I thought I had a lot going for me when I graduated at the beginning of the summer. I was salutatorian at my tiny high school, I had been accepted into my second choice college, and I was ready to start applying for scholarships. I even told my parents that I would find a way to pay for it, that they should not worry.
My parents are very poor, and are already in debt from trying to send my sister to college a few years back. We filled out our FAFSA to see what help we would recieve, but were selected for a process called verification, putting a hold on our results. My parents have been very busy with work all summer and we never thought about filling in our verification documents until the beginning of this month.
Although I have been trying to apply for scholarships all summer, a great portion of them require your financial aid info, so I have not been able to recieve any. It’s been a huge hassle trying to get all of our tax info from 2016 in order, and because we waited so long, the confirmation of our financial aid and the amount we’ll be granted will come later than the due date for the first payment, which means I will have to get an emergency loan. I do not know how that process works, but I do know that my parents have very poor credit, which makes it very difficult to get any kind of loan.
FAFSA did not help my sister at all last year, and I do not expect it to help me much, either. I do not know what I am going to do short of running into oncoming traffic.
tldr: It should not be this difficult to pay for an education!!!
Deep breaths.
First, if you can’t pay for college, xontaxt your college’s financial aid office and Dean of students.
Ask for a deferral/deferred entry from the college that admitted you. DO NOT WAIT as your bill will be due if you don’t, you won’t be able to pay and you’ll be stuck with no classes and a huge bill.
This is NOT withdrawal - it means “I have to hit the pause button but I’ll be back”.
Second, get your FAFSA verification in order TODAY. It’s Sunday, you should have time off - get it done. Save all the documents because in October you’ll need to do it again for Fall 2019 (yes it’s done in October a year before it’s used).
Third, if you’re very low income, your sister should receive a Pell Grant (6k) and a Federal Loan (5.5). It’s automatic if your family is lower income. If your sister didn’t, either your parents didn’t fill the FAFSA right or they earn more than 45k a year. Look into it.
Fourth, scholarships primarily come from the Colleges themselves. You must run the net price calculator before you apply in order to see whether it’s affordable.
What are your stats (GPA, sat score, AP/dual enrollment classes…)?
What’s your family’s income?
What college admitted you and how much would it cost (net price, before any loan)?
So many things went wrong. You were very poorly advised. First of all, applying for scholarships during the summer before college starts is WAY TOO LATE. Those apps should have been in last fall. Many had early deadlines.
Secondly, your FAFSA should have been filed a long time ago…preferably last fall. Schools run out of aid, so applying as late as you did would likely mean that you’d get little aid anyway.
Did you finish the verification process? What is your FAFSA EFC?
Are your parents self employed?
The best aid and scholarships come from the colleges, not from private scholarships which are usually small and only for one year.
Yes, contact the school and request that your enrollment get deferred for one year. Do NOT take any classes anywhere during this next year. You need to preserve your incoming freshman status to get the best aid.
In the meantime, you may need to apply to MORE schools for Fall…ones that give the best aid.
What are your stats? What is your home state? What is your major and career goal?
What school were you planning on attending?
Forget about the emergency loan. Not only would you not likely get one, if you did get one, it will only cause more problems later. You’re not likely going to get enough aid for LATER payments, so you’d end up having to leave the school midsemester and owing the school a lot of money. At that point, you would not be permitted to enroll anywhere else.
Honestly, I would back out now and regroup and get a job. I agree you were very poorly advised and your parents did you a huge disservice by not getting their financial work done. I’d look at community college transfer options where you can live at home if you aren’t actually going to qualify for significant needs based aid. Or I’d have them do the FAFSA again in October and start over. Run the NPCs everywhere and be realistic. You say FAFSA didn’t help your sister at all? Does that mean your parents are high income but can’t aafford their EFC?
It would be very difficult to cover huge amounts of tuition with small one off scholarships.
I’m going to summarize:
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You are not going to college this fall.
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You need to contact your school and tell them that your financial situation is a problem and you need to defer admission until next year. Do this tomorrow morning, by phone, and follow it up with an email saying clearly what you understand is the agreement. @MYOS1634 is right: you have signed a contract to PAY for this year- if you just don’t show up you will have to pay that money anyway unless they agree to a deferral.
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When that is done, take a deep breath and either find a local adult with experience of sending kids to college, or come back here and let us try to help. You will need to get your parents to do their side of the paperwork, you will need to figure out if you can actually afford the college that you planned to go to this fall, or if you have to apply to other colleges (that you can afford) this fall.
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If you don’t have one already, get a job, to start saving money for your contribution to paying for college, and to give your days a structure while you work through getting the situation sorted out.
4: This student was salutatorian. CC isn't the answer except as a last recourse. Questbridge might have been, except apparently no one suggested it to this student.
S/he MUST NOT register at any college in order to retain freshman eligibility and thus the financial advantages this status confers (either need-based or merit-based, depending on his/her financial situation).
OP, you’ve hit some bumps. Can you tell us the school you plan to attend and your stats? Also your home state and planned major? You MIGHT be best off taking a gap year, as suggested above. As salutatorian, you might be a candidate for schools that meet need. You might be able to get very good aid from one of those schools.
I know the start of fall term is very close. But as soon as you start classes, you would likely lose this option (can’t enter another college as a freshman). So no matter how busy you are, take the time to give us some details.
This will be a bit disappointing…but really, your best bet is to take a gap year. Then apply to places that will,give you sufficient aid to attend in fall 2019.
Don’t take college courses…because that could jeopardize your first time freshman status.
Get a job.
Really, you need to get your withdrawal in effect ASAP before you are considered matriculated and owe money, school starts on Monday in some places. You don’t have time to fart around. Pick up the phone ASAP and get this going.
What uni?
what are your stats?
What are there issues re the verification? Are your parents refusing to get the info, or incapable?
What state?
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4: This student was salutatorian. CC isn't the answer except as a last recourse.<<<<<<<
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Unless you know what the stats and HS rigor are like and what the home state is etc, you cannot make such a blanket statement. Sal in a tiny school means nothing without context. CC might well be the best option, but not until all the other issues are fixed.
Everyone selected for verification has to go through it otherwise there is no FA. I just went through it myself, it’s painless but it takes some time. FA is slow, slow, slow and nothing with them works fast. Everything must be turned in many months before school starts. A school will actually tell you when they are due and when your file is processed.
Perhaps you can use the time you would have been in school to find a job. Save up, and then reapply when Fafsa comes around this year. If they select you again, just get the forms together before a prospective school asks for them. Just for your own peace of mind.
This must feel like the end of the world, but it is NOT the end of the world. You’ve been given some very important advice on this thread. Time to think strategically.
If you are a high stats low income student, we will surely be able to find you some affordable choices for NEXT year.
But, you have to get going and NOT be considered an enrolled student, NOT owe money for this year, and…so you can maximize your chances for scholarships for next year (for incoming freshmen only).
You are lucky. You have a chance for a do-over.
If you don’t understand the advice on this thread, ASK.
This student hasn’t been back to College Confidential in several days. Hopefully s/he will come back. The worst thing s/he can do is start this semester without knowing how four years of college will be paid.
Sounds like best thing is to ask to delay enrollment for one year. And then spend this year WORKING, NOT TAKING ANY CLASSES ANYWHERE, and coming up with a sensible app list to apply to new schools within the next 3 months.
The info from the OP is confusing. On one hand, it sounds like family is low income. On the other hand, since sister received no aid after filling out FAFSA last year, the income may be too high for Pell…or sister used up all of her Pell eligibility somehow or took too few classes or some grades/credits issue that prevents her from qualifying for aid.
This was a ridiculous thing for you to say. What was your plan? Are your parents low income/ If not then THEY will be expected to pay a part of your college expenses.
^^
It was a young naive thing to say. Some don’t understand that attempting to cover college by applying to private scholarships, especially as late as the summer before classes start will not work.
The student needs to ask for a YEAR delay in enrollment, and then have people here help create a sensible app list.