<p>I am an above average student, but by no means a 4.0.
My parents are in debt and both have decently-paid jobs, but we still have so many bills to pay that a contribution of $500 a semester would be pushing it.
What can I do? I'm not considered "poor" by the state because I have two parents who live together and they both have jobs (one's a teacher, one's an accountant).</p>
<p>You can get a job and earn that $500 a semester.</p>
<p>A teacher and accountant would make a very decent upper middle class income. You have too many bills because of choices made by your parents. Now you want other parents to take care of your college?</p>
<p>college expenses ( all together now ;) )
are to be paid by a combination of current income, savings & future income ( loans)
I assume that since both those professions usually require college that parents planned for kids to attend college as well.
SO even if minimal savings, probably some savings as both of those jobs if full time, earn above national average income.
Students also can earn money summers to contribute to their expenses.
BUt ya I agree if your parents don't have unusual expenses like a grandparents retirement home or a kidney transplant but can't live with income higher than most in the country- dont expect a lot of need based finaid.
And if they can't pay anything at all- money earned summers can pay for community college plus you can get a loan then transfer after two years to a 4 year school.</p>
<p>You can, when you submit all your financial aid forms and applications, write a letter to the financial aid office at the school you are applying to explaining what makes your family's situation unique. If they are in debt for reasons the office finds sympathetic, you can get more aid.</p>
<p>"A teacher and accountant would make a very decent upper middle class income. You have too many bills because of choices made by your parents. Now you want other parents to take care of your college?"</p>
<p>Wow - one of the most offensive and presumptious comments I have ever read on here! You have no idea what these people may make, what their expenses are, where they came from or what choices they made.</p>
<p>Well...the "tone" of the original post indicated that the parents were in debt but both had good paying jobs. I have to say, it sounded to me like the debts were consumer debts, not extenuating circumstances like medical expenses or some other catastrophic event had taken place. </p>
<p>This OP should talk to the family about what they can or can't do to help out with college expenses. In the end, there are choices that can be made. Community college and living at home will cut costs. The student could work full time and go to school part time. The student could work for a year or two, and save money, and then enroll in college. Perhaps after a conversation with the parents, the OP will have a clearer picture of what they can contribute. Perhaps the assumption that they can contribute only $500per month is not accurate. BTW...$6000 per year ($500 per month) would pay for community college tuition in many places.</p>
<p>thumper, the OP said that $500 per semester (not $500/mos)would be pushing it. That is really a hard pill to swallow. It comes out to roughly $30 per week toward education.</p>
<p>Based on these stats below that you had listed elsewhere, you'll probably need to get a job now and over the summer, and use that money to pay your expenses at a community college while you live at home. After getting your associates, as long as you've taken the coursework to transfer to a 4-year college, you should be able to transfer to an in-state public. If your grades are high, you may qualify for merit aid. You can take out loans to pay for your final 2 years of college.</p>
<p>junior
3.0 GPA (unweighted)
All honors English, history and math classes
AP Biology (A, A- average)
Tons of clubs
Leaderships positions in 3 clubs
Member of the Junior Classical League
Outstanding Latin student
Magna Cum Laude on National Latin Exam
59, 50, 66 on PSAT</p>
<p>Another option would be to spend 2 years volunteering in Americorps, earning a stipend of around $150 or so a week plus a total or about $9,500 that you'd get at the end of your commitment to use for college. This would give you marketable skills plus money to use for college. In addition, your Americorps experience may help you qualify for merit aid based on community service.</p>
<p>In many communities, renting a halfway suitable home can cost up to 1/2 of the monthly income of a a teacher/nurse/accountant. Add in two car or lease payments, adequate automobile insurance, life insurance, health insurance, gasoline, heating bills, electric bills, telephone bills, auto upkeep, groceries and such, and that's pretty much it for many working families. I don't see why anyone would assume that the debt mentioned was consumer debt, and it doesn't take 'extenuating circumstances' or a 'catastropic event' to put a family in this situation. All it takes is being working class in America.</p>
<p>Nitrox, The thinking is that living in that community is a "choice". It is a choice to live in the heart of Boston, or the its suburbs (ie:Newton), rather than living in a rural area which costs much less. Forget the fact that for some that would mean unemployment, LOL. Thinking is that others don't need to finance even a 2 year old Honda Accord through a college handout (and many opt for a Lexus, BMW), because there are families who manage with one 15 year old car. It is a choice to manage with no car, one car, or 5 cars per household. It is a choice to live in a brand new 5 bedroom 4 bathroom home, and it is a choice to live in a 80 year old 2 bedroom one bathroom starter home. It is a choice to take a family vacation (modest 2 hour drive to the beach, or those who elect to take the family to Switzerland for skiing) or save money and stay home. BTW, I agree with you to some degree, but I am telling you what is expected. One is expected to pay for college from past savings, present earnings, and future earnings.</p>
<p>We are on the same page: yet, I have to disagree with a system which is premised on expectations which ignore realities, allowing families with the good fortune to own absurdly expensive homes to except the weath equity in their home, while simultaneously penalizing working class folks who have average incomes which are consumed by the expenses of everyday living. </p>
<p>No doubt there are folks who make the choices you have noted. There are also folks who make the choice to live in a safe community rather than one blighted with rampant crime and third world schools and vermin-infested housing, who make the choice to live in North Jersey instead of Manhattan and thus are forced to commute to work by automobile (since the trains were taken out generations ago), and have to pay for parking, tolls and fuel. My point is that the choices the original critic complained of may very well simply be choices to give their kids the best available opportunities while in elementary/jr high/high school, and have nothing to do with exorbitant lifestyles or unreasonable choices. That the original critic would make such an assumption is very sad.</p>
<p>Nitrox, I am total agreement. The problem is that others do not see it your way. They think that if North Jersey is too pricey, it was your choice to live there. You do have the choice of going to that rural cheap area, where you will not necessarily have the same employment opportunities, or you can live in the area " blighted with rampant crime and third world schools and vermin-infested housing". The real issue at hand is that we will soon be at a turning point, where it will be impossible for middle class students to go to college. Something will need to change, or we will have a society of less educated people. The middle class is still hanging on by a thread, but for how long? This is the system we have today. As a result we will also have poorer seniors, who are paying off plus loans and have less retirement savings. Do you know that any money one puts into a retirement account is considered income (money available for paying college tuition)!</p>
<p>Completely agree - personally, I think college should be free to anyone who is able to get in - and I think that admissions should be set higher. In the long run, society benefits by having better educated citizens, who in turn, will have children who will be better educated. There truly are 'two Americas' and they are pulling further away from each other with each passing day. No one should succeed or fail simply because of the circumstances of their birth.</p>
<p>How would you propose college gets paid for? Colleges cannot run without funds. Are you talking about community colleges, state colleges, or privates that you feel should be free of charge? Do you feel that college should be an entitlement program (like K-12) is, because it is not currently an entitlement? Nothing is free, so do you feel taxpayers should pay, and what should they pay for? A public, a 2 community college, a private with all the frills such as an olympic pool and rock climbing wall?</p>
<p>I'd like to see another thread started entitled "funding college without tuition...or with a revamp of the current funding policies".</p>
<p>In the meantime...perhaps the OP can clarify info posted. Is this consumer debt (i.e. mortgage, cars, credit cards, etc) or is this "other" (i.e. medical expenses, use of credit due to lost job, etc)? </p>
<p>I don't love the current system either...but it's what is in place and it is what the current high school students need to understand and use. We can ponder changes to the system until the cows come home, but that isn't going to help the OP...who is looking for help with college expenses and funding.</p>
<p>The State should pay, as in many European nations. I'm not sure I see it as an 'entitlement,' as in a handout. Rather an entitlement, in the same sense as clean air, drinkable water and such - without the negative connotations associated with a handout. I do not think it is really possible to quantify the value to society at large in a spreadsheet manner. Better educated citizens contribute to the betterment of society, generally end up with better-paying jobs (generating more taxes over the span of a career), tend to have better educated kids (who in turn will get better paying jobs, thus generating more taxes), and so on. It seems to me that with all the taxes already being taken from working Americans, this should be one of our top priorities, as opposed to many of the wasteful ways public money is spent, which offer no or very little return. Overall, I would rather see the money spent on the butter, and not the guns. </p>
<p>This applies to state schools - private schools are beyond this proposal, as they are private enterprises, and I'm not suggesting a state takeover of all colleges. (Although, given their endowments, they should be free too!). Certainly a place like Harvard, which has an endowment larger than many national GNPs or Columbia (largest private landowner in NYC) generate enough interest or growth on captial to be able to afford offering free tuition - which is where they seem to be going.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I don't love the current system either...but it's what is in place and it is what the current high school students need to understand and use. We can ponder changes to the system until the cows come home, but that isn't going to help the OP...who is looking for help with college expenses and funding.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Thumper, I agree with you, but comments like these are not necessarily helpful either:
[quote]
A teacher and accountant would make a very decent upper middle class income. You have too many bills because of choices made by your parents. Now you want other parents to take care of your college?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It may be that there were poor choices, or it may be that expenses are just too high for a middle class family to make it. Why do we attack 2 hard working middle class parents? The accountant could be a cpa earning above 200k/year, or could be an accountant earning an average accountant's salary and be struggling paycheck to paycheck.</p>
<p>Nitrox, I really do not have the answer, but I do know that something does have to change. I also think that people (parents) in their late 40's, 50's and 60's should be able to put some modest amount of money into a retirement vehicle if they do not have a pension and they should be able to do so without a college thinking that it is a choice to provide for their old age, or pay more money for college. JMO.</p>
<p>As to the solution, perhaps the OP might consider working for a year or so, and becoming an independent student, so that financial aid isn't tied to parental income levels, but rather to student income, which would likely be nill. That coupled with going to a state school, getting a work study job and trying for some outside scholarships might make the difference. Or go into a critical shortage field - I think lots of nursing students get free or reduced tuition, especially if they committ to working in an underserved community after school.</p>
<p>Some parents of 17 year olds are still paying off their own educational loans...I cringe when I hear that it is typical to have $20,000 in debt coming out of college.</p>
<p>"The State should pay, as in many European nations."</p>
<p>The downside of this is that entrance to college is based strictly on test scores, students are put into college or vocational tracks very early in their schooling, and I am fairly sure that a smaller percentage of students go to college than occurs in the U.S.</p>