<p>Gosh, so not only are they not giving you money, they didn’t give you the chance to earn money. You are really going this alone. </p>
<p>Have you factored in all your costs at this point (travel, clothes, medical insurance, books, etc)? Do you have any leeway for some fun? I agree with all those above, go back to Financial Aid, let them know your situation. I think it is not unreasonable to think that you could earn that much additional in a year in school (during holidays, etc). </p>
<p>I agree with those noting that the debt might be an issue down the road, but it seems like unless you go to the schools which expect ‘0’ contribution from kids with a certain economic situation, there is going to be moderate debt involved… even if you go to CC…</p>
<p>How much debt would you have/year if you went to CC?</p>
<p>Having already accepted the aid package at this school, it’s a little late in the year for people to be advising that you NOT to take it. I presume your parents signed loan forms and so forth and knew you’d be in debt for upwards of $48,000 after 4 years. The time is past for them to be worrying about another $1500.</p>
<p>I agree you should look quickly for local aid. Perhaps besides the Rotary, Kiwanis, or Women’s Club, there is a local “angel”–a businessman noted for generous aid to worthy students? Can your place of worship help out?</p>
<p>I think you should try to make this work and it sounds like you need to do this on your own. That means, among other things, finding your own transportation to school. It also means working as much as you reasonably can during the school year so you have enough money.</p>
<p>If you run into trouble during the school year the financial aid office and the dean of students will be a great resource to help you problem solve. My best friend was in a situation similar to yours many years ago and it wasn’t easy and she was paying back loans for years but she did it.</p>
<p>If your family’s EFC is 0 then it is scary for them to see you going to such an expensive school. That might be why they are trying to discourage you. Having this college degree will really open doors for you down the road. So much of your financial aid package is in the form of grants that this sounds like a good opportunity to me.</p>
<p>As a additional note, you might have a problem next summer if your parents expect you to babysit again, but that is down the road, you can worry about that later.</p>
<p>“Having this college degree will really open doors for you down the road.”</p>
<p>^The same can be said for having a degree from a less expensive college.</p>
<hr>
<p>“As an additional note, you might have a problem next summer if your parents expect you to babysit again, but that is down the road, you can worry about that later.”</p>
<p>^You don’t ignore the fact and worry about it later.</p>
<p>Isn’t it awfully late in the game to suddenly be stymied by $1570, some of which you might not have to spend in the first place? As for staying home to work, what kind of a job can an 18-yr-old kid with little or no work experience get? If you could get a job that pays $10 per hour and give you 35 hrs per week, you would be doing <strong>extremely</strong> well in most places. Most likely, you’d be making closer to $8 per hour and wouldn’t be able to get 30 hours, much less 40. If you live at home, which would be absolutely necessary in order to save money, your parents will probably expect you to provide babysitting for after school hours and on school vacations, which will cut down on your work hours.</p>
<p>Seems to me that you should A) talk to the FA people at your school, B) look into local scholarships, although that ship has probably sailed at this time of year, and C) go to college for freshman year. You can always apply for more scholarships next year, or take a year off after freshman or sophomore year to work. At that point, you might be in a position to get a better-paid job, especially if you are able to get work-study or other term-time jobs that give you some useful experience.</p>
<p>Think really hard before you take those loans. I have about that much debt-- I was in a similar situation, no familial support so far as college was concerned whatsoever. Having graduated now, I got a really, really good job for a non math/science major and I am still about 10k/yr short to move out-- do you have any idea how long it’s going to take for me to be making that kind of money? I’m going to be living with my parents until I get married. I made a huge mistake. If I were you I’d go to community college and find a cheaper school. With an EFC of 0, you’ll still get financial aid somewhere even as a transfer student-- an option I did not have with our EFC of 35k. Do not trade in your future for the next four years. The cost is not worth it.</p>
<p>When you talk to a financial aid officer (and I would ask to speak with an officer, not a student assistant) please explain about your parents requiring you to babysit for your younger siblings all summer. The $1500 was probably money they reasonably expected you to earn this summer. I think you’ll have to make the promise that next summer will be different; you’ll definitely need a paying job whether or not you live at home.</p>
<p>In general I’m not a big fan of student debt, but I think in this case I’d think about it a little differently. This college has clearly gone far in trying to put together a workable financial aid package for you, and I’m not sure you’d get anything much lower cost even at most state flagships. Maybe better at a tiny handful of tippy-top colleges, but this still sounds far better than most of the aid packages other kids with zero EFCs have described. </p>
<p>Going forward, I would try really hard to both do well in school and put some money in the bank next summer, and then possibly get work-study job with some more hours your soph/jr/sr years so that you don’t need to accumulate as much debt. Or, try for an RA position. I’d agree with some of the other posters that economies can often be found in the standard cost of attendance, but that might not be true if you’re majoring in a science or engineering. </p>
<p>Best of luck to you. You sound like a very motivated student.</p>
<p>I agree with arabrab.
I’m not sure you’d find a better financial deal at a lower cost school.
I live in a costly (though not Long Island costly) area. Community College in my county requires a car & costly car insurance. The tuition for the CC alone is between $3500-$4000, add books, car & insurance it gets to $8,000 +. </p>
<p>Please contact the FA officer and report back.</p>
<p>Do not count on another part time job to make up the difference. 8 hours per week is enough for an entering freshman to be able to take a full load of classes (necessary to graduate in 4 years, or spend much more on additional tuition) plus enjoy and learn from all of the nonacademic campus activites. Add 12 and you will be planning 20 hours, or half of a full time job, plus the full time job of school. You will not have enough time to take advantage of the school’s offerings and may as well not be there. You also will not have much study time to do well in the course work.</p>
<p>I feel your pain. This is the exact situation I would’ve been in if I hadn’t been offered an <em>amazing</em> FA package that basically covered everything for my $500 EFC family.</p>
<p>If I was you, I’m not sure if I would take that offer or not, because, while the debt you’re looking at is pretty rough, getting an FA offer like that is rare, especially if you had to apply for aid as a transfer student two years from now, meaning you might end up paying a much larger portion of the tuition at a less prestigious university and not end up any better off financially. I won’t tell you which way you should go, but it’s not going to be cheap either way.</p>
<p>Is it possible for you to take a gap year and apply for an ROTC scholarship? Is that available at your LAC?</p>
<p>We know a boy who had some issues with his parents’ willingness to pay for Stanford, and that is what he did. The parental issues came up too late to allow him to apply for the scholarship during his senior year of high school, but he took the gap year and worked full time for a year. He is now at Stanford.</p>
<p>ROTC should not be an option here. Only the very top applicants are getting that scholarship. And out of those the only ones that usually make it through are the kids that want to be an officer more than anything. The kidsdoing it for money wash out every time. </p>
<p>Besides, the ROTC interview process weeds out the money grabbers pretty efficiently. </p>
<p>ROTC is great if your goal is to be an officer. Otherwise don’t waste people’s time and money.</p>
<p>I think this is less about money than about the psychological growth involved in finding your own solutions and making your own way.</p>
<p>Since you are <em>this close</em> to making it, do the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>Contact the financial aid office and find someone who can help you. Go up the ladder to the supervisor, etc. if you have to. Contact the dean of admissions. Make a big deal of it.</li>
<li>Do you have any credit? You can borrow the $1000</li>
<li>Really desperate stuff: Sell plasma, hair, sperm (not sure if male), etc.</li>
<li>Local angels, churches, supporters (high school teachers?) of various kinds</li>
<li>Fundraiser at your high school?</li>
</ul>
<p>You can do this! Set your mind to it. $9,500 in debt for the first year isn’t that bad. Worry about next year when it comes. You can always take a gap year to work then, and you’ll have a lot more opportunities to make money (work on research, for professors, internships, etc.)</p>
<p>I think your parents want you to stay around as a convenient babysitter for your siblings. Yes, childcare is expensive but this is your life and they need to realize you are trying to get out of a situation and go to college. It is probably scary for them to have you leave and are putting up roadblocks. You siblings are not your responsibility. Yes, families should help out when they can but they need to allow you to concentrate on your education. Good luck.</p>
<p>I think it’s wise to mention that you have to be very respectful when dealing with FA officers. They have some leeway in adjustments, but it needs to follow guidelines and fair practices. They have the right to end discussions when there is unreasonable attitude, aggressiveness, etc. And, most colleges end the review process within the FA dept. There is no going over the top FA person’s head.</p>
<p>It seems like every one is making assumptions without know the facts of OP’s situation.</p>
<p>Let’s look at the facts:</p>
<p>OP’s family has a “0” EFC.
They don’t have any savings.
OP’s family got turned down for a PLUS loan. This means that they are either not credit worthy or they don’t have the income/assets to either get or service a loan.</p>
<p>Why can’t the plain and simple fact be that they do not have the $1570 to give him/her? For some people this may be a hard point to conceptualize, but those of us who have been around for a while may remember Candi who was accepted at Yale, had family issues and could not afford to pay the $200 to hold her spot. Stuff happens.</p>
<p>It is not only about the $1570, Op has to get to school, come home on breaks, need start up money when she gets to school, until she can get a work study job or financial aid comes through. She needs sheets on a bed and dorm stuff. How does she come home for thanksgiving or winter break? It cost money.</p>
<p>Unfortunately your plan is not a realistic one. While you have work study in your financial aid package, you must first secure a work study job. You can not be certain that you will be able to get a job off campus, where you will be able to come up with 3 payments of ~500.</p>
<p>Maybe the school will give her another loan to make up the $1570? who knows. Perhaps her mom is taking the hard line because she is embarrassed or hurt that she cannot make this happen for her daughter and to say, no you can’t go could be her way of coping with the situation.</p>
<p>Iron Maiden, sort of a harsh response regarding ROTC as an option for paying for college. I’m offering the possibilty as the spouse of an active duty Army Colonel who took a military scholarship to pay for med school. after many years of military life, including our share of moves and a sint in Iraq, I’m fully aware of the ramifications of ROTC, and I’m also fully aware of how competitive those scholarships are these days. ROTC is an option used by a number of graduating students from our local high school every year, and one that is often overlooked here on CC.</p>
<p>Emaheevul07 speaks from experience that cannot be discounted. Unless you can be assured of a great salary after graduation, know that the debt load will be crushing.</p>
<p>First, it is not clear if you are going to be financially independent or still on parents support. If you are still on parents support, even if you are 25, sorry, cannot make you own decision, unless you want to cut a branch that you are sitting on.<br>
Second, it is not clear, why you would not choose to go to 4 year college that would give you full tuition/full ride Merit scholarship or why you would not apply to one that is known for generous Merit awards. We could have paid for D’s UG, but were very happy that she has chosen the one that gave her full tuition Merit award. You describe your family as one with very limited resources. Why did you choose to apply to $55,000+/yr LAC?</p>