Yes, I do realize. It’s also stupid. Why should I have to pay for social security(like 7%), if I don’t want to. 1. I won’t get all the money back, and 2. I could just as easily take 7% and put it in a separate bank account, and generate interest on it. It’s BS.
@calmom, I had considered that, but since it seemed that the family EFC would have little or no effect on the $$ he might receive from schools that don’t really meet need, I figured that it might help a bit–and it might help make him attractive to the kind of reach school that would actually come across with significant need-based aid w/o loans. But you are completely correct.
@project21 , that is all good. Especially the fact that you may be able to make serious money using your skills. There are some students who reportedly are able to make $15K plus over the summer, although the only ones I personally have heard of were MIT students. A kid I know who was majoring in CS–again, I am using the term loosely–and Northeastern was able to work in systems at Goldman Sachs and make serious money during his coop, but that wasn’t the kind of work he wanted to do, and he chose to go elsewhere after graduation.
BTW, regarding the ACT, you expressed skepticism elsewhere about its value. I recall several parents stating that the 20-40 hours their student spent studying for the ACT/SAT resulted in $80K or more of income in the form of guaranteed COA discounts. A lot more money than they could make in that time. 
@calmom What my kid had was a Perkins loan – PERKINS LOAN. There, got it right. WHEW! I’ll be more careful in what I type! Did NOT mean to confuse terms. I do think that was the extent of my confusion.
@redpoodles – in what way did your student’s aid money impact your taxes? Are you talking about education tax credits? I’m asking because the OP has suggested that his parents will not be contributing directly, so under that setting I’m not sure if they will be able to claim any credits. (Though the availability of such credits might be a good talking point for OP to get the parents to pitch in).
You should take advantage of the taxes that your parents (and you will eventually) pay and go to the affordable instate options at hand…
The school you go to will not matter if you have multiple CS internships under your belt.
@profdad2021 – I understand, and my point is that the OP can’t get a Perkins loan unless he also has a time machine… because what your kid had no longer exists.
I am not trying to berate you – I understand your source of confusion and we all make mistakes – I’m just trying to keep focused on providing accurate, current info to the OP because obviously the OP has already been relying on mistaken information and assumptions. So I just don’t want to see that problem compounded on a CC thread based on anecdotal reports based on past experiences, given various changes in the FAFSA and student loan system over the years.
@calmom No worries! I didn’t mean to sidetrack the thread!
@redpoodles how did your child’s financial aid affect YOUR taxes? Money you paid towards your kid’s college costs might get you one of the tax credits…but your kid’s need based financial aid shouldn’t appear on your taxes…at all.
Please explain.
@BelknapPoint how would a student’s need based aid affect their parents’ taxes??
Because (a) if you live a long time, you will get all that money back, and more; (b) even if you don’t live a long time, if you find yourself up against hard times at age 62, you will be very happy that you will be able to simply go online an sign up to receive a monthly check; (c) you aren’t going to put your money into an interest-bearing account – at the moment your goal seems to be find a way to dig a hole for yourself and pay interest to the bank; (d) current interest rates are worthless anyway.
Wake up. Do you have an aptitude for computer science? Or are you just choosing that major because you heard the pay is high? Because not all computer science grads find those high paying jobs – or keep them. Based on the nonsense you post online, I have a hard time seeing you get past the interview stage for the jobs, because you don’t seem to think things through and you make assumptions based on incomplete information. I do work in IT and no one wants a sloppy coder on the job – little mistakes and oversights cause big problems.
Given that you are only age 17, there is plenty of time for you to grow up and improve your critical thinking skills – but now would be a good time to start working on those goals.
You don’t get a choice bout paying into SS. If you are a w-2 employee, SS will be deducted from your earnings by your employer. If you are a 1099 contract worker, or are otherwise self employed, you will pay into SS when you file your income taxes every year and pay your self employment tax.
It’s not a choice.
Yes, I have an aptitude for computer science(If you check my earlier post in response to Consolation you can see that)
No, I found out the pay after choosing it.
Well, based on the fact(not some messages of mine you’ve read, but fact), that I have already had a job as a network administrator, and received two invitiations from serious tech companies, yes, I have a good feeling about getting past the interview stage.
I’m not making assumptions…I’m asking you people these questions. Unlike many of the highschoolers I know who rely on their parents to fix everything for them, I’m actually trying to figure out what to do on my own.
I don’t know why you think I’m a sloppy coder - but I can assure you that working in IT is not exactly something I’m aspiring to, so you don’t have to worry about that 
And my critical thinking skills are just fine, thank you very much. Have I been misinformed about the student loan process? Yes. Am I trying to gain new information to rectify that? Yes.
Yes, I know. That’s why I don’t like it. When I was working at the above mentioned job, I had to pay into social security. It was a cold wake up call and I hated the idea of being forced to pay the government as a highschooler.
Ugh. What an attitude.
Well, she was the one telling me to “grow up”, and “work on my critical thinking skills”, so a little attitude is justified, I think.
Towards people who work in IT in general? Clearly they were all snarking at you. Remotely. In their minds.
I don’t want to get into a petty insult fight. Her tone was condescending and demeaning, I responded. Let’s move on?
Uh-huh.
Good luck.
I’m saying I don’t want to continue, and want the thread to keep being educational in nature. I had one off-handed comment in response to her post, in which her entire tone was confrontational.
Have you run the net price calculators yet?
Until you do so, you are basically flying blind in terms of college costs. You need good information to make informed decisions.
On several of the colleges, but not all.
Purdue was around $40,000, and UofColorado at Boulder was $45,000. I need to sit down with my parents about it though, because some of the tax information I was guestimating.