How to Pay for College?

You have high enough test scores and grades to be considered for full scholarships and rides at some schools. Start looking into those awards. There are very few full rides out there But look into them. Start googling full ride scholarships, and least expensive colleges. If you get the price down to cover most of the costs, you might be able to swing it yourself.

The thing is, to get any financial aid, for which you might be eligible, including the automatic $5500 Direct Loan, you need to fill out FAFSA and your parents need to fill out a portion asking about their finances or you aren’t going to get a dime of aid from anywhere. Only possible merit money. If you are living with your parents right now, you cannot apply as independent–only when you are truly homeless and that’s a tough path to navigate, both in actuality and in getting schools to recognize that status.

Because you are in an urgent and uncertain status, I’d focus on schools with the most likely money, not the pie in the sky name school scholarships. If you want to shoot for those awards which have a miniscule chance, do it after you nail the more certain prospects. You want the schools that are unheralded, that noone knows, where you have the best chance of getting big money… Also talk to your GC as to what is available locally. In my area, there is a local college that does give a lot of full tuition awards to students with great stats. But you have to commute. It’s extremely difficult to get a school to pay for your living expenses, like close to impossible except for the very few big scholarships, and some schools that have programs trying to bring in out of area talent. The latter are dwindling rapidly.

Does your guidance counselor know what is going on? Does your school have a social worker you could talk to so you know what local resources might be available?

Have you mapped out your courses to see how many semesters it will take to graduate? My S needed a minimum of 4 semesters even with extensive DE credits because of the pre-requisite sequence of upper level coursework that wasn’t available locally.

Assuming you are applying at Ohio State, make sure you submit the special scholarship applications, especially the one for scholarship housing along with their applications for Morrill and Eminence.

Other Ohio full rides (competitive)
https://miamioh.edu/admission/presidential-fellows/index.html
http://www.utoledo.edu/admission/freshman/scholarships/presidential.html

Are you a likely National Achievement Scholar Finalist or Semifinalist?
https://www.nationalmerit.org/s/1758/interior.aspx?sid=1758&gid=2&pgid=433

If so, Wright State has nearly a full ride (tuition, room and board) scholarship “Named a National Merit Scholarship Program or National Achievement Scholarship Program Finalist”
https://www.wright.edu/raiderconnect/financial-aid/scholarships/wright-state-university-national-scholarship-0

“Named a National Merit Scholarship Program or National Achievement Scholarship Program Semifinalist”
https://www.wright.edu/raiderconnect/financial-aid/scholarships/wright-state-university-semifinalist-scholarship-0

@BuckeyeMWDSG You do realize National Achievement hasn’t been around for years right?

Hmmm, it looks like the National Achievement Scholar program is being phased out.?.

@BuckeyeMWDSG it’s not just being phased out, they haven’t accepted new scholars in years. It’s long over.

Many Ohio colleges and universities have Choose Ohio First funding to recruit incoming STEMM students through scholarships. Do a search on their websites to find their coordinator and reach out to them. Sometimes these are the professors with research opportunities (often a paid position) for students. https://www.ohiohighered.org/cof

@computergeek1239
What is your selection index (SI) for the PSAT you took Junior year?
Cutoff SI for OH is 218 for class of 2020.

You are a URM? Are your parents from Nigeria? Will they fill in FAFSA?

OP, I agree with the advice to pursue automatic merit aid. But after that, if you have it in you, I would take a shot at Harvard etc. Overcoming tremendous adversity is a huge thing for them, and that would be you.

Very best of luck, I will be following this thread and hoping for the best for you.

If your parents are cutting you off completely and don’t want to put in the FAFSA information, it doesn’t leave you with a lot of options. You could spend a few years in the military. When you get out, you would have a GI bill and you’d be a fully independent student.

You could apply for the University of Toledo’s competitive Presidential Scholarship, which covers full tuition, fees, room and board, for 4 years, and a one-time $3000 summer stipend. Since Toledo offers a doctoral program in math, it should have enough higher level courses for you.

Edited to add: I just noticed that @BuckeyeMWDSG already gave you a link to this scholarship.

  • try for an ACT 36 since it unlocks some scholarships in Alabama.
  • Ohio will have lots of possibilities. Look into the obvious (tOSU, OU, MiamiOhio, UCincinnati..) but also apply to Youngstown State and UToledo, which have full rides.

What’s your EFC?
Will your parents complete FAFSA or will they try to wiggle out of that (moral) obligation? Can anyone in your faith community talk to them?
Are you a boy or a girl?

Join any Air National Guard, most states will give you free tuition or if you delay college you can use the GI Bill which is a virtual FULL RIDE scholarship.

@cinnamon1212 Not sure where you got that the OP went through tremendous adversity.

Right? No parents are obligated to pay for college. None. Refusing to go to church about on par with refusing to floss in adversity stories.

I would apply asap to West Virginia University and U Cincinnati, maybe U Akron, U Toledo is a good suggestion.
Also some of the automatic full rides others have posted.
Does your family qualify for reduced school lunch? Can your guidance counselor help you get a few waiver for common app college applications?
If you can use a SAT fee waiver, you can get four free score reports, and should be able to apply to four schools that aren’t on common app for free.

Well I’ve heard Naval Academy and Air Force academy have pretty strong stem opportunities. And free. You do have to be a physically fit person. It’s quite an achievement to get an appointment but you sound like a great kid.

Obviously, you have to want to be an officer in the Navy or Air Force for the USNA or USAFA to be a realistic option for you.

If your parents were willing to fill out the FAFSA, UT Dallas could be an option. With your stats, you would likely receive full tuition, fees and $3000/semester for living, but this is not guaranteed. You would need an additional $5000 to $6000 to cover living expenses. With the Direct Loan and working, this would be possible. UTD does have a good CS program.

OP, this won’t be a popular opinion but I’d try to make peace with your family. Even letting you live at home would be a huge help, otherwise taking a stand against their beliefs could cost you for many years. Sometimes in life we have to make tough choices that might go against our internal core, but we do it for the greater good in the long run.