Hey,
I wasn’t sure where to categorize this question, so if it’s in the wrong forum section, moderators, please feel free to move it wherever appropriate.
So I’m a 17 y/o HS senior, looking to attend college in the fall. My parents want me to go to one college, I want to go to another. I’m not even asking for them to pay, if they’re not happy with my decision they can refuse to pay a dime and I’m ok with that. My question, though:
Obviously I can’t enroll in whatever college I want without parental consent if I’m not 18 yet. I turn 18 in December and fall semester at the school I want starts in September, so that’s clearly out of the picture.
Winter semester at that school, however, starts just after my birthday, meaning I would be 18–the legal age to attend without my parents’ consent. But the application period for the winter semester takes place in October through November (BEFORE my birthday).
Basically, if I won’t be at the legal age when I apply to attend, but will be at the legal age when I actually begin attending, will I need the parents’ consent or can I legally attend that semester without it?
I’ve Googled extensively about this but could never really find any explanation as to whether the 18-and-over law applies to attending the university or registering to attend the university.
I live in NJ and the college I wish to attend is in OR. Any help is appreciated. God bless.
I won’t answer legal questions but will ask how you intend to pay for school if your parents don’t? You need them for loans and financial aid applications.
Based on your other posts it appears that you’re a lowish income student from NJ who wants to study CS in Oregon where the family who adopted your younger brother live, but your parents want you to commute to college in NJ. I understand how difficult this must be for you, but I think you’re putting the cart before the horse. You have to line up financing first.
How much can your parents pay per year without borrowing? If you file the FAFSA you can take the ~$5500/year federal student loan, and if you work summers you can probably earn another ~$3k. That only gives you ~$8k. If you qualify for full Pell that’s another ~$5k, but even ~$13k isn’t enough to attend an OOS college unless you get a lot of need based or merit aid.
What are your stats? Do you qualify for merit aid at any of the schools that accepted you? OOS publics can’t generally offer a lot of need based aid, so if you want to attend a residential college you need to look in your home state or find someplace that will offer lots of merit aid for your stats.
@Sportsman88 they have accepted me for the fall term (I applied a few months back) with a near full scholarship, a combo of need-based and merit money, so it makes sense they would give me somewhere near that amount if I re-apply for winter. The only problem is my parents’ approval–I know it’s my dream school for sure, and I’ll be financially fine without them contributing (I do plan to work year round to pay off the little bit not covered by scholarships), so all I need is to know whether or not I can attend that winter term (which involves applying before I’m 18 but attending after I’m 18) without parental consent. @Lindagaf i remember you from my Seattle post!! how you been? @austinmshauri Whoa, thanks for reading my other posts, haha. Yes, it’s true I originally wanted to go to Seattle, but down the line I realized that’s still not close enough for me to be able to be a regular part of my brother’s life (he’s in southern Oregon). UW ended up denying me anyway, so that’s ok.
I think you’re right, but on the contrary this institute has given me a good generous amount of scholarship money already. I had an SAT 2210 (700r 710m 800w) way above their average, and a gpa slightly above their average too, though they did mention they liked my essay and ECs the best. I think they don’t get many applicants from this far either, so increasing their student body variety and being able to say “we have students from NJ” was probably one of their motives for offering me the money too.
All that aside, so yes, I will attend college here in NJ for the fall and winter, if necessary–I’ll keep attending until I can legally go to Oregon. The only thing I have left to know is whether I would need parental consent to apply for the winter term if I’m 17 when enrolling, but 18 when attending.
I don’t recall anyplace on any application for parental consent. Why don’t you contact the school you want to attend and give them an explanation. I don’t see why they won’t let you matriculate in the spring and keep your scholarship. You may not even have to reapply. Just defer a semester. Use the voice feature of the telephone and talk to an actual person who can actually help you.
I wonder if there is a dean at the college you want to attend who can connect you with a pro bono lawyer to petition for you to become an emancipated minor.
It does seem spiteful for an adoptive parent to want to prevent their adopted child from accepting a full-ride scholarship. This does have an adverse impact on you, and I could see a family court judge not looking kindly on it.
I’m not a lawyer, and this isn’t legal advice.
Come to think of it, my daughter started college at 17, and I don’t recall anything I had to sign to give her permission to attend. She was under my medical insurance though.
You may not have to re-apply at all.
What you’re talking about is deferring your admission for one semester, unless you take any courses post-high school which then re-classifies you as a transfer student.
As mentioned above, I think that it would be a good idea to telephone someone in admission office at the school in question and clearly present your circumstances to them. Ask them to advise you.
Ask them if you would still qualify for the same amounts of aid if you re-apply having taken college courses in NJ.
If you’d lose funding by being a transfer, then you may want to postpone beginning school in NJ.
Ask them if you can defer matriculation by a semester (most public schools will not allow this, but most private schools will), or if you would be required to re-apply. How would a second application affect your funding?
You can’t attend anywhere else or you’ll be considered a transfer and lose your scholarships. You could defer, but you may not have to do that.
There have been kids on CC before whose parents couldn’t/wouldn’t pay, but how they handled the situation depended on some very specific things. What’s the cost of attendance of this school and how much scholarship/grant aid have they given you? What’s your net cost after grants?
Need based aid is an issue because generally you need parents to file financial aid forms to continue to get it. Will your parents do that for you? If they’ll file the FAFSA, you can take the ~$5500/year federal student loan. If they won’t fill out the forms, you won’t be able to take the loan and you may not get the need based aid from the OR school either.
How will you get out west? Will your parents help you? If you attend a school they don’t want you to attend, will they allow you to return home during breaks?
Your parent have a ‘legal’ hold on you until you are 18 as they can designate where you can be, where you can live. Will the authorities consider you a runaway if you leave the state after high school graduation? Very unlikely. Sadly, the authorities probably don’t care where you are right now as long as you aren’t doing anything illegal.
The school doesn’t care. My daughter was 17 for her entire first semester. Only thing I signed for her were medical forms for the NCAA, and one for the health center. No big deal.
However, you want your parents on your side. They are going to have to fill out FAFSA for you for years unless you somehow sever your relationship before you are 18 and become emancipated. A good plan might be to ask for the deferral, work for the rest of the year (saving a lot), prepare. Tell your parents you really want to go to Oregon and that you’re willing to wait until you are 18 to make it happen.
Call the school on Monday and ask the question about 17/18 as well as about deferring your admisison and scholarship. You might can defer a year if necessary.