<p>
</p>
<p>You would need to compare the costs of YOUR instate public universities…you may find that paying OOS tuition and fees in CA is close to paying the full cost of attendance in your own state as an instate student.</p>
<p>You need to work with your counselor, social services, the police, and a good legal representative NOW so that you can have someone else appointed your legal guardian. That done, you would be independent for financial aid purposes. I believe that the life-threatening girlfriend is the strongest cards you have in your hand right now. Monday, speak with your counselor about this again. Make certain that your counselor understands that you need to be under a court ordered legal guardianship in order to facilitate your financial aid options, or you will almost certainly not be able to attend college full-time next fall.</p>
<p>29 ACT is good enough for scholarships at some schools. See if any of the ones you qualify for in the list below are appealing. This would allow you to get the Cost of Attendance down to a more manageable level:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-3.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-3.html</a></p>
<p>I agree that a 29 ACT score is sufficient to get scholarships at some schools. </p>
<p>I’m not convinced, however, that a 29 ACT score is sufficiently good to gain acceptance to Cornell or northwestern.</p>
<p>25% at Cornell and 27% at Northwestern scored 29 or lower on the ACT.</p>
<p>Yes I agree Bob Wallace. That would place the OP in the lowest quarter of applicants. And he is considering applying as a transfer. My guess is the stats you posted are for an incoming freshman class.</p>
<p>again, I am going to take the ACT one more time. My largest problem is test anxiety, which I hope I have over come.</p>
<p>I read on Cornell’s transfer FAQ that you don’t even need to submit an ACT score… and at NU it seems they put a huge emphasis on your essays, which I’m not worried about at all.</p>
<p>I’ve talked to a couple other people and it seems that I should just apply for financial aid however I must legally, then send a letter to my school stating my situation. I am still going to apply to a couple private schools that may be able to give me a lot more than my state school or the one in SD. </p>
<p>I’ll have to get some verification on that ^^^ but for now that seems like what I need to do.</p>
<p>And yes, a 29 does fall into the middle (low middle) of applicants at both schools. But I am expecting at least a 32 which is high middle for both. (50-75 percentile.)</p>
<p>I just hope that I can end up at either of those two schools some day without a mountain of debt. But even if I have some debt I’m not entirely worried. My cousin is at Carnegie Mellon and once he graduates he’ll be in over 60k of debt, but he isnt worried about it at all.</p>
<p>I was much more scared about debt than I needed to be when I first made this thread, but there’s no reason not to want to keep it to a minimum</p>
<p>You need to speak with someone in social services, department of children and families, or whatever similar agency exists in your state. You don’t need to be emancipated, you need your father’s rights terminated. Emancipation would work for FAFSA, but given the timeline to gain emancipation, termination of rights might be better, because you could then be placed in a foster home as a ward of the state (or at this point you might be allowed to support yourself as a ward of the state). You also could be assigned a guardian.</p>
<p>These sections of the qualifications to be independent apply:</p>
<ul>
<li>At any time since you turned age 13, were both your parents deceased, were you in foster care or were you a dependent or ward of the court?</li>
<li>As determined by a court in your state of legal residence, are you or were you an emancipated minor?</li>
<li>As determined by a court in your state of legal residence, are you or were you in legal guardianship?</li>
</ul>
<p>Another option would be to leave his home, and have yourself declared homeless (might be best to see if you can find space at a homeless shelter, rather than simply move into your own apartment):</p>
<ul>
<li>At any time on or after July 1, 2011, did your high school or school district homeless liaison determine that you were an unaccompanied youth who was homeless?</li>
<li>At any time on or after July 1, 2011, did the director of an emergency shelter or transitional housing program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development determine that you were an unaccompanied youth who was homeless?</li>
<li>At any time on or after July 1, 2011, did the director of a runaway or homeless youth basic center or transitional living program determine that you were an unaccompanied youth who was homeless or were self-supporting and at risk of being homeless?</li>
</ul>
<p>BTW, If you are providing more than 50% of your own support, your father is not entitled to claim you on his taxes (though he does not have to provide more than 50% himself). This does not have any bearing on your legal independence, but if you support yourself, you are entitled to claim yourself, not him.</p>
<p>As others have stated, you and your counselor are going to have to work together to come up with the course of action, that will give you the best chances of being considered independent for college financial aid purposes. Even in the best possible case, many school, those using PROFILE, in particular, will make their own determination. Your school counselor should get cracking on the paper work for all of this so that at least you can be considered independent for FAFSA purposes. THat would guarantee you close to $5K in grants and access to about $10K in loans, plus eligibility for whatever state programs that might exist–most states have little or none, however. </p>
<p>That is still a far cry from being able to pay for COA (cost of attendance) at a lot of schools. You would still have to work, and hopefully the school itself will kick in additional funds but that is no guarantee and really a lottery ticket. Those schools most generous with aid are difficult ones to which one can get acceptance, and you say yourself that your academic record is not good. Even with a good academic record and high test scores, getting accepted is not a certainty. Then getting the aid you need is even more difficult. You are talking about $60K a year for a number of the private schools, and getting that kind of money is rare and very difficult even for those with good academic records, test scores and straight forward need situation. </p>
<p>Most people do go to local state school with the government aid they get and earn their way through school working part or full time. Many go to school part time. COllege is not a guarantee, and if your parents won’t pay for you, it’s up to you to get the money.</p>
<p>Given your academic background is not all that strong, focusing on the difficult courses that you need to take and get good grades should be the way to go, and to do it locally. It is not going to be an easy go. By all means, take a few chances and do apply to some schools that are selective and see how it goes, DOn’t take my word or anyone else’s as a 100% thing. Just make sure you have some options in terms of local schools and living situations where you know you will get accepted and will be able to afford. In other words, make sure you are covered. Good luck.</p>
<p>Sweatypi, you realize that you’d be wasting your energy and $ re-taking the ACT, right? If you’re only applying to those schools as a transfer, they’ll only really be looking at YOUR PERFORMANCE IN COLLEGE.</p>
<p>Based on this thread, I understand that your GPA this year is strong, but that your rising junior GPA is 1.6 – so I agree with your assessment that these school are simply not at all in reach at this moment:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You will need to perform for at least 3 post-secondary semesters at about a 3.8 or higher GPA with letters of strong recommendation for that presumption about getting in to any of those schools as a transfer to be true. I do know kids who have done it, as in-state transfers to UMich. So it’s possible. About 30% possible.</p>
<p>Umich, for example, normally doesn’t like to accept transfers until Junior year - so you’d be getting an Associate’s degree at college or 60 credits at a uni before you’d actually be considered for transfer – applying midway into your sophomore year.</p>
<p>For mechanical engineering, I actually see no reason not to pursue an associate’s degree first to make sure you master the math before biting off Umich/Cornell level engineering. Kids with advanced AP Calc still regularly fail the weeder courses there.</p>
<p>Now, with respect to finances, I fail to understand why you are choosing exceptionally expensive schools to begin with. I don’t actually think those schools will “buy into” a sudden “senior year” emancipation – but you never know. I’m 90% certain UMich won’t, since it doesn’t meet out of state need to begin with, and as an out of state student your bill would be in the neighborhood of $50,000 a year.</p>
<p>Northwestern is even more expensive, and will be exceedingly interested in your dad’s income, imho. Etc.</p>
<p>So let me ask a tough question. You have another parent. One who, had you been living with her, would have entitled you a “zero EFC” in all likelihood AND same might just net you fully funded study somewhere (but not anywhere where the CSS is required – because of your dad’s income.)</p>
<p>You’ve said elsewhere you don’t have a community college nearby. Where does your mom live? Would you consider going to live with her and attending college there? That may give you viable options.</p>
<p>I think it’s important in your situation to really take care to minimize your debt, since you’re working without a net. </p>
<p>Engineering is one of those fields that while there are top schools (and you’ve named em) there is also not really any compelling reason to incur extra debt to attend them because employment opportunities are pretty much on par at least regionally. In other words, you’ll earn pretty close to the same regardless after a few years on the job. That’s the way the plants work ;)</p>
<p>Best wishes in sorting out some viable arrangement, and kudos on your hard work to get your GPA up. You know, there’s no shame in a “victory lap/GPA boosting extra year” either, and maybe that’s a plan that would serve you too.</p>