I’m very confused did you apply and are accepted? I thought you were waiting. How can you set up housing that will still be available when you didn’t apply yet?
No I have already been accepted. I originally applied last fall for this spring but hasn’t able to find housing. So I decided to wait another semester and transfer in for this upcoming fall.
Where’d you get this idea?
On the cc transfer pages AND the Passhe schools’pages. That’s official policy : cc->passhe , branch -> main campus. Obviously nothing prevents a cc student from applying to a psu campus including up, but there’s no guaranteed or planned pathway and they’re second or third in line after the others (from branches and from other 4-year schools). It’s very different from, say, the cc->UC path with TAG etc.
I think you’re looking at only the “PA TRAC” system, which is PASSHE-focused. (http://www.pacollegetransfer.com/AboutPATRAC/ParticipatingColleges/tabid/301/Default.aspx) But that’s not the only arrangement community colleges have with 4-year colleges.
For example, Community College of Allegheny County lists articulation agreements with plenty of non-PASSHE schools including PSU and Pitt . https://www.ccac.edu/articulation/ And their transfer page lists a number of programs (24), of which only 1/3 are PA TRAC. https://www.ccac.edu/Transfer_Programs_Page.aspx
And I don’t see anything written anywhere in these Community Colleges’ transfer pages that suggest that the intended pathway is only (or even primarily) to a PASSHE school.
Bucks: http://www.bucks.edu/student/transfer/agreement-types/
Delaware: http://www.dccc.edu/admissions-financial-aid/transfer/types-transfer-agreements
Westmoreland: https://wccc.edu/pages/current-students/student-services/transfer-services/
I think it’s wrong (in both senses of the word) to imply that CC students are meant to transfer to PASSHE schools. Not true at all.
Actually, if you look precisely, you’ll see that while there’s a course-by-course agreement (which means that some courses will transfer for students who are admitted - not any specific path, not any guarantee your courses will transfer and you’ll start as a junior), there’s no pathway for any PSU except small branches.
PSU will accept 30 credits from specific classes (Freshman English + Communication + some history, art history, economics, sociology… classes).
Sure, they don’t say “if you apply to PSU, it’ll be much harder than for PASSHE schools and you’ll lose many credits as some of your classes won’t be considered equivalent”. But the result is that the only direct transfer program is to PASSHE schools. Again, it’s quite possible to apply and to succeed, as OP shows, but it isn’t easy nor is it typical. It’s one of the problems in PA, along with the fact that PASSHE schools don’t offer all majors and that there’s such a huge discrepancy between PASSHE and PSU in terms of resources, funding, prestige, and costs.
No, as @alooknac pointed out above, there’s a difference. When you fill out the FAFSA, regular jobs count as income, potentially reducing your eligibility for need-based aid (including the Pell grant). Work study is need-based aid, so work study income doesn’t impact future aid eligibility. (You’d list it as “earned income” on FAFSA, but then also list it as need-based aid - at which point it’s automatically deducted again.)
About housing, although it sounds like you may have already found something, @twoinanddone made some very good suggestions in post #6 about free housing: RA at a dorm, apartment manager, church caretaker, houseboy at a sorority. I’d add “live-in babysitter” to that list - for any family that’s looking for part-time help. Check the local and online classifieds for people looking for babysitters - I’d guess that between now and August, you may find several.
And if none of those options work, and you have to pay for housing, don’t limit yourself just to sharing housing with other students. Check Craigslist for both share rentals and rooms for rent. Yeah, some of them will be sketchy, but you’ve got plenty of time from now to August to check things out, get references, etc. Given your age, you have more options than most college students would - you’re old enough that potential landlords or non-student housemates would expect you to be fairly reliable.
To make this work, you need to think out of the box, and that applies both to housing and to college expenses like books. Check the student “for sale” ads now for the used books you’re going to need in the fall. Obviously, it’s not worth an hour and a half drive just to pick up books, but if you’d be near the Erie campus anyway in the next few weeks, to check out housing or something, then maybe it would work. Check the student “for sale” listings at Pitt and Carnegie Mellon also, if they’re closer. (They may or may not use some of the same books - it’s worth checking!) Check online for used books also - the sooner the better. (If you wait 'til August, the cheapest ones will already have been snapped up!)
Other benefits to work study over a “regular” job:
-Work study is generally much more student-friendly in terms of scheduling.
-There are no FICA (payroll tax) deductions from work study earnings, giving you more take home pay as compared to wages from a non-work study job.
https://www.pheaa.org/funding-opportunities/work-study-employment/work-study-faq.shtml
Also check into PA state work study program. You might be able to do that in addition to federal work study.
It seems you can do that in the summer.