How to afford tuition and housing on my own

<p>also dangerous; murdering your parents to be declared independent. Apart from the fact that it’s frowned upon in many U.S. jurisdictions, you have to go through a complicated legal process just to participate effectively. It’ll take time from work and studies and you’ll end up having trouble just staying in school academically while ducking the double-murder charges and filing to become a ward of the court at the same time.</p>

<p>What everyone is saying sounds pretty sound so far. 40K is a lot a year to be trying to pay for it on your own. If you’re still considered dependent your parents’ money is going to be taken into consideration. If they make a lot then you get less aid. I would see if your parents want to contribute some money to your education. Along with governement loans and grants like others have said. DON’T get a private loan- or at least wait until you’ve tried EVERYTHING else.
Lastly, working full time and being a full time student is VERY hard. It’s not about just going to class then going to work. You have homework, studying, papers, etc. Having a full time job really does work against that. The most hours a full time student should try to work in my opinion is 25-28 hours a week- MAX. And even that can be cutting it close come finals and mid-terms. Take this from someone who is foolishly working full time and going to school full time when I could really work part time- it’s stressfull and leaves me so little time for homework and REAL studying.</p>

<p>I would never even think of taking on that much student debt. take a quick look at some of the loan payment caculators that are available online to see how much you are going to be paying back. You have a max of 20 years and on private loans it will likely be 10 years. The amount of debt you are proposing to take on will be a crushing burden once you graduate!
Transfer.
Get to a state school where you can claim in-state tuition. U of I is a nationally ranked school and you will be able to attend for about $20k plus room. The difference in educational quality and salary coming out will not be great enough to worry about.</p>