<p>I am and American citizen who lived in the USA for the first 9 years of my life, then moved to Kuwait, a small country in the Middle East, due to employment opportunities. I have been in 3 school in the past 8 years I have lived in Kuwait. Now I'm in my third (and final) year at a British private school. I have 8 IGCSE's (Maths, Physics, Biology, Arabic, English as a First Language, Business Studies, I.C.T, and World History) all at A and A* level except a B in business. I am taking 5 AS's this year (Maths, Physics, Business,I.C.T., and Thinking Skills). I also got a combined SAT score of 1930, resitting in December with hopes of getting at least a 2100.</p>
<p>Now my problem is this. My dad was let go recently, and my school is very expensive (around $10,000 a year). Therefore, either my dad finds a job, or I get shipped off to the US of A. If I do get shipped off, I will probably have to work my ass off to complete the missing credit hours I need to get my diploma at high school, as I only have 2 sciences for the last three years of schooling, and no Pre-calc/Calculus (these are done in the second half of the year in the British system at 12th grade). </p>
<p>Or I try and apply for a mediocre university/community college with a guaranteed transfer agreement with a very good Uni (e.g. Piedmont Community College then University of Virginia). I am planning to study either electrical/mechanical engineering.</p>
<p>I really need help ASAP. I'm sorry for the long post. Thanks!</p>
<p>You can arrange to take the GCSE exams in the US. Talk with the exam coordinator at your school, and find out how to set it up.</p>
<p>You would not necessarily need to try to graduate from high school here. Almost all colleges and universities admit student who haven’t graduated.</p>
<p>The bigger question is how you will pay for college if your parents are unemployed. You may need to wait until your family has resettled in the US before you think about college.</p>
<p>I tried to but my school councilor said it would be very hard to arrange to do so as there are no Cambridge accepted test centers in the USA, especially where my dad wants to go back to (Olathe, Kansas). As for paying for university, If I do decide to go straight into one, I’m going for a Community College in Virginia with a guaranteed transfer agreement with University of Virginia, as it’s need blind. The CC’s are cheap, around 20,000 bucks for both years (including all expenses). So the cost is not the problem. My problem is will I be able to enter a CC with out the courses taken by high school students or not? I’m a pretty hard-working and smart guy, I just need to know if it’s going to be really tough.</p>
<p>You had best double-check the tuition and fees at that CC in VA. I expect that full cost of attendance for an out-of-state student (tuition, fees, books, materials, transportation, housing, meals, etc.) is closer to $20,000 each year, not $20,000 for two years.</p>
<p>If your dad is in KS, that is where your residence is likely to be as well, which would mean that you could easily be paying out-of-state fees at UVA. Yes, UVA does have good financial aid for OOS students, but I don’t know if that guaranteed transfer agreement includes OOS students, or if it is only for VA residents.</p>
<p>Check again about GCSE exam centers. If may be worth it to you to travel to a location where you can take the exams.</p>
<p>I’d also check Virginia’s residency requirements. There is usually a waiting period after you move into the state before you are considered a state resident for college purposes.</p>
<p>Your local US public high school may be able to offer summer classes to help you graduate before you enter college in September.</p>
<p>Eligibility for Virginia in-state tuition is governed by §23-7.4 of the Code of the Commonwealth of Virginia.</p>
<p>Some of the minimum requirements are twelve months of continuous domicile within the state of Virginia as well as proof of participation in the “activities of citizenship.”</p>
<p>Students living in Virginia for educational purposes only are unlikely to qualify for in-state tuition rates.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies everyone. Firstly, M’s Mom I’m waiting on the reply from the CC I asked about, so hopefully I’ll know more soon. Happymomof1 I double-checked again and it turns out to be around 28,000 a year total. And yes the Guaranteed Transfer agreement does apply to OOS students, as long as I don’t get anything below a C. </p>
<p>As for residency, as GolfFather mentioned it will be very difficult for some one who is only there for educational purposes.</p>
<p>Your dad may have enough ties to Kansas for you to qualify for residency there–you should look into schools there as well and ask them that question.</p>
<p>If your dad is out of work, just exactly how do you propose to scrape together the $28,000 each year that that CC would cost you? You can only borrow $5,500 for your first year with federal loans, and if you are in school full-time, it will be difficult to work a lot of hours at a paying job. </p>
<p>Does your dad own any property in the US, and does that qualify you for in-state status at the public colleges and universities in that state? Olathe is in the suburbs of Kansas City. There are excellent public schools near there, decent community colleges, and perfectly fine in-state public universities. Some of the institutions in KC-MO and the MO suburbs have favorable tuition rates for students from adjacent counties in KS. Check that out too.</p>
<p>Other things to investigate are whether you would benefit from taking the GED or any of the CLEP exams.</p>
<p>But if OP is still in high school, what may matter is his age now. In any case, it’s worth calling up the schools directly to ask how they would view his particular situation. This is not the kind of case where the family lives in a different state–they don’t live in a state at all at present.</p>
<p>One option may be to take e-classes for a Virginia Community College. It is substantially cheaper than on campus classes, and you may be able to get some credits out of the way without housing costs. I know many high school students (mostly homeschooled) who take classes at Virginia Western, and there is an excellent articulation agreement. For engineering, you probably want to go to Virginia Tech, not University of Virginia. </p>
<p>Happymomof1: Just because he’s out of work doesn’t mean we don’t have enough saved up for college. My dad’s job was director level, so we have decent savings. The only reason I’m going for a CC is because I have 3 sisters and we need to buy property, so I’m trying to cut costs a little at least. And no we don’t own any property currently. As for the GED and other exams, I really don’t have a clue about them. But I’ll ask around and see.
As for the residency issue, unfortunately I am not considered a resident in ANY state. I know Kansas has good universities, but I liked University of Virginia.</p>
<p>Mamaduck: I know Vtech is better for Engineering, but U.Va is need-blind, which would suit me better as again I’m trying to cut costs as much as possible. Plus I liked the campus for U.VA more and everyone seems to say it’s a much more fun university.</p>
<p>Will you be finishing your AS’s at this school or will you be leaving before the end of the year?
Any chance of a scholarship or bursary to help you finish?</p>
<p>Run the numbers with your dad. OOS costs for two years of community college, followed by OOS two years at U VA might be within the budget, or it might not. If your dad gets another job at the director level, you probably won’t qualify for any need-based aid at U VA. Your family should prepare to be full-pay for all four years.</p>
<p>The GED is the equivalent of a high school diploma. The VA community colleges almost certainly would accept it if you can’t get in with your HS record. I believe that at least one of the VA community colleges has residence halls, so investigate that. Many landlords would not be interested in renting to a first year college student, and it is likely that your parents would have to co-sign a lease. Some landlords would require evidence that your parents were working, or a significant deposit if they aren’t.</p>
<p>Many community colleges and public universities are pretty generous with CLEP credit. Again this is something that you will have to read up about at the websites. The CLEP exams can be taken at any time of the year, cost about $100 each (part of the fee goes to the College Board, and part goes to the testing center itself so this varies), and fall between the SAT II and AP exams in length and difficulty. If you know your major, taking a few CLEP exams to use for gen eds can make time in your schedule for other classes that matter more. Do be aware that the CLEP credit might help you finish your AA/AS faster, but that particular exam may not be acceptable at the university you transfer to, so you can find that you need to pick up a class at the university that could have been covered by a class at the CC that you replaced with a CLEP.</p>