I'm in a pickle--affording school--

Paying for College
1

<p>Here's the deal. I have a father but he is a moron and CAN NOT help pay for my college costs. My mom makes under 41,000 between two jobs. I am an only child. Evenso, it seems like we live from paycheck to paycheck just because of all the bills and buying food. She tells me she will not be able to afford any kind of payments, even a few hundred a month, and that it is up to me to pay for it all. Ha. Funny. Not.</p>

<p>When I apply to college, will the college see this and realize it or not. I will be getting social security checks starting this September until I graduate from high school. Then they end. It will mostly be saved, around maybe 4000 at best. Then I have no other savings. </p>

<p>What kind of financial aid can I expect. Colleges that say they pay for 100% of need, do they mean if I need practically the whole cost of attendance, will they pay it? I don't think my mother qualifies for loans, and I am worried that I may end up not being able to go to any school on account of finances. I would just die if that happened. Does anyone have experience with financial aid and being unable to pay for college at all. </p>

<p>PS- I am interested in Northwestern, Umich, Syracuse, Albion, Grand Valley, Amherst, Emerson, Yale, and Dartmouth.</p>

2

<p>start now saving money for school- are you working?
Summer earnings should total $2,000-$3,000
Work study should also be available for you but that will probably be limited- pay for books and personal expenses.
subsidized loans should also be available- probably at least $2,500 for stafford and a little less than that for Perkins
If your mother is unable to get a PLUS loan the maximum for your loans will be raised.
When you mean your father is a moron are you saying he is developmentally disabled? Is that why you are getting social security?
If your grades and scores are good enough the honors program at your state school may be one of your best financial bets
I have known several people who have gotten a free ride from the state U. Northwestern or Umich have reputations for not giving much aid.
You might have better luck with the others.</p>

3

<p>My father is a jerk and is out of work. He is a moron because of his personality. I wil get social security from him BECAUSE he is much older than most fathers and is out of work. I can't work a lot at my job because there is only one car and I can't get a lot of hours because of my mother's two jobs.</p>

4

<p>If your stats are sky high, you might be able to get good financial aid from schools like HPYS, which guarantee to meet 100% of students' documented need (remember, however, that the college, not you, determines your need). The hardest part about this, however, is getting into the college.</p>

<p>In many cases like yours in which students need a lot of financial need, their best bet is to spend 2 years in community college and then to transfer to a low cost in-state public university, which may offer need based aid plus merit aid to stellar in state transfers.</p>

<p>If your father is difficult, keep in mind, too, that for you to get need-based aid, both he and your mom will have to file paperwork in a timely matter. This includes copies of their tax returns. Because many people have tried to scam the system, in general, colleges don't make exceptions for students whose parents simply refuse to file the paperwork.</p>

<p>Thus, find out about this and do your best to establish a relationship with your dad now in which he'll cooperate with filing the info. To do this, it probably would be to your advantage to find another way of regarding your dad than seeing him as a moron or jerk. Even if he's difficult, try to find a perspective that opens the door to his being cooperative with your needs.</p>

5

<p>What I mean by he is a jerk, is that HE has no money, no job, and hasn't filed a tax return in probably a decade. He is not trustworthy and my mom and I are going to get that form or whatever that declares him unable to help, so all the cost falls on our shoulders only. I forget what it is called but you get in writing that the other parent can not pay a dime and shouldn't be looked at when determining ability to contribute to the cost of attendance.</p>

6

<p>You need to figure out some things, starting with your EFC. Let's say you get a waiver and only your mom counts. For private schools, it's just not her income, but also any assets like home equity. So use a calculator and find out your EFC. </p>

<p>Then figure out how much debt you're willing to assume. Chances are your mom will be expected to contribute at least a few thousand dollars/yr, so this will be money you need to borrow in addition to the student loans. If you do get into schools like Yale and Dartmouth, this shouldn't be so bad. It can be horendous though at less generous, non 100% need schools where your loans are likely to be very high.</p>

<p>So you need financial safeties which will probably be your state school or a cc and schools generous with merit money where you're in the top 10% stats wise.</p>

7

<p>It is very difficult to get a waiver. There are plenty of posts on CC from sad students who had difficulty getting waivers due to the kind of situation you're describing.</p>

<p>Please don't have blinders on about this. Make sure that you have a back-up plan for a college that you know you'll get accepted to and can afford. As mentioned before, typically such back-ups are in-state public universities including community colleges that are within commuting distance. </p>

<p>If you need a lot of financial aid and don't have stellar stats, it also may be very hard to find a college that will give you the aid that you need. That's because the most difficult colleges to get into tend to be the ones with the largest endowments which allow them to afford generous financial aid.</p>

<p>In addition, colleges that guarantee to meet 100% of students' financial need don't have to give it in grants: They can fulfill the need by giving large loans. There have been students posting on CC who were offered as much as $20,000 a year in loans, which is a back breaking amount to have to pay back after undergraduate graduation.</p>

8

<p>If he is collecting his father's social security (income), he will not be able to get a parental waiver. Student states that s/he will start collecting this september (s/he will probably recieve back monies to make them whole starting with the first day of eligible disability benefits for S.S.). </p>

<p>Depending on the amount of money received, find out from your mom if you will be able to save the money toward your education. If mom agrees to let you save the checks every month, then you should do that also (the checks most likely will come in her name for you).</p>

<p>His father will have to send in paperwork for his financials or he will be out of the box for aid especially at Dartmouth as they firmly beleive that parents are the first step in paying for thier child's education. when the parents do nto pay , they are essentially saying that some one else's parents should pick up the tab.</p>

<p>If he attends Dartmouth he will have a minimum EFC of $2250 first year (Pretty much non-negotiable they beleive every student could or should work to help pay for their education. Student can expect a first year package that has Subsidized stafford loan (2625 max), perkins (similar amount of $$ but A $4000 Max) loan , work study and scholarship aid. </p>

<p>If mom does not have $$ for EFC and cannot get a plus loan student will have to take an unsubsidized stafford loan (up to $4000 max which student can borrow). You could end up with a maximum amount of $10,650 in loans yor first year. It could be more depending on your EFC.</p>

<p>Unless you are in-state for UMich, don't count on getting a lot of aid from them because their first loyalty will be to their in-state students. As previously stated, your financial safety will be your own instate university with maybe a chance at merit $$ from the honors program.</p>

<p>I know that Syracuse is not need blind, do not meet 100% of demonstrated need and do not scholarship aid close to full ride. You may end up with a serious gap that you may not be able to fill.</p>

<p>You really need to look at the nitty gritty of the financial aid process including the amount of debt that students from your school graduate with. You will have to cast a really wide net including a few financial safeties.</p>

9

<p>try for scholarships whihc are both need based and merit based. i mean those scholarships where u need to have a low income and also good grades top qualify. i got a free ride(out of state) to ut austin + $2000 extra from one of these scholarships(ut austins own scholarship)</p>

10

<p>I am in-state for Michigan, so I am curious as to how good of help I could get from them. By the way, I'm a girl, and the social security money is only for September to graduation. It was not from a disability. My father is 62 now so he can collect social security. He let slip that he has a kid in high school and the people he was talking to said I get money automatically and boom, I'm getting a few checks until graduation. They will end though. There is no back money. My uncle had that once but this is not the same. My father has no job, CAN NOT HELP at all! I will have a waiver.</p>

11

<p>You need to check the web pages of public and private universities in Michigan and also e-mail the financial aid officers if you want more detailed, individualized info. Make sure you find out exactly what you'd need to do to get a waiver. Too many teens have been sure that they would get one, and then found out that there was far more challenging red tape than they had expected.</p>

12

<p>At most schools having contact and/ or support from the non-custodial parent, you are a dependent on his SS, means that you are not eligible for a non-custodial waiver. </p>

<p>Since your father is age 62 and is collecting SS, it is actually in your best interest that he does file his financial paperwork (in the FA sections you should be able to find FA info for non-custodial parents). This would save you a lot of headaches in the long run especially for schools that money is limited and given on a first come basis.</p>

<p>Having gone through this process with my own child, I can tell you first hand (single parent of Dartmouth student) that schools are extremely specific as what is needed to obtain a waiver. Different schools require different things and yes NSM it is a lot of red tape (letters from GC's, notarized statements, affitdavits, etc).</p>

13

<p>I would agree with Northstarmom that you need to find some better way of referring to your father rather than jerk or moron or whatever, not only when talking to HIM (so he may cooperate) but also when talking about him in the third person. If I were interviewing you for college, and you referred to your father as a jerk or a moron (even if he were an axe murderer!) I would be disinclined to have a favorable impression. You would be much better served by being objective and stating that your father no longer lives with you and is either incapable of or unwilling to provide any financial support. You and your mother may hate your father, but that is none of the business of the admissions or financial aid staff at any college. I understand that you have a very difficult situation, but anger and resentment are not assets. Using such strong language may possibly encourage a financial aid officer to help you if he/she has been through a similar circumstance, but for others it could easily turn them off and make them conclude that YOUR ATTITUDE is a big part of the problem.</p>

14

<p>
[quote]
but anger and resentment are not assets

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Anger is the only thing that motivates me. :)</p>

15

<p>"Anger is the only thing that motivates me.
"</p>

<p>It's great that you have a source of motivation, but I hope that eventually you'll find something less damaging to yourself. People who are angry a lot have higher rates of some diseases -- heart attacks, high blood pressure, plus tend not to be as pleasant to be around as are people with more peaceful sources of motivation.</p>

<p>Here's an example of the research:
"
The young and the angry could wind up older and more prone to coronary heart disease (CHD).</p>

<p>A Johns Hopkins Medical School study, 48 years in the making, confirms that young men who reacted to stress with anger were three times more likely to suffer from CHD before the age of 55 than their peers who said they let stressful situations roll off their backs.</p>

<p>Anger is no less deadly for women, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).</p>

<p>A recent North Carolina study published in the journal Circulation looked at 256 men and women who have had heart attacks and showed that those prone to anger were also three times more likely to have a heart attack than those least prone to anger. The North Carolina researchers say the findings were true for individuals with normal blood pressure levels. Anger could lead to heart attacks, particularly among middle-aged men and women with normal blood pressure, the researchers said.</p>

<p>Previous studies had suggested a correlation between anger and cardiovascular events, according to Patricia Chang, M.D., a cardiology fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore...</p>

<p>Anger has serious physiological effects on the body, [researcher] Chang says.</p>

<p>"Anger has been shown to narrow already diseased blood vessels," she says. "We know anger increases blood pressure as well as heart beat rates and adrenaline levels. In addition, anger may also cause platelets, which are the blood cells that form clots, to get sticky and clump, which of course can cause a blockage and a heart attack."</p>

<p>"
<a href="http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/dc/cen/ment/adjs/alert05312002.jsp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/dc/cen/ment/adjs/alert05312002.jsp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The world also is much more pleasant if one finds a more benign source of motivation. Speaking from experience. :)</p>

16

<p>I don't know how someone who looks at the world with a chip on their shoulder can change but I have found that expressing anger seems to allow it to build. I am not saying appropriate expression isn't healthy, but I know for some people all they do is express how angry and put out they are. Doesn't seem to help them.
Instead of looking at life and saying "why me?", I am curious how some people are able to say " why not me?".</p>

<p>Physical release- exercise does a lot toward clearing the mind and elevating mood. To hold on to anger takes a lot of energy. Wouldn't you rather use that energy for something more positive?</p>

17

<p>We all die some day.</p>

18

<p>I have to laugh at how I'm being told to exercise more because I have anger issues. Are you all joking? I refer to my father as a jerk on here because, well, because he is one. However, I would have to be THE idot of the century to refer to him as a jerk to admissions committees. I don't speak to him like that either, I deal with his faults very passively. I have to laugh actually that recent replies to my thread give advice on behavior. FUNNY.</p>

19

<p>Anger motivated me to switch my major. :P</p>

20

<p>mwbashful18,</p>

<p>Be sure to apply for the Horatio Alger Scholarships. Those scholarships are targeted specifically for students with critical financial need.</p>