<p>I absolutely hate my life at home and have no relationship with my dad amd no desire to stay anywhere close to home. We live in an area with a lot of colleges but none that I am interested and again, theyre too close. Im planning to apply to state schools and mit but my dad said he wont pay or cosign (to sum it up in a quote "im not f**king working for you anymore). I have been told im intelligent, get good grades with APs (almost always 96 overall), and perform pretty well in extracurriculars, notably track but also masterminds and science olympiad. Im planning on applying to scholarships and the such but if I were to get into mit and didnt receive a ton of money, which i wont, money will be an issue. Im also planning to completely cut myself off. Trust me when I say im not being bratty with petty complaints. Ive contemplated doing some pretty extreme stuff and never have peace in my life because of him (my coach told me to write to get it out sometimes so sorry for the ranting). Would I be able to qualify as an independent? Even an unsubsidized loan would be ok because I would be avle to pay it off in a reasonable amount of time with a quality computer/electrical engineering degree. Im being honest when I say that I would rather start a minimum wage job than stay with my dad after high school. I dont know if my mom would cosign or not. This is in case she doesnt. Thanks for any help!</p>
<p>You can’t “cut yourself off” in the eyes of colleges. And you can’t borrow enough money yourself to cover the cost of a college like MIT (nor should you, no college is worth that kind of debt even if a bank were dumb enough to lend it to you). You are going to have to look for scholarships. How are your standardized test scores? Sounds like your grades are good… great test scores in addition would be a key to getting out. But you aren’t going to be able to afford MIT without your dad’s help unless your EFC is close to zero, which it doesn’t sound like it is. Look at this link of automatic scholarships for good stats:</p>
<p><a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/</a></p>
<p>Have you taken the PSAT? Being a National Merit Finalist gets you a great deal at U of Alabama.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, as relayed by the college admissions rep in the oh-so-classic movie Soul Man, colleges “have support for people whose parents are poor, but not for those whose parents are a**holes.”</p>
<p>More seriously, declaring financial independence is very difficult (see, e.g., <a href=“http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/07/22/how-to-declare-your-independence-for-student-financial-aid/”>http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/07/22/how-to-declare-your-independence-for-student-financial-aid/</a>), so your best bets may be to make up with your Dad, or to seek a scholarship (if you have the brains to get in to MIT, this should be a viable option somewhere).</p>
I know this is weird but i though i should visit this post. After a suicide attempt my parents woke up a bit and things are better now. Not perfect and there are still problems but better. My 96 gpa did drop to a 95, but for being depressed i dont think thats too shabby (still taking the most rigorous course available at my school with the exception of ap english). As for test scores i never took the psat or the plan since i didnt have the mind for it and i viewed it as a waste of money. I wound up taking the sat when the math section got screwed up tthe time so got a 710 on math for only 3 questions wrong (wound up getting 2210 overall). Needless to say, i got annoyed with the sat and am now sending in my act which i got a 35 on. Also have 800s in math 2 and chem and a 790 in bio. Still doing my extra curriculars with likely recruitment from mit as a track athlete. Life has gotten a lot better. I thank you guys for the replies when i needed them. I was in a tough spot and just needed to feel like i was doing something about it.
I’m so glad you’re in a better place, but so very sorry that getting there involved a suicide attempt.
Please, please get the help you need. There are always people-- counselors and teachers at school, hotlines-- people are there to help you.
Best wishes. Stay well.