I’m in a bit of a pickle. I currently reside in Georgia. My parents were intending to relocate their careers to New York this summer but have decided to stay in Georgia instead and retire. Now, that is all fine and well with me but I applied to schools in New York. I have been committed since February but now that my parents are not moving and I can not afford to live on my own (without going into a massive amount of debt), I don’t know what to do. Every university in Georgia that I am interested in says that general admissions closed on May 1.
The only loophole that I could think of would be to try and convince them to count me as a transfer student and explain my predicament to them. The deadline for transfers is August 1.
Please help. I have spent the last week crying and worrying myself to death. I have no idea what I’m going to do.
I am a bit confused. You were planning to live at home? Why not go to New York and dorm? Are you going to a school that meets need? Can you explain the circumstances and see if they will increase your financial aid either because you will need to move on campus or your parents are retiring?
Did you call anyplace and explain what happened? Or did you just go by the dates on the web site? I would call as many places as you can and try to get as high up as you can in terms of talking to the admissions office.
What does your school GC say? If you have already called and it has not worked have your GC call on your behalf and explain the situation to schools you want. They have contacts that you do not. I honestly do not see why they cannot make an exception. These are schools with May 1 deadlines, not January 1. Most have not started the process of evaluating yet. I would start making phone calls, or at least see your GC first thing in the morning.
Normally I am in favor of having parents make phone calls but since they are the ones that are responsible for the situation, of course keep them in the loop but your best bet is to be the innocent victim of circumstances beyond your control. You or your GC should be the ones making the phone calls.
I’m fairly certain Georgia Perimeter College will let you in for fall-it’s a community college. Go there for a year and then transfer if you want.
Georgia counts you as an in-state student eligible for HOPE scholarships if you have been living here for at least 12 months on the day you graduate, with a 3.0 or better (and some qualifying classes).
Talk to your guidance counselor immediately. You have good in-state options still available to you, and school isn’t out in the public schools here yet, so the GC’s should be available.
Don’t freak out, there are a LOT of options for you in Georgia. Just start right now, and be aware that the “colleges you’re interested in” may have to wait a year or two for you to transfer in. The important part is that you’re IN college in the fall and protecting your HOPE eligibility.
Generally, SUNY schools are among the cheapest for OOS students. Are you sure you can’t afford it? Can parents take out PLUS loans to close the gap for you since they put you in a bit of a bind.
Don’t you have a year to figure it out? You would have been paying OOS costs freshman year anyway. Right? Did you receive a lot of aid at your NY school?
You have several choices. Apply to schools on the NACAC list, take a gap year and apply to affordable schools, or start at a community college. If you need financial aid, don’t start anywhere unless you can afford it for all 4 years because transfer students don’t get much aid.
How much can your parents pay for college per year? What’s your unweighted GPA and SAT/ACT scores? If you can give us some info., we may be able to help you find an affordable school.
I’m wondering if the OPs original plan was to live with parents in NY after they moved (for that to work parents would have had to move to a place close to where OP planned to matriculate). With parents staying in Georgia, OP would now need to pay room and board which makes a NY school unaffordable.
Worst case is you take a gap year and reapply to GA schools. I would call schools in GA and explain your situation and see if any school can find a spot for you.
Nothing has really changed if you were already planning to go to NY and pay OOS for the first year (which I guess you must’ve been since your parents hadn’t moved yet.). Why not keep with the plan and go to New York and then apply to schools in Georgia to transfer in for sophomore year?
I cannot go to New York and dorm because it would be a difference of about $9,000.00 with my school. My out-of-state tuition was only $6,100.00 and now it would be $15,100.00. I would have to take out all of that in loans because I did not qualify for NY State Aid or the Pell Grant and with interest, I would be in debt closer to $20,000.00 for the first year by the time I paid it off. I can’t do that.
My guidance counselors are no longer handling student requests as our classes officially ended on May 6, but I am currently working through the provided list. I really appreciate all of the help.
And yes, I was planning to attend CUNY Guttman for the first two years to save money. The dorm options with Guttman are all privately owned and actually not even sponsored by Guttman or CUNY, but the admissions counselor referred me. $9,000.00 was the cheapest available to me. Again, that was an expense that would not have been there if I had been able to live at home.