Let me give some background information first. I’m double ethnic minority and and half first generation American. I grew up poor and have several siblings (full, half and step) my parents divorced later. They got wealthier and remarried and both my mother and father are self employed. My mom is just braking even at her business, but her husband makes enough for us all to live well and we are “southern bourgeois,” my mom and her husband make over 250k. My dad and his wife run their business and made over 1Mil before taxes/expenses and make well over 500k after. My mom and dad never have my interests or my siblings first, they are children themselves and we’re married in college. I’ve had to make up for where they lack and have even provided for myself in clothes, food, toiletries for myself and sometimes my siblings. I’m a poor person living in a wealthy “family”. How can I get money for college or get any scholarships even though I’m a minority etc but still considered not needy?
That sounds complicated!
So your mom and her husband have a combined income >$250K?
And your dad and his wife have a business and clear >$500K per year?
Who do you live with?
Have your parents said they will pay nothing for your school?
What is your home state and what are your stats (GPA and SAT or ACT?)
To summarize: your parents make great money, but have chosen not to tend to your basic needs and have told you they will pay nothing for your school. You are now trying to figure out how to pay for college, is this correct?
Are you a high school senior?
Do you have a job?
What are your stats?
Any chance you will qualify for merit money based on your GPA and SAT or ACT scores? From what you have written, need based aid is going to be hard to come by.
Have you specifically asked both of your parents and both stepparents about how the family plans to pay for everyone’s college education? Can any of them commit to a figure? If that figure is going to be zero, will they at least feed you and let you live at home while you commute to a local community college?
They spend that all on themselves with nothing left for education?
What state do you live in and have they not committed anything to your college costs? Are you a junior? What are your stats?