How exactly do I get started as an independent?

Paying for College
1

<p>I am supposed to be going into my second semester of sophmore year at a LAC. It costs ~45k and i received about 27k total of grants and scholarship. I ended up getting 6-8k in loans with another 10k that i was supposed to pay for but my dad ended up taking out private loans. All of the loans were taken out on an account that my father and I cosigned.</p>

<p>My parents are not letting me go back to school at all because they think my gpa sucks (around a 2.7 or 2.8). I have friends that said they would let me stay with them (they live in a college town). Should I leave home, stay with them, get a job, take summer classes to make up for missing credits, and then transfer back to my LAC? How exactly will my financial aid change? Where do I start if I were to do this? Will the school give me more money because I won't be dependent on my parents? I'm really not sure what to do and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get an education.</p>

2

<p>*Will the school give me more money because I won’t be dependent on my parents? *
Short answer.
No.
You won’t be considered independent.</p>

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<p>I’m really not sure what to do and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get an education.</p>

<p>Finding out why your GPA is low & doing what you can to fix it would be a start.</p>

<p>Howabout attending a community college & raising your GPA to show your parents you are serious about your education?</p>

3

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<p>Your dependency for tax purposes has NO BEARING AT ALL on your status for financial aid purposes. As an undergraduate student, you are considered a dependent for financial aid purposes unless you are one of the following: ward of the state or in guardianship, orphan, armed forces veteran, married, have a bachelors degree, have and support a dependent child, are over age 25. If you aren’t any of these things…you WILL be considered dependent for financial aid purposes.</p>

4

<p>I know I can do better in school but my parents are also taking me out of school because they simply can’t afford it. How am I supposed to go back to school if my parents won’t help me pay for it in the fall? One of my friends is pretty poor and he only has 3k in loans every year even though we had similar HS stats.</p>

5

<p>Free advice…don’t look at other’s finances when it comes to college. Look ONLY at your own. </p>

<p>Why do you have “missing classes”…did you not pass some courses? </p>

<p>Would your parents allow you to take a leave of absence from your current school? If so, you might want to ask the current school if you are able to take a LOA and also take course at a community college while on leave from the LAC. It sounds like your parents have a grad GPA criteria for you in college that you did not meet.</p>

<p>Also, you are a sophomore…is this “slump” in your GPA due to a dreadful fall term…it sounds like it…or was your freshman year about the same? Just asking…as this could be the reason your parents are balking at paying and taking out loans.</p>

<p>There are lots of ways to get a college degree. What are your parents suggesting you do if you do not return to your current college? Do they want you to work for a year, take classes and commute from home, go to a community college? WHAT do they want you to do this month if you do not return to college.</p>

6

<p>Assuming the gap you have without your parent contribution is 10K, you either need to get a spectacular job to earn that money or you will need to look to other less expensive colleges. There are no extra ways to borrow above your current federal student loans and you can not get a private loan without a cosigner, such as your parent.</p>

<p>Btw, your school will NOT give you more money because you are on the outs with your parents.</p>

<p>Other than cutting a new deal with your parents, it looks like your run at the LAC is over for now. Time for damage control. Can you withdraw for a semester from the LAC and after satisfying your parents (ie: taking CC courses for good grades, etc) reenroll back into the LAC next fall or a year from now? Try to make an orderly withdrawal from the LAC to keep all the doors open. I also know many LACs allow you to take up to (for example) a 5 year leave of absence and return with no questions asked if you A) make a formal withdrawal request and B) leave with good academic standing. Don’t mess up the “A” part by not filing the right paperwork ON TIME.</p>

<p>Worse comes to worse, you can go back to the LAC some future year after you have earned money, come to peace with your parents, or perhaps have turned 24 and will get independent status for FA.</p>

7

<p>If the aid is need based the grants may be more dependent on income than on academics.
It sounds as if the LAC isn’t doable just from an economic POV.
I don’t think a student should graduate with more than the maximum Stafford loans.</p>

<p>Lots of students end up transferring out of expensive private schools but can still go on to finish their degree. What other schools did you originally apply to?</p>

8

<p>Right now i’m on a LOA because my parents want me to be. and I’m not missing any classes, I just thought it would be a good idea to make up for the credits that I am losing for taking a LOA if I decide to return.</p>

<p>and the reason I ended up going to my LAC is because it was 2k cheaper than my state school (IU-Bloomington). I applied to purdue, IU, depauw, loyola, wittenberg, and a few others. I was set on going to the school that gave me the best financial package and if that didn’t work out, i would go to a state school.</p>

9

<p>What about Ind State or one of the directional Us? I think those are all cheaper.</p>

10

<p>Commute to a local state public. Go to a CC first.</p>

<p>You can’t be an independent.<br>
Your parents can’t afford your current school.</p>

<p>Your friend has a better FA pkg because he has greater demonstrated need. If you go to DePauw or a similar LAC, then aid is also need-based…so the fact that you and your friend had similar stats is meaningless.</p>

<p>*I ended up getting 6-8k in loans with another 10k that i was supposed to pay for but my dad ended up taking out private loans. All of the loans were taken out on an account that my father and I cosigned.
*</p>

<p>You have too much debt for this school…over 16k just for ONE year. Your parents were crazy to allow that much. Luckily, you won’t have loans for this semester, so you’ll cut your loans in half.</p>

<p>Go to a CC to delay the payback of some of those loans.</p>

11

<p>I’m only worried about getting into medical school. If i go to some average public state school, my chances of going to medical school are almost ruined. I’ll end up graduating with a useless degree from a school where I’m just a number.</p>

12

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<p>Oh PLEASE. Do you think a 2.7 or 2.8 GPA is going to get you into medical school?</p>

<p>It sounds like your parents are doing you a favor. You need to go to college , get the TOP GRADES you can get (and NO a 2.7-2.8 is not what I mean) and then get the best possible scores on the MCATS. It is quite possible that your GPA will actually improve at a different school.</p>

<p>With that GPA, you had to have gotten some grades that were less than stellar in some courses.</p>

13

<p>I’m only worried about getting into medical school.</p>

<p>You also have to think about how much debt you are incurring before you can even reasonably * think* about medical school.</p>

<p>How you can get more out of the opportunity and raise your GPA is also something to think about.</p>

<p>If i go to some average public state school, my chances of going to medical school are almost ruined</p>

<p>Why? In this economic climate, many very talented students are attending state schools- academia is also a very competitive field and profs at backofbeyond university may have degrees from Ann Arbor & Yale.</p>

<p>I’ll end up graduating with a useless degree from a school where I’m just a number.</p>

<p>It isn’t the school that determines the experience- it’s what you put into it.</p>

14

<p>I’m only worried about getting into medical school. If i go to some average public state school, my chances of going to medical school are almost ruined.</p>

<p>Oh my…there is so much worng with your situation.</p>

<p>1) an average state school is likely just as good as your LAC…which one do you go to? DePauw? Valpo? Which one?</p>

<p>2) You shouldn’t have much undergrad debt if you’ll be going to med school.</p>

<p>3) And the biggest one…if you’re getting a sub 3.0 GPA, you may not be med school material. To get into med school as a non-URM, you need a MUCH better GPA…often 3.5 or higher.</p>

<p>What classed did you take last semester and what were your grades.</p>

15

<p>I took OChem, Stats, a second semester intro bio class, and an upper level bio. I ended up with a C in ochem, B+ in stats, B+ in intro bio, and a B in the upper level bio. I know i need to improve my grades, but a 2.8 doesnt necessarily ruin my chance sof medical school. I know a 2.8 wont get me into medical school, but that’s why I know I need to try my best in order to get it to a competitive gpa.</p>

<p>I go to allegheny which has a good reputation for getting students into medical school. </p>

<p>Also if I transfer to a state school, will my gpa also transfer or just the credits?</p>

16

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<p>Generally, just the credits. However, your grad/medical school will likely ask for transcripts from all colleges attended.</p>

17

<p>* I know i need to improve my grades, but a 2.8 doesnt necessarily ruin my chance sof medical school. I know a 2.8 wont get me into medical school, but that’s why I know I need to try my best in order to get it to a competitive gpa.</p>

<p>I go to allegheny which has a good reputation for getting students into medical school. </p>

<p>Also if I transfer to a state school, will my gpa also transfer or just the credits? *</p>

<p>Your grades will likely transfer. Either way, those grades WILL count for med school. </p>

<p>You are over-estimating the importance of your LAC. It’s not Williams, it’s not Amherst, it’s not Swat. It won’t be considered any better than your state school by med schools…at all!</p>

<p>I go to allegheny which has a good reputation for getting students into medical school.</p>

<p>Lots of schools, including state schools, have a good rep for **having **kids get accepted to med school. But, that’s because of the students’ STATS…the school isn’t **getting **the student in. Allegany doesn’t have special powers to get a lowish stats student into med school. </p>

<p>Like any school, Allegany has kids who start out as pre-med, but then they change their minds because their grades aren’t that good. Those kids never apply to med school. So, their “rep” doesn’t take into account those kids. Think about it. </p>

<p>I
I ended up with a C in ochem,
B+ in stats,
B+ in intro bio,<br>
B in the upper level bio.</p>

<p>That C in ochem is not good for a pre-med. You took on too much as a first semester frosh. Ochem should not be a fall frosh class - neither should you have taken that 300 level bio… Did you use AP Chem for your Gen Chem req’ts? If so, do you realize that you have to take extra chem is you do that?</p>

<p>Why didn’t you do better in your classes?</p>

<p>You have a tough road ahead to bring up your BCMP GPA. Not saying it can’t be done, but you need to get nearly all A’s in your BCMP classes from now on. You didn’t get any As last semester.</p>

18

<p>Ok. So you got a 2.8 GPA for the fall term…first term of your soph year, right? What about your freshman year? You say your GPA overall is 2.7-2.8 which means your whole freshman year was about the same. Just saying.</p>

19

<p>I took ochem last semester, which was first semester of fall year. and my gpa starting out last year was a 3.2, then it fell to a 2.5 because I was an idiot. So med schools will see my grades from my last school? Should I just retake all the premed prereqs at a state school? What is the best strategy?</p>

20

<p>I’m not sure if this student is in his second year or is calling himself a soph because of AP credits.</p>

<p>If he is in his second year, then his GPA is a bigger problem than I first thought. low GPA and already a bunch of debt. :(</p>

<p>But, he may be a first year with soph standing.</p>