Moving out.. bad timing!!!

Parents Forum
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<p>So.. basically my dad tells me we are moving out to a smaller place (still within the area) but that a lot of things will be taken away. The only problem is that we are moving at the end of this week (I had this week off, was planning on working hard on my college apps, mainly the UC's).</p>

<p>Basically no more internet or phone.. he says he doesnt need either of those services and that he will only pay for cable ( I dont even watch TV, not even the news.. average TV time watching for me is 1hr a month, no joke).</p>

<p>So, given I wont get him to change his mind.. what do I do if I dont have a home phone number and what are things I need to do so everything is mailed to my other address? (to think about it, the school doesnt even know about this.. sigh.. more paperwork that my father never bothers filling out, he just signs!)</p>

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<p>First things first.......I am sorry to hear of your bad situation. Sounds like you have been through this before. I am sure you are mad, sad and angry. </p>

<p>You can file a change of address card w/ the postal service for your own name....your mail will get to you.</p>

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<p>As for internet....do you have access at school or is a library close?
You can log onto the college sites and change your address or file a request for info at the new address.......they will send it all again.</p>

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<p>Most college application matters are not handled over the phone. Do you have a counselor at school who can help you......is that an option? I am sure that your school will gladly take any messages from a college. Usually it is they contact you and then you would return a call.......you can do that from anybody's phone.</p>

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<p>Do you have a paper application to work on? Will you be doing the moving and thus have no time either?? That is hard I am sure. Are you the first one to college? Is there anyone you know who is aware of your family situation?
I am wondering if you can get some help from an outside source? </p>

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<p>Let us know here on CC how else we could help you....suggestions, support for your frustrations.....I can imagine you might feel defeated.</p>

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<p>Did you get your application filled out for this? I know you were on here some time ago about AI and that a teacher had given you the booklet for The Gates. how is all of that going?</p>

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<p>I'm still working on the gates app and it's not going too bad... thanks.</p>

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<h2>It's good news to hear the mailing thing is not too much of an issue.. if I act quickly ( I should do that soon).</h2>

<h2>I figured most of the app is online-based.. the only concern I had was .. "Please go back and fill in the missing fields : Your home phone number". </h2>

<h2>I am the first applying to college so what I need most is info .. most of what I need to know is what information do I need to get from my dad so I dont miss any deadlines or get stuck on the app . I'll try to ask my councelor more about this when I get back, hopefully most of this information is only needed for FIN AID (which comes after the regular apps).</h2>

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<p>Thanks a lot for all the help and support, (I'm really glad I found this site, dont know what I would have done otherwise)!</p>

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<p>I guess time is the main concern I have now... so I'll just get going and start finishing this stuff up... I'll check back here once in a while</p>

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<p>
[quote]
**I figured most of the app is online based.. the only concern I had was .. "Please go back and fill in the missing fields : Your home phone number".

[/quote]
** </p>

<p>I know how absurd that must feel right about now. At least you have an address.....this is not an insurmountable task. I'd say you have two options for the phone number. You can insert your school phone number or you can put your area code and 999-9999 or 123-4567 all you need to do is fill it in to fool the system. So....that problem is pretty easy actually, I am sure you feel embarassed but lots of folks will understand that you have no control of your situation right now.</p>

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<p>Or, re the phone number, if you have a close friend, ask if you can put that family's phone number in the blanks. hazmat is right, though, very unlikely the school will "need" that number; but some schools do try to contact you to "recruit" and your school's # or friend's # will work.</p>

<p>theonekid - lots of us are feeling for you in this "bad timing" struggle. You have a great attitude. It will take you far. Come here for any help we can offer, any help at all.</p>

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<p>I understand that your first priority is to get your applications in, but do not delay getting the information for the financial aid. For most people, it is not too hard to get the information together. A move, however, may make it a bit harder. A good start is to get the PIN for your and your dad FAFSA ASAP. Make sure to keep the information in a safe place and remember the email you use. </p>

<p>Since you work on the Gates, I would also recommend to verify if you will qualify for a Pell grant. Applying for the Gates scholarship takes a lot of time and effort, and you do not want to find out later that you do not qualify because of being Pell ineligible or not meeting the GPA requirements.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
**I am the first applying to college so what I need most is info

[/quote]
**</p>

<p>Good for you......it will happen for I just know it. Don't worry about needing to know so much, lots of folks here know all about it. They'd love the opportunity to get you going with all of the info you can stand. As to being first, this may be a great help to you in the process. Get the apps done first then we can get you going on the FA.</p>

<p>Hang in there.......soon enough you will be away at college with all that you need including internet and a phone! I know you probably cannot wait.</p>

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<p>I saw in your old posts that you had a question about the value of a business. This valuation follows the tax returns of the business with some allowances for fair market value. Here's a good format to follow (and will be used for the CSS Profile)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.fafsa.com/downloads/Profile/2003-04%20Business%20Farm%20Supplement.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.fafsa.com/downloads/Profile/2003-04%20Business%20Farm%20Supplement.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Here's a good link for understanding and filing the FAFSA. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.offtocollege.com/financial-aid/step2-fafsa.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.offtocollege.com/financial-aid/step2-fafsa.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>No concrete suggestions from me, alas, but I want to tell you I'm rooting for you. I'm sure good things will happen. Hang in there.</p>

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<p>just a thought on the UC apps -- don't wait until the 30th to submit them online, since, in years past, the server has overloaded and crashed. Also, even if they crash during the day, the UC servers shut down at the stroke of midnight, so app must be submitted or postmarked by then.</p>

<p>Hang in there.</p>

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<p>TOK, may God bless you, honey. I know what it's like to be on your own too early. </p>

<p>But here's a very serious piece of advice--put aside the embarassment and share your situation with every person who might be able to help you. Tell them what you are trying to accomplish. You have no idea how generous people can be when they know your need is genuine.</p>

<p>Here's a short list of people you should give a head's up: your guidance counselor; the principal of the school; any coach, music, arts or other elective teacher you have; whichever teacher at the school you are most "in tune" with, and the most important teacher in the subject you will likely pursue in college;the pastor of your church, synagogue, mosque, temple, or whatever; the teacher of the college class you took; any relative other than your father whom you are close to; any other adult outside family, school, or church with whom you have had significant contact, like a recreational league coach, someone at a non-profit where you have volunteered, anything like that.</p>

<p>You will be amazed--95% of them will say, "What can I do to help?" If you know what that is, tell them. Maybe one has attended one of the schools you are interested in, maybe one can proofread an essay, maybe one knows someone who knows a lot about FAFSA and would help, maybe one could maintain a time schedule for you giving reminders when this or that is coming up. If you can't think of anything, just say "I don't know yet but I need help with A, B, and C--what do you think?" Sometimes they will volunteer something that you never even thought of.</p>

<p>If nothing else they will most likely refer you to someone else. This is what is called networking. And you need to do it, bigtime.</p>

<p>If any of these people give you the brush-off, don't take it personally. Maybe he has his own commitments and just can't help right now. It's ok, ask him if he can recommend someone else who can help. If he says no, then just accept it and say thanks. Go on to the next one.</p>

<p>The people here on CC are fantastic, but it's much harder to help LD. You have more of a solid support system wherever you are than you think, and they can obviously be much more hands on and involved. It's just that people these days are so afraid of asking for help or offering it (I don't know why, I don't get it). You have to approach them.</p>

<p>Keep in touch, ok?</p>

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<p>Wyogal covered everything. I did wonder if someone could help you get a prepaid cell phone. My former city police dept. would supply refurbished or older phones to people. I'm thinking more of safety issues than a phone no. for colleges; the school phone or a friend's would work well</p>

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<p>Thanks everyone....</p>

<p>From where I stand.. I should qualify for the pell grant.. but for the "odd situation" I am in.. I might just not... </p>

<p>I'm wondering how I can find if I do qualify for this before hand?</p>

<p>My counselor said it was based on the adjusted gross icome.. but I have never seen the app.. is anything else considered (such as the business, I already have a "quote" on what it's worth..)?</p>

<p>BTW: I know the Gates scholarship is good and all but I really dont understand what it actually covers or how it "updates" and changes throughout the four years.</p>

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<p>Almost forgot, I'm the process of applying for the pin but it's not very clear if it's my fathers info that goes into the first part of the app.. or mine.. and since we are just in the process of moving.. which address do I put ???? I dont even know if the other address will be under his name right away since we are moving in with someone else.</p>

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<p>TOK, the Pell award is indeed determined by your family's income. AGI refers to Adjusted Gross Income and is derived from a specific line on your parents' 1040 income tax form. Do not let the terminology frustrate you ... it is really not that complicated. I have built a spreadsheet program that projects the EFC for next year. I'll be happy to share it with and help you fill your data. You can also use some of the online calculators. The government also publishes a guide that explains the entire EFC formula, but I am not sure you need to understand it in such details. It is rather simple to follow the format of the forms and look up the answers for the parts that are confusing. </p>

<p>For the FAFSA pin, you will have to go through the process TWICE: one for you and one for your father. At the end, you want to have the two pins as this will permit to file the FAFSA right after January 1. You do not need to wait for the exact numbers and can make estimates. </p>

<p>The Gates scholarship is renewable and covers up to 5 years of undergraduate studies, and up to 4 or 5 years of graduate studies. The terms of renewal are very generous as you do not have a minimum GPA or annual Pell requirements to meet after receiving the scholarship. In theory, the Gates award covers all needs that remain unmet by your school. This means that Gates will fund the difference between your school grants/scholarship awards and your EFC. In other words, they will replace any loans or work study as well as covering your contributions up to your EFC. It does not fund any part of the EFC. The issue of scholarships covering part of the EFC is rather complicated and well beyond this discussion. The bottom line is that with a Gates award you are looking at your constribution to be capped at the EFC number that will result from the FAFSA application, and this no matter if the school you apply uses a different methodology.</p>

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<p>I'm sorry to hear about your situation.
You probably can use your school or public library for Internet access.
Make sure you tell your GC and teachers about your situation so that they can include it in their recommendations, and let you know about local merit-based scholarships that you may qualify for.
If there's a Papa Johns Pizza restaurant in your area, you may have a good chance to get their $1,000 scholarship. I think applications come out and are due in Jan. or Feb. What they don't tell you is that if you win the scholarship and then get a "B" average fall of freshman year, they'll give you a $2,000 scholarship.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you as you go through this challenging situation.</p>

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<p>Xiggi, If you could send me the spread sheet that would be great.</p>

<p>I have the AGI for my father, but I am not sure what other numbers I need (value of business, home, etc).</p>

<p>BTW: How close does the Papa Johns have to be? </p>

<p>Again, thanks everyone.</p>

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<ul>
<li>I'm still wondering about the address issue with the pin.</li>
</ul>

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<p>The onekid:</p>

<p>I'm assuming that you will be able to access the internet somehow, so create an email account on one of the free mail services if you do not have one already. Try to check it once or twice a day.<br>
Do you have a laptop? Are you close to wifi areas? In that case, you will still be able to log on easily. If not, you could go to your school library or perhaps the public library.<br>
Right now, the important thing is to get your applications together, write your essays, get your teachers and GCs to write recs, make sure you have your transcript ready, and fill out the FAFSA and other financial documents. Even schools that asl students to apply online will be willing to accept hard copies. The important thing for you is to be able to save what you are writing and filling out.
Let the adcoms at the schools you are applying to of your situation as well. Do you also have access to cell phones? Perhaps friends of yours might be willing to let you use theirs. If calling long distance, you could offer to reimburse them for the cost of calling.</p>