<p>After filling out my financial aid my EFC is 00019; so I believe that makes me eligible for the full 5,500 Pell Grant is what I was told. Before I go any further I will explain my situation. </p>
<p>I placed my daughter with an open adoptive family two days after she was born. The family is REALLY REALLY open and want me to basically become apart of their family. They live in AZ and I live in South Dakota. I plan on attending Pima Community College there in Tucson to be closer to my daughter. For one full year they estimated a total bill of 19,500 dollars. This includes tuition, transportation, books, housing, food, etc. It's basically the whole shabang for roughly 19,500 dollars. I should, like I said, be eligible for 5,500 dollars from the Pell Grant. That leaves about 14,000 dollars unaccounted for. I want my grandpa to cosign a loan to cover the rest of the cost. My grandpa is retired and is LOADED even he doesn't look like it at all. But I have seen numerous bank statements of his. </p>
<p>I want to be closer to my daughter more than anything. Is it a good idea to ask him to cosign a 14,000 dollar loan? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>First of all, please do not take out 14K loan (per year!) for associate degree at community college. It is too much debt.</p>
<p>Second, $20K sounds a lot for community college. It probably means you will be paying out of state tuition rates. You need to find out what you have to do to obtain instate residency status.</p>
<p>Third, you don’t really need to borrow/have the entire COA. You should consider getting a job to have your salary covering your living expenses and Pell grant cover the tuition. It might mean going to school part time and working full time.</p>
<p>Ok, you asked for opinions so here’s mine. </p>
<p>first: Personally, I think asking retired grandparents to cosign a loan is not reasonable at all. They may be loaded by your standards, but that is money that has to see them through till they die and they probably have no income to replenish it. My husband is retired and I am sure my kids would look at our retirement savings and think “wow, they have a lot”. But we have to live on it for the next 20-30 years and when yo take that into account, we are not loaded by any means.</p>
<p>second: $14,000 a debt year for a community college is absolutely not worth it in any way. Once you add the interest that will accumulate, you will be in debt over $31,000 at the end of 2 year - for community college. That is really a bad, bad idea.</p>
<p>It wouldn’t be 14k per year. Just the first year that I’m there to cover EVERYTHING. That would give me time to find a job and get established. I am 20 years old by the way. I’m going to be 21 this November. The following year I’d be a resident and wouldn’t have to pay nearly as much. The tuition itself is only 4,000 per semester for out-of-state residents. In state I would pay I believe 1,000 dollars for 12 credits each semester. Here’s the link: [Pima</a> Community College : Costs](<a href=“Pima Community College | Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona”>Pima Community College | Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona)</p>
<p>The overall plan, as I said in the above paragraph, is to get there and get established. After that I would do it all on my own. The reason behind all this is simply because I cannot/don’t want to wait to be closer to my daughter. If it was different circumstances, I’d be taking a different route. I have been out of high school for two going on three years with zero education since then. I am getting dumber by the minute. Lol! But I am going to receive my PhD in psychology when it’s all said and done. They make good money from my research. Plus I love psychology anyway. </p>
<p>Swimcatsmom- I am not trying to come off as rude here, but I have seen my grandpa’s bank statements, investments, 401K, etc. and he has the money. Believe me. At least I would be the one to repay the loan. I would take out the loan myself if I didn’t need a cosigner. </p>
<p>Is there possibly any other way of attaining this money relatively fast (1 month) aside from taking out a personal loan? I have no idea how much I can receive from an un/subsidized Stafford Loan. My dad has terrible credit and wouldn’t cosign a Direct Plus Loan (I think that’s what it’s called). </p>
<p>mom2collegekids- Thanks for your support(: It was a very tough decision.</p>
<p>if you want to get PhD in psychology, you should not be getting in this much debt. With accrued interest, the loan will be huge by the time you are done.</p>
<p>Can you ask you grandpa to gift/lend interest free a couple thousand dollars to move to AZ and find a job? After you are settled in, have a job, you can start CC. You might also apply for exception in residency considering your circumstances. This way you can start paying residents rates right away.</p>
<p>This is also my FAFSA since my EFC is 00019:
If you are a full time student(12+ credits), you would qualify for $5,500 for the aid year,
If you are a 3/4 time student (9-11 credits), you would qualify for $4125 for the aid year,
If you are a 1/2 time student (6-8 credits), you would qualify for $2750 for the aid year,
If you are a less than 1/2 time student (1-5 credits), you would qualify for $1375 for the aid year.</p>
<p>Hopefully that helps any confusion.</p>
<p>Lerkin- How much debt would I accumulate? I could, but he did that once before when I moved to Utah (not for college), and I became really lazy and didn’t get a job. Then again I was paying 675 dollars a month for a one bedroom apartment by myself. Maybe that would work since I’d be trying to go to school, but who knows. I could ask?</p>
<p>I don’t know how much, but it depends on the interest rest, which will keep on accruing and getting capitalized over all the years you are in school. It might be quite a lot.</p>
<p>Also, I am not sure what you consider a lot in term of salary, but most psychologists do not make huge amounts of money, so having any debt would be problematic.</p>
<p>One thing that you need to know that as a freshman you are also eligible for federal direct loan $5500 loan, $3.5K of which is probably going to be subsidized for you (i.e. no interest while you are in school). Depending on the cost of the 4 year college, you might want to bank $3.5K the first year to be used when you transfer to a 4 year school. The amount you can borrow from the government increases each year a little.</p>
<p>I would also suggest you stay away from any non-subsidized loans because you are planning to go to graduate school.</p>
<p>I don’t know your relationship with grandfather, but hopefully he supported you in your decision and might give you a second chance. You can always ask. The worst he can do is to say no.</p>
<p>You can discuss the situation with your grandparents. It’s up to them. I would not sign a loan for $14K for a situation like yours, but perhaps they will see it differently. If they are so loaded, it would be a lot cleaner and easier for them to privately lend you the money and work out a private contract. These private loans can wreak havoc on both your grandparent’s and your credit. You are also often “striking a deal with the devil” the way the repayment terms work. Have you talked to your grandparents about this idea? </p>
<p>You are entitled to $5500 in Stafford funds, some of it probably subsidized. You should hit that source first. Your parents should then apply for the PLUS, and if they are turned down, you will get an additional $4K in Stafford money. Perhaps you grandparents can gift you the difference since that brings down what you need to about $5K. If you find a job, you can probably bridge the gap.</p>
<p>Still, do remember that COA (cost of attendance) is just an estimate and may not reflect what it truly costs for someone having to set up housekeeping from OOS. Community colleges do not usually have the amenities and resources to give much help in terms of getting you moved into the community. They are set up for those already in the community and for whom the additional cost of going to college is not going to be that high since their living expenses are already set up and a given. That is not going to be the case for you. It is not cheap, moving into a whole other area. You are going to need to set up a household of sorts. WIll you need a car? Just getting there, finding a temporary place to live while you find a more permanent location is going to be expensive. Plus things always come up. Lord, do they come up! I’m living a summer of “hellzapopping” here and having to dig deep into savings and borrow, as has my college son. That dollar figure you are quoting is hardly for “the whole shebang”, I guarantee you. If you fund precisely to that, you will be behind the 8 ball before you even start paying for the classes. You had better sit down and calculate more realisically what it is going to cost you to move out there, look for a place to live, have a deposit and first months rent ready, deal with transportation, and get a household of sorts together. The infrastructure of most community colleges do not include much help in those sort of things.</p>
<p>I want to add that you won’t get the money any time soon from these loans most likely either. The way it nearly always works is that the money is put into your school account, and the school costs get first dibs on it. You generally get one semester’s worth at a time. It takes a college a while to get the money set up in their accounting systems so you are not likely to see a dime of it until a few weeks into the semester. So you need seed money up front. Really, if you are going to involve your grandparents, you should borrow from them directly. It’s going to end up costing more, be more trouble, have more implications, have the possibility of hurting your grandparents more, give you less flexibility and not get the funds for a long while if you go the school loan route. YOU need to have up front money in most all cases even with full financial aid from colleges.</p>
<p>Okay, I will definitely take your guys’ advice since you clearly are much wiser and more knowledgeable than myself. I do tend to “jump the gun” when it comes to things like this which is why I came here in the first place for advice. </p>
<p>I’ll devise a new plan and get back to you all, if you care that is. Haha. Either way I’ll be back with a newly revised plan.</p>
<p>You do need to sit down and plan this out because you will need up front money as well as a way to get to AZ, I am not familiar with the area, but I have always gotten the impression that public transportation is not plentiful in the Southwest. Do you have a car? Is there even any housing near the community college? Many community colleges have zero housing options, and those that have some housing have very little and you’d be late looking into getting anything now. Bear in mind what the purpose and primary market for ccs are. They just are not set up for someone coming from OOS and going there, unless they have someone local with whom they can stay. They often do not provide the amenities to make it easy to do what you have in mind. Perhaps working a year where you are, and saving some money, discussing your plan with your grandparents and getting some support would be a better idea.</p>
<p>On a whole other note, please also take into account that though your adoption may be open and working very well with you in South Dakota, moving right near the adopting family may not go over well. If it does, that 's wonderful, but you might want to run the idea by them so that there are not any bad surprises on either side. </p>
<p>I only know of a few cases where someone actually moved OOS to go to a CC without having some support system helping, such as an athletic program, or local friends and family. Not that it cannot be done, but just up and moving to a whole new locale is not simple and is costly.</p>
<p>I do have a vehicle. It’s a Ford Explorer though so the gas mileage is far from good. I have checked into housing there and yes, there is housing by the college for around 370-500 a month. Also, I have already spoken with the adoptive parents and they want me to move there if I so choose. In fact the adoptive father is calling me tonight to help me set up a plan. </p>
<p>I did think of staying with my job and saving money but then there is a whole year of not furthering my education again. I know I am only 20, but I am ready for school again. I don’t party or anything of the sorts. I just want to further my education and be close to my daughter. But, I will talk everything over with my grandpa and P (the adoptive father) and see how it all works out. One quick question: How much would you say is a REASONABLE amount for me to be spending to live near and attend a community college out of state?</p>
<p>You have to be careful about your earnings, too. If you earn more than $5k per year, your EFC will rise. So, you’re kind of in a difficult situation…you need to earn a good bit to support yourself, yet you may end up losing your low EFC.</p>
<p>OP, you are planning your whole life, including a costly educational choice, around becoming part of the adoptive parents’ family. Have you spent extended amounts of time with them? Do you share their values and lifestyle choices? What will happen if you and they disagree about matters of discipline or education, or they just tire of your presence in their lives, and they decide it’s best to scale back your contact with the child after you have turned your life upside down to be near her? Suppose the wife decides she is uncomfortable with a young woman sharing so much time with her husband? What if your daughter prefers her parents to you and doesn’t really take to you in the way you hope she will? How will you feel if the family decides this plan is not ultimately in their child’s (not your child’s–she’s not) best interest, and there you are stranded in Arizona, with an expensive educational plan? Are you leaving behind important connections to family and friends that will wither while you are so far away? </p>
<p>I hope you have given this plan very long and deep thought. And I hope you have also done serious research regarding the wisdom of staying in your daughter’s life in this way (which should be based on your own determination of what’s best for her, not the adoptive family’s rather odd wishes). Do studies show that adopted children typically thrive in this very unorthodox set-up? Are conflicts between the birth mother and adoptive parents common? Frankly, if I were your mother, I would tell you that you are too young to be making this sort of major life choice. I’d tell you to abandon this rather flaky plan, get your education locally, visit Arizona occasionally to keep a cordial relationship with the adoptive family, and allow your child to grow up in a less complicated, and potentially fraught, environment. </p>
<p>I know this wasn’t what you asked, but I found your post disturbing, and had to say my piece. My guess is that many other of the posters here feel as I do, but were reluctant to speak up. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>My question is whether or no Op is considered an independent student. I understand that she had a child, however, she gave the child up for adoption when the child was born. </p>
<p>This means that she does not have a child for whom she provides more than half support because legally, she Does not have a child. Would Op still be considered a dependent student because she is under 24? </p>
<p>Op really needs to talk with the FA department because once she goes through the verification process , the school may not consider her an independent student.</p>
<p>Based on the rules for independence the OP would not qualify. Based on the rules for residency at Pima College, [Format</a> Document](<a href=“Arizona Legislature”>Arizona Legislature), it looks like the OP will not qualify as an AZ resident.</p>
But I am going to receive my PhD in psychology when it’s all said and done. They make good money from my research. Plus I love psychology anyway. </p>