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<p>She did, and was denied, but the $4k still isn’t enough to close the gap (see post 3).</p>
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<p>Oops, I missed it. Nevertheless, choice number 3 is not really a choice. I was just being facetious.</p>
<p>Firstly, the way I got to CC last year was that my mum’s fianc</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>I don’t know how to get through to you, but you do have to understand that since you cannot come up with $900 plus $500 for the books, it is time for plan B.</p>
<p>First, ask a 4-year school you got accepted to for a deferral.</p>
<p>Then figure out what you are going to do for the next year.
- Can you commute by a bus to the closest CC? If yes, consider going there.
- Continue applying for jobs. If you are going to go to CC, apply for jobs nearby that CC.
- Get a driver license.
- Figure out what your future loan repayment are going to be if you decide to go OOS to complete your 4-year degree.
- Reassess your priorities regarding being happy for the next 2-3 years, vs. being happy for the rest of your life.</p>
<p>I really do wish you the best, but you have to think about college as a means to a goal, vs. a goal itself.</p>
<p>If $900 is the extent of your gap call the college and see if they can increase your aid or have short term “emergency” loans that are paid back quickly (a few months). I know a few colleges that have 300-800 emergency loans (usually intended for books).</p>
<p>However you can always take 1 or 2 years to set yourself up better…move, work, save, eventually transfer to an inexpensive in-state college. Slow down and redo the college plan instead of going into such deep debt.</p>
<p>First, I would just like to say, as someone who got excellent advice in the past and have seen excellent advice given to those in dire situations, I’m really surprised at some of the advice given. To give up a whole year, merit based scholarships, and almost full ride, because of $900 and advise someone to go to a CC where they were clearly unhappy in the past seems rash. Yes, $900 is a lot for someone who is very poor, believe me I know, but I truly dont think it’s worth it to give up going to school for a semester for. Especially with the risks of housing loss involved when the OP lives so far away.</p>
<p>Anyway, the advice. Look into whether or not your financial aid office has an appeals process. For some schools, its as simple as writing a letter to the office detailing hardships for paying the bill. Its not guarenteed, but it may bring you the extra $1000 or so you need to attend. IN the meantime, I’d reccommend joining the payment plan. How should you get the money for the first payment? Scrape up any money you can. Sell things. Do the odd job or two in the week-two weeks thats left for classes. If your payment plan really is 8 or 10 monthly payments, your first payment will be 90-112 dollars. Have a yard sale. I know it sounds childish and crazy, but its actually how a friend paid their first monthly payment for school when they were desperate for money.</p>
<p>After the first payment, search desperately for a job in college. Ask around. Try to find a job in the nearest town. A lot of towns are willing to hire college kids as servers/general grunt workers. It can also buy you time while the college reviews your appeal. These two things should keep you out of any more debt if they work, but of they do not, at that point the only way to get money is to find a cosigner for a microloan (doesnt seem likely) or beg from friends or family. Either way, that $900 sound doable if you’re flexible/have a nice financial aid officer willing to give you something extra. </p>
<p>Another thing to look into is cheaper housing. You said upperclassmen have to live in the more expensive dorms, but is your housing the least expensive option of the expensive ones? Do you have a meal plan you can cut down on? Swapping into a less expensive upperclassmen dorm or cutting down on meal plans can really help with that extra $900. Also, i dont know if you said this was allowed, but look into off campus housing. I dont know how it would affect your aid, but many times off campus housing is actually cheaper than living in dorms, and you should be able to use your aid to pay the rent. Get roommates, see what its like to really live on your own. Its a good experience and can help with your big bill</p>
<p>I purposely left out the cost of books for a reason. $500 is way too much to ever spend on books. I had 8 textbooks for all my classes last year. How much did I spend on books for the year, $8-900? No. $150, with one book being a custom bought book. Any book should be available online for super cheap/free as an ebook if you look in the right places. Google digital libraries. Kids literally put thousands of books online to share with others. Also, Google shopping is good for looking up books for dirty cheap. I saved $100 on a textbook i bought for $20 and resold for the same. If you really dont want to buy textbooks/want ebooks for books that arent for sale cheap, use Add/Drop period. For this you’ll need about $150-200, but youll get it all back. Buy the book during your bookstores syllabus week where they allow returns for full price. Go to the library, spend a few hours, scan the book. Return the book for full price. Rinse and repeat until you have a whole collection of ebooks that you can print if you want. Not only does this method save money, I find it helpful to only have to bring parts of books to class and being able to break a book up easily. </p>
<p>This post is longer than I anticipated, but I do hope you can get the funds you need and save where you can. As a poorer minority, I understand how it feels to work hard and still come up short in trying to go to college. IF you work hard (and maybe get a really marketable degree) you’ll find its all worth it.</p>
<p>@margg11, thank you! I feel like you actually really understand where I’m coming from. I was very miserable at my CC. With a string of horrible roommates and suitemates (and racist ones at that) and because I don’t party, I felt incredibly ostracised and it took a huge toll on my mental health as well as my physical health. I was nineteen at that point (I’m now twenty), and as embarrassing as it was, I would call my mum crying my eyes out and wanting to come home because while the campus was pretty and my classes were good, it was like living in hell. </p>
<p>I just sent an e-mail to the student accounts office to see if there’s anything else I can do so that I don’t have to take this semester or a year off. I already took a year off between high school and starting college, and another year would put me even further behind than I already am. I’m already graduating in 2015 rather than 2014, so taking more time off is my last resort and advice that I really didn’t want or need to hear when I am already so exhausted from trying to do this all on my own as a first generation college student.</p>
<p>I’m definitely already searching for a job in the area and have found a few to apply for already and will be doing that ASAP. My biggest worry was paying the money for the first payment in a plan and trying to pay for books so that I have them as well as time to look for a job and have that money to work at a payment plan. We are holding a yard sale at my house this weekend in an attempt to get some more money for travel, so if we make enough, hopefully I’ll be able to get things going on a payment plan. It’s looking unlikely, but I’m hoping. As for housing, I’m required to live on campus until I’m a junior at least, so I can’t move off campus and the apartments are the cheapest option for housing for upperclassmen. I will have three roommates in the on campus apartment I’ll be living in should I be able to get things taken care of.</p>
<p>Finally, thanks for the advice about the books. I’ll definitely look into doing some of that. Some of the books for a couple of my classes haven’t even been set yet, but I’ll do my best to find the ones (I’m certain I can find e-book versions of the novels set for one of my lit classes) I can online for free or cheap. I had a book allowance at my CC so I was less worried then but seeing as I’m struggling at the moment, my financial aid really can’t go toward books so I’ll definitely go on a Google spree to try and find some of my books. Hopefully I’ll be allowed to use my laptop in all of my classes; I wasn’t allowed to at some of my classes at my CC.</p>
<p>Anyway, thank you very much for your advice; it’s more useful to me than some of what I’ve been hearing and I’m grateful that someone can relate to my experiences as a poor minority and working hard only to feel like nothing’s coming out of it. Much appreciated!</p>
<p>Almost full ride?</p>
<p>The OP needs borrow in excess of 10K a year!</p>
<p>Sourwolf: I would also encourage you to attend community college, but $900 is something that I think you could swing working part-time in Amherst. I completely get the aesthetic and non-drinking issues in Maine. </p>
<p>Talk to the financial aid director at Daemen and tell him/her that you don’t want to miss the opportunity to go to school because you are shy by $900. So inform them that you are looking for a weekend part-time job on Niagara Falls Boulevard to make the $900. </p>
<p>My daughter attends SUNY Buffalo and the main campus is in Amherst. Most of the student work force leaves in May and the “help wanted” signs are posted in August. Since most of Niagara Falls Boulevard caters to the tourist trade, and they have a big need for student help, I would suggest you start emailing some applications. </p>
<p>Start on Maple Ave. with all of those businesses near the Mall ( and Boulevard Mall and food court), and go up through the whole SUNY Buffalo north campus area in Amherst (Anderson’s Custard, Wegmans, Target, Best Buy, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Applebees, Abercrombie). They’ll probably pay just a little over minimum wage, but the work is there all along those two long streets. Try that and see what happens. They do have public transit.</p>
<p>Additionally, my daughter got all of her engineering books online for less than $30, but she bought these over a month ago. She has “free” two-day shipping through Amazon Prime.
Good Luck and let us know; I know my daughter will visit one of those locations that you’ll be working!</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, aunt bea. I’ll definitely look into some of those places for work. I appreciate it!</p>
<p>My kids told me that there is a Windows version of kindle that will run on your own computer. They were able to get digital versions of some of their course reading materials for free or for significantly reduced cost.</p>
<p>Find out if the college library has any of the books that you will need for your courses either in the Circulating Collection, or better yet in the Reserve Collection. While you could check the Circulating book out for a longer period of time, so can any of your classmates. The Reserve books will be available for a limited period of time (usually only one or two hours each time you check them out), and may have to stay in the Reserve section of the library, but no one will be able to “hog” them for very long.</p>