OP, you may be over-romanticizing going away to college. It would be a struggle, bc you would likely work FT paying for it:(.
Outside the box here, but maybe you could see if you could get a job as a PA in film? Do something like that for a while? Once you are 24, you will be able to get better FA.
I’m sorry, but your numbers are just not adding up here. You need to sit down with your parents and figure out exact amounts of contributions and what goes where.
You also need to talk to them about your plans. If they don’t think that you need to go to college, then they’re not likely to want to pay for it even if they have the money. However, they surely don’t want you living with them forever - they will support your decision to move out and start your own life. Maybe that means getting two jobs and taking night classes at a community college. Maybe that means finding a college that is willing to work with you and offer a combination of merit scholarships and a little aid.
Have you looked into getting independent student status? If you succeed in moving out and supporting yourself, that may be a good option. I’m not an expert on that, but it could be something to look into.
I wish you good luck. Not everyone’s a traditional student with a traditional college experience, but the longer you put off figuring exactly what your plan is, the farther away you get from what you are wanting.
That’s great advice. I’ll tell ya about the money and try to make it seem more logical. My parents make 130-145k after taxes. They Bought a house in the burbs way out of there pay grade when the housing economy was at its worst(mid 2000s), to get there 3 kids out of a bad neighborhood. The public school system is really good where I am. So money goes to HIGH mortgage. BILLS, gas water electric. Car bills. We have 2 cars. They Chip in on my sisters car and a tiny bit of her school tuition. Whatever is left goes to the 80k in debt they have. THIS IS WHAT THEY TOLD ME ABOUT 2 MINUTES AGO. I’m not sure if it’s a lie or not. Could be Bull. Let me know what you all think. My brother is a Sr in HS and looking to go to school next year. I’m also looking to go.
My advice?
Don’t spend $400 per week on yourself.
Since you took cc classes you will be a transfer and not a first-time freshman so don’t count on the level of aid that a new freshman can get.
Keep working but forgo the luxuries and save alot more for college. Wait until you are 24 when you will be independent for FAFSA.
Think about completing a career focused program at your CC so that you can get a better-paying job. Then you can support yourself while you finish up your education.
What is the $80k in debt from?
Your dad is a police officer and his salary is how much?
Your mom is a part time hospital worker and her salary is how much?
you’d be a transfer student with modest stats from a high income family. Colleges just aren’t motivated to provide aid for that situation.
Continue at your CC, save your money and then pay your way after you transfer.
At our CC, you can become a respiratory therapist or an RN or a legal assistant or an Emergency Medical Technician, imaging tech, or a bunch of other fields, in a two-year program. Those jobs pay pretty well (much more than $9/hr) and then you can earn and save good money toward whatever college degree you want to get. A lot of the credits may also apply toward a college degree, so you can get your bachelor’s degree with only two more years after that.
If you’re living at home, you need to save as much as you can and BRING your meals so you aren’t eating out often, which just makes your money disappear faster. Look for other ways of cutting your bills, like the cheapest phone plan you can get–some prepaid plans are as little as $30/month.
I’m sorry for you that your folks are in so much debt and unable to help you with your college plans. If you do well in community college, you may be invited to join the honor society there and possibly get a scholarship to transfer into college from the honor society.
If your parents have a house in an expensive area, do they have a lot of equity in their home? Could they take
out a home equity loan with very low interest rate to pay off CC debt?
How much longer until all kids are out of high school? Could they move to a more affordable neighborhood then?
I would look at the NJ schools NJ girl listed and see which would get you to your goal and cost the least, where housing is also affordable or you could commute to.
For now, work two jobs if you have to and save your money.
This has probably been a pretty harsh thread for you, not what you wanted to hear. Sorry about that. But people here aren’t going to lie to you, and they really can help you.
Parents who way overbought their house and who have multiple car payments and $80,000 in discretionary credit card debt are obviously not equipped to tell you how money works. You have to accept that and move on. CC is full of “my parents can’t/won’t pay for college” threads.
You’ve done a good thing by getting a job, but the next thing you have to do is keep the money you’re earning. Can’t you save most of that $400 per week? You HAVE to figure out where the money’s going. Don’t buy clothing. Don’t buy fast food, video games, or spend money with friends. Don’t have a cell phone plan with lots of data, etc. Basically, don’t spend a cent on anything you don’t have to. It’s not fun, but it’s being a responsible grownup.
You have this picture in your head of college as a kind of vacation, where you get away from your current life. In your current situation, that’s not going to be possible. Work, save, transfer later. Be flexible about the schools.
If you don’t live at home, you would have rent, utilities, maybe car, gas and insurance to add to the list of bills, that will require a lot more income than you have. With no money left for school. Your parents’ income doesn’t qualify you for federal aid, you are a dependent student on FAFSA until you are 24.
So either work and take some classes as you can afford or wait until later.
The best resource your parents have to offer is room and board. You are not “on your own.” Renting an apartment would add greatly to your expenses - as would providing all of your own meals, washing your own clothes at a laundromat, being independent for insurance purposes, hygiene products, etc. Disregard all of the posts that are offering your parents financial advice. It won’t be relevant to your situation. There is no remedy to their financial situation that will allow them to pay for you to attend film school. Any cutbacks to their lifestyle to free up income will go towards either stopping the bleeding in regard to credit card debt or starting to pay it off. As a parent, I can tell you that getting financial advice from my 18 yr old son would not go over well.
You need to find a way to finance your dreams yourself, and that will be much easier if you can leverage living with your parents for as long as possible. You have a roof over your head, the security of knowing that you are not “on your own” (regardless of how you may feel - try sleeping in your car and taking showers at a truck stop for a couple of weeks if you don’t believe me), and presumably health insurance until you are in your mid-twenties. You are far ahead of most people in America, let alone the rest of the world.
Regardless of where you get a degree, you won’t get anywhere without working your butt off. Consider this as an opportunity to develop that sort of work ethic without the daily fear of wondering how you’ll survive. You also won’t get anywhere without being creative and adaptable. Again, your current situation is perfect for learning those skills.
The best resource your parents have to offer is room and board. You are not "on your own." Renting an apartment would add greatly to your expenses - as would providing all of your own meals, washing your own clothes at a laundromat, being independent for insurance purposes, hygiene products, etc.
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This is very true, and has been for many decades.
Most students live at home and commute…even today. Most students do not get the “sleep away” experience because their families can’t afford to provide a home for the entire family and another place for their college kids to live.
It’s usually a luxury to “go away” to college, and it’s usually a luxury that parents are paying for.
When parents won’t/can’t pay, and the student’s stats aren’t strong enough for large merit, then “best resource” is living at home and commuting. Doing so is like a $10k per year contribution from parents.
Some kids will complain that they’ll “miss out” on campus life or don’t want to be “home,” so the answer to that is:
The above activities will keep you so busy that home will just be a place where you hang your hat and sleep.
To get your college degree you are going to have to work some long hours and figure out how to save money and spend money wisely. Clark Howard is an inspirational person in this regard. Learn to cook meals, learn to coupon clip and buy only deals. The other posters are correct u have a roof over your head which saves u thousands and while u have this luxury now is the time to figure out how to save. Also look at jobs to be a waiter and start anywhere that will give u a chance to get experience and move up. You’lol make more than 9 dollars an hour. I know of a college student who lives on there own after tough love and has worked their way through college who got promoted to being a mgr making 45k a year. It’s totally possible with some planning, discipline and hard work.
Are your parents PAYING NOW for three kids to go to school? You mentioned something like that in your first post.
Do your parents pay tuition for you or any of your siblings to attend a private high school? Is anyone else in college?
I want to know how a police officer and a part-time hospital tech person earn $180k per year.
Police officers on the east coast and west coast can easily make a salary of over $100k, and with overtime or second jobs (security for banks, hospitals, universities), that can increase a lot. In some places in California, life guards make $150k.
Yes police officers and other public employees make very good money in NJ. Hence why it costs so much to live there. Housing and taxes are off the wall.
Didn’t he say his dad works in NYC?
My town (Northeast suburb) publishes the list of the highest public employees every year in the local paper. Beat cops routinely make more than the chief of police, the superintendent of schools (who has a PhD and several prestigious fellowships and post-doc’s), and the head of public works.
You can’t dig a hole in the street or fix a phone wire or cable connection without a traffic “escort”- uniformed police officer. But since there isn’t capacity in the department for an extra officer, these are all off-duty cops who get paid overtime.
The list of somewhat junior officers who make 135-150K per year from the department (I’m not counting what they earn from private security or working as bouncers on the weekend since that goes directly to them, not through the public payroll) is quite deep. I pity the chief of police- who is not allowed overtime since he’s management!!!
In NJ, that is definitely the case that a full time police officer and a part time hospital tech person would make $180,000…the salaries go along with the high cost of living here. I’m not shocked at all at those numbers for total income here in NJ.