financials so that you can get a student loan. Formally, you would need to spend more time with her and your dad than with your mom, but that could be as simple as sleeping at their house every night for the next couple of months, and then filing the FAFSA once you hit “nights with dad” = “nights with mom” + 1. Sit down with a calendar, and count the days. With a summer job and/or part-time school year job you should be able to scrape together at least $3,000 each year. This means that a student loan and a job (or two) could cover almost all of the difference between the Alabama merit aid and the full Cost of Attendance there.</p>