How do poor people go to college?

Paying for College
41

<p>" I don't how kids who need their income just to survive and don't have the skills to earn enough money to actually save would do it, as far as getting a full B.A. "</p>

<p>Spend 2 years in Americorps, getting close to $9,000 that they can use for college. Live at home while doing this. They also can save a lot of their $200 a week pay even if they have to pay rent at home.</p>

<p>Use the $ to go to community college while living at home. If their high school grades were good, they also may quailify for merit aid, which means they'd have some $ left over. Also work a part time job, fulltime during the summer, and use the money to help pay for the last 2 years of college.</p>

<p>Get excellent grades at community college then transfer after community college to an in-state public, preferably one that offers merit aid to in-state community college transfers with excellent grades.</p>

<p>Take out loans to pay for the balance of college costs. Also work part time during the school year, a minimum of fulltime during the summer. In addition, they'd apply for merit aid such as the scholarships offered by their departments.</p>

<p>This is how the low income students whom I know went to college. Some worked up to 30 hours a week during the school year while maintaining excellent gpas. Some started their college careers by working fulltime, going to community college part time while living at home.</p>

<p>They didn't party their way through college. They didn't join frats, have fancy cars or expensive clothes. They did, however, get a good education, and got good jobs afterward.</p>

<p>Where there's a will, there's a way. And that way doesn't have to be through stripping, selling drugs or hooking.</p>

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<p>wutangfinancial- how did you get Qu</p>

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<p>I hear you Northstarmom, I hope I didn't come off as too much of a liberal apologist...I've managed to make it for myself, w/o selling drugs (although I wouldn't mind hooking j/k)...but for most of those who grew up in Boston, Good Will Hunting only happens in the movies....Harvard doesn't accept a whole heck of a lot of transfers from Bunker Hill CC...UMass does, but that's about it.</p>

<p>Oh yeah, I've gotten the call MANY low income students recieve-"How'd you like to go Iraq, and we'll pay your tution?" uh, no thanks</p>

<p>redknight-declare residency (you must be declared an independent first) and immigrate</p>

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<p>West Point.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Some flock to Canada where tuition at even the top universities like McGill is $10000-12000 a year and that includes housing and meal plans.

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</p>

<p>McGill's quite a deal. University of British Columbia says over $32,000 (CDN) for tuition, books, room, and board for international (US) students. I'm guessing that the $10-12k amount is for Candian citizens, right? McGill would be a little less than the UC for a Californian or UW for a Washington resident.</p>

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<p>I'm low income. My mom isn't giving me any money; she can't afford to. And we have no college savings. And she won't cosign my loans, so I can only get so much if I apply. By the way, I have a sister, 3 years younger than me, who's also planning on college.</p>

<p>So how am I going? Well, I've worked extremely hard during high school. I'm ranked 2/296 in my class, and I have a 4.957/5.0 GPA. My SAT score is 740/670/660 m/v/w. I'm involved in my school, community, etc. Although this is nothing according to the standards of some around here, it's awesome from where I'm coming from (a not-so-great public high school, in south carolina, no less).</p>

<p>And it's paid off, as I've already been offered a scholarship to the college of my choice (which is private, so it's not cheep) that covers full tuition, room, board, and meals. All i have to pay is fees, books, and personal expenses, totaling around $5000. And i qualify for another scholarship to have fees ($2000) paid for as well. Once I'm in college, I'll do work study to make up the difference, keep the highest GPA possible, not party, etc. And hopefully, I'll end up with some fellowships for grad school, depending on my GRE scores and where I want to go.</p>

<p>That's how I'm going.</p>

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<p>I'm glad for you ffb. Of course not everyone, even working as hard as they can get such good grades and high scores. If you're parents have money though you'll be able to go to a good private school without such great stats.</p>

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<p>online education? much more affordable, many great schools now offer online programs. columbia (fu), johns hopkins, lse and many other state schools.</p>

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<p>Wutang- I thought Qu</p>

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<p>The Army...unless they're smart</p>

<p>(according to John Kerry)</p>

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<p>Isn't that harvard 60,000 thing for most ivy league colleges also?</p>

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<p>It is funny that the options seem to be community college or ivy. :)</p>

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<p>That's not true. There are other threads about finding good colleges that will give merit aid to students with high test scores/grades/talent. The trick is finding a school that wants what you have, whether it's brains, a geographic location, or a musical skill.</p>

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<p>I know that there are other options. I was just looking over the whole thread and a lot of it focuses on cc or ivy. That's all.</p>

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<p>This entire website focuses on Ivy.</p>

<p>Some of us simply cannot make all As.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Some of us simply cannot make all As.

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</p>

<p>Thats the bad news, the worse news is that THEN they tell us that all As are not enough. :(</p>

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<p>The David - </p>

<p>Yes, the website seems obssessed with HYPS, but try to think of it as a mix of reality and fantasy. It never hurts to dream, right? The reality is that most of these people either are or will go to a non-Ivy private or a good public, and the definition of "good" can probably include a school near you.</p>

<p>As for the "all A's", unfortunately even solid middle class kids with perfect scores and gpa's get rejected from HYPS, et. al. (raise of hands, anyone?) Don't worry about that for one second.</p>

<p>The most important thing is getting your degree from wherever it works for you. Be the best YOU can be and things will work out great. A friend of mine last year was worrying about her S, a science genius who got in MIT but had the free ride to LSU. A lawyer she knew pointed out that at his firm he was the only atty to go to (Harvard or Yale, I forget). All the other attys went to LSU law. And they all made the same amount of money. </p>

<p>I'm sure there is intellectual satisfaction and cocktail party points are scored with HYPS, but only in a few markets does it translate into career points. There are many extremely well off people with plain vanilla state school degrees.</p>

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<p>I've done interviews before, i've sat in as part of an interview panel, and I've also networked for almost a decade.</p>

<p>At no point has the school of the applicant ever been a deciding factor in a hiring decision.</p>

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<p>I agree with JCampbell, learn w/e you want, wherever you want, but learn it good. Potential employers are going to interview you and if you don't know what you're talking about, your harvard degree will not mean much.</p>

<p>However, from the research I've done, private universities with large endowments seem to give a lot better FA (in terms of % of cost of attendance) at times than state schools. </p>

<p>Personally, I don't know what I will do. I've done 1 1/2 years at a CC taking the hardest course load and getting GPA's of 4.0, 4.0 and 3.8 in each semester. I'm right now considered an international student since the permanent residency paperwork of my family hasn't come through yet, which hinders by chances of admission to schools A LOT. Unless I get those papers, I won't be able to attend college (hence I have an EFC of 2-3kish, so i need FA). </p>

<p>there's many individual cases like mine, everybody has their own plans, but despite all this, whoever wants it badly, will get it. If you sit back, relax, get bad grades and don't seek out the help, it won't come knocking at your door. </p>

<p>Sometimes there's nothing you can do anymore, but always do what you can: get excellent grades, try saving some $$ by working, applying to scholarships, research schools and scholarships, etc etc. in other words, WORK YOUR BUTT OFF!! if you have the grades/interest, you'll go to college</p>

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<p>Purdue student here; my parents have a total taxable income of roughly $45,000 annually. Not only do I have free tuition, but on average I make $1-2k per semester due to grants and scholarships. While Purdue is not ivy league, it certainly does compete with other private institutions in the engineering and technology disciplines. Look into a good state school and fill out the financial aid forms. Believe it or not, you will receive aid if you truly need it.</p>