Alright so long story short, i’m basically out of my college fund and i’m freaking out. Right now i’m attending a community college in order to save money (and because I wanted to move to Washington from Texas last year). I have maybe $4,000 dollars left in this account and which will all be gone after this coming spring quarter.
My plan was to transfer to a university this fall and participate in ROTC for the scholarship, but now it’s looking like I can’t do that. I’m planning on attending medical school after I graduate through an army scholarship and serve a career as an army doctor, so if I do ROTC, there’s a good chance I won’t be able to go through med school until my four years of active duty is up and I really don’t want that because of the med school thing.
Now that I’ve found out that I won’t be able to get this kind of scholarship, I have absolutely no idea what to do. The cost of attendance at UT (where I plan on attending) is about $27,000 a year. I was thinking of student loans, but I don’t even think it’s possible to pull out that amount of loans with me still having over two years left at a University. I think I was reading that the max of most loans are about $5,000 per year. Not sure if that’s true though. I will be applying for FAFSA, but there’s a good chance I won’t receive aid or if I do, it won’t be much. The reason for this is because when I apply this year, they’re going to be asking about my parents financial situation in 2015 which is VASTLY different than it is now. In 2015, both of my parents were working and I think their joint income was somewhere around $160,000. I’m also an only child. Now, my mother is between jobs and has been for the past eight months and I’m guessing they’ll be filing less than $80,000 on their forms this year. I was also a dependent in 2015 and now i’m not. But none of this will be considered.
Lastly, i’ve tried to apply for several scholarships in the past and it has never worked out for me so i’d love to apply for more, but I doubt I can rely on them.
If it matters, I have 3.97 GPA right now (just dropped from a 4.0 because of Physics) and I’m the president of two clubs and treasurer of another at my school. I’m very involved in my school and i’m about to start volunteering with a couple of organizations. I don’t see how this will help pay for college, but if anyone has any ideas or thoughts or insight from their own experience, it would be greatly appreciated!
Yes. I’m still technically a resident of Texas even though I’ve lived in Washington for a year because I planned on going to a university in Texas. I moved to washington to help my grandparents out for a while. At my school now, I’m on an out of state tuition waiver so I’m paying in state fees. I guess I’m just so confused about what to do because I’ll have to pay nearly $15,000 up front this fall and I’m not sure how that’s possible since school takes up the majority of my time. Including in the summer.
You won’t be able to go to school in Washington, OOS fees will be too expensive. Plan on finishing your last two years in TX. Find a school in commuting distance if possible. Which TX public is close enough?
You’d be better off graduating from a TX university I think since there are good med schools in TX.
The University of Texas in Austin is the one I’ll be attending starting this fall. It was always the plan to go back there. I’m from Austin so it’s the closest public university. Also where I want to attend medical school. It just happens to be pretty expensive.
You also won’t have to pay the full COA at UTA. You will pay tuition and fees to the school. And you can either commute from home, or rent an apartment with roommates.
Tuition and fees instate is about $10,000. Student loan covers $7,500.
You can work in the summer and earn money. If you take a year off, you can probably earn $10,000.
That might pay for housing and food in a shared apartment for two years.
If I am reading correctly it sounds like the OP says that (s)he plans to attend UT next year.
@MorganHanner is UT commuting distance from where your parents live in TX,? If not, is there a 4 year university within commuting distance? Can yo live at home with your parents?
What is you EFC? When you say you are independent, do you mean for financial aid, or that your parents did not declare you on their taxes?
Can your parents help you at all with tuition? As a junior you are eligible for a $7500 student loan if you file the FAFSA.
Even with an income of $80,000, as an only child you would be unlikely to qualify for Federal grants.
You are correct that outside scholarships as a transfer student will be more difficult, and cannot be relied upon.
@KatMT unfortunately it’s not within commuting distance to my parents house as they way further south. There’s a chance I could try Texas A&M because I have some family that has persistently offered me a place to stay while I’m at school there. And yes i meant independent in that they won’t be claiming me on their taxes for this past year. They’ll probably be able to help me out some financially but not much. Probably just with books and other smaller costs.
@mommdc thank you for this link. I’ll definitely look into this and contact a UT advisor. And while I will try hard not to completely defer for a year since I did that for a semester once and regretted it, I still might just heavily limit my course load.
If you have relatives who are sincerely offering you a place to live IN College Station, you should really consider taking them up on their offer. Is it something you would seriously consider?
Yes I would love to attend A&M. It’s always been my dream school. The ONLY thing holding me back is the fact that I need certain degree pre reqs that my school doesn’t offer. I’ve met with a transfer advisor several times and I just don’t know how to get around it at this point.
Why won’t your parents claim you as a dependent on their taxes? Don’t they want up to $2500 in free money (American Opportunity Tax Credit) that they could then give to you?