<p>I don't know how I'm going to pay for college... key word being "I'm."</p>
<p>My family is poor and my grades aren't that good where I'm getting a lot of scholarships. I only have a 3.0 unweighted.
My mom and her boyfriend are making me very stressed. I was thinking I could take out student loans to pay for all 4 years, as bad as student loans are. My mom has almost maxed out her credit card just applying for housing, orientation, etc. for the college I was accepted into, as well as other expenses she has, and she's extremely responsible with her money. Her boyfriend told me that I better get scholarships rolling in or on the first day of college they'll call me into the office and tell me I can't come unless I pay (those aren't his exact words.) I haven't told him I was thinking about taking out student loans because he is strongly against them and will get angry at me. I've had enough of him and don't need to make him any more angry or I'll go nuts. I'll admit that I have only submitted one scholarship application which is the Florida Bright Futures, and I have done my FASFA too. My parents have stressed me out to a point where I'm getting almost nothing done. I have to apply for jobs, fill out college stuff and keep my grades up in a very competitive school at the same time and they took away my entertainment privileges for getting a C in a class. I'm pretty much burned out. I can't relax at all and I've been deprived of good sleep for most of the past few months. Their expectations are far too high, there is no way I can do all of this at once without any time to de-stress and on insufficient sleep. I didn't sleep at all last night or the night before. I'm trying all I can to get everything done that I need but I'm only one person. Nobody in my family has ever been to college and I don't think my parents understand how much stress I'm dealing with. My mom is completely clueless and asks me questions about everything that is unimportant and my patience is beginning to run out with everything else I'm trying to deal with. It's getting to a point where I'm seriously considering doing adult movies just to pay for college! I don't even have "Senioritis", it's just that I'm stressed out.</p>
<p>I feel like I'm screwed either way. My mom already paid close to a thousand bucks (she's almost at her credit card's limit she says) for all the housing and orientation stuff involved in the process. If I tell her that I don't want to go to college she will be furious that she spent all that money for nothing.</p>
<p>I'm sorry this turned out as more of a rant than a question on how I'm going to pay for college... and for my bad writing skills.</p>
<p>I don’t have anything to say to anyone considering doing adult movies. Since you aren’t my kid you can’t hold that over me like a threat and I don’t care if you do it. You want into that world be my guest but realize that your odds of becoming a drug addict or prostitute are high.</p>
<p>If you want anyone else here to help you, you need to talk about the specifics on the cost of attending your college and the financial aid award you got. </p>
<p>Correct. State the facts here. What colleges have you been accepted to? Did you receive financial aid awards? What were they? Are you eligible,for Bright Futures, and if so, which level of aid? </p>
<p>If sounds like you HAVE been accepted if you are putting housing deposits down. So…what was your financial aid award from the college? What is the cost to attend? How short are you? Does your aid package include the $5500’Direct Loan? What is your FAFSA EFC?</p>
<p>So basically it sounds as if your family cannot afford the college that you have been accepted to. The best thing that you can do is have your mom contact the school to see if any of her deposits are refundable. Are you near a community college, where you can commute from home? Will your bright futures cover this.</p>
<p>I would recommend that you go to CC, do really well, work with the transfer coordinator and then transfer to a 4 year school (if there is not a 4 year school in commuting distance)></p>
<p>Many of us here on CC had to start at a Community College and live at home because we couldn’t afford to go any where else. Work like crazy at a local CC. After a couple of years when you see what doors it opened, you’ll be glad you did.</p>
<p>You are in the same place as a lot of kids who are starting out college and then the bills start a-coming. All those numbers that did not mean much of anything become the cost of going to that college. Have you and your mother gone over what the cost of this college is each year? Did you get a financial aid package from the school?</p>
<p>What you need to do is figure out how much this college is going to cost for the year. Tuition and fees, room and board if you are living there. An estimate of what the other expenses like transportation and books, supplies, your personal items. How much has been paid? how much more is due? Can you come up with it? If you can’t pay what this college is going to cost, your trouble are just beginning. It doesn’t get better I assure you. </p>
<p>Find out what the gap is, whether it’s covered by any financial aid, the Bright Futures grant, and if you can cover it with the Direct Loan and with summer earnings. If you cannot, you need to look at other options.</p>
<p>All very good responses to the OP’s post. I’m afraid a lot of kids are in the same situation. What HS’s really, really need to do is have some kind of class or session on financial aid and how it works, e.g., net price, loans, etc. It seems like many students are lost when it comes to this kind of discussion. Am I way off base here?</p>
<p>It seems as if University of Central Florida is where OP is planning to attend. What is the financial aid package, OP? From previous posts, it seems like you were confused about housing – you quoted $2470 as the price for housing, but are you aware that it must be doubled ($4940) to get the cost per school year (2 semesters)? And is there a required meal plan? If so, how much is that? Did you get Bright Futures? If so, then how much is that worth? What is your total COA (Cost of Attendance)? What is your shortfall? </p>
<p>One thing that helped me was applying for those small, micro scholarships. Chick-fil-a gave me 700, Toyota gave me 500 and Mcdonalds gave me 1000. Some of these one time and others were every semester. In the end, I got most of my college paid for. Student Loans are easy to get but have a high interest rate so if you do take out loans you want to minimize ho much. </p>
<p>Another option is to join the Reserves. It isnt much but their education benefits are good enough to look into. </p>
<p>But so far I am for the CC option, I went to Community college and am not transferring to George Mason University with all my Tuition paid for and some left over to pay for housing. </p>