Hello, I was just recently accepted to one of my top schools, SCAD (The Savannah location) and their tuition is roughly $33,000… Now I only received an $1,750 academic scholarship, and will likely only receive $3,000 in financial aid due to my parents well paying jobs.
This being said I’m not getting any help from my parents for college so figuring out a sound and secure plan for paying for college has become of the utmost importance… So with the aid & scholarship I have around a $28,000 gap to fill. I’m working throughout the school year so I’m hoping to contribute at least $8,000 to my tuition.
I’m planning on going independent within the year so I can get maximum financial aid (Which I heard can be up to $18,000 if you’re independent?) but for the first year at SCAD I still have 20k to pay off
Does anyone know what the best way/place to go about requesting for a one time 20k college loan?
Thanks 
You can’t just declare yourself independent. The rules are pretty specific. You have to be at least one of the following:
- age 24
- married
- an orphan
- a veteran
- have legal dependents
- be a ward of the court
- have some other unusual circumstance
You can get a federal student loan of $5500/year, but if your parents’ income is too high to qualify for Pell and they can’t/won’t help you, then you need to find a school that offers lots of merit aid for your stats or a local school within commuting distance.
Post 1 pretty much sums it up.
I will add…the likelihood of you getting a $20,000 loan without a cosigner is zero. You would either need a high paying job or very significant collaterol of your own to get a loan in that amount. If you had the high income or collaterol, you wouldn’t need the loan.
What do you hope to gain by becoming independent? SCAD doesn’t guarantee to meet full need. At the very most you would,get $10500 in Direct Loans, and a Pell Grant of $5730. Simply put…that is a drop in the bucket towards the full cost (tuition, fees, room, board, supplies, personal expenses, books,transportation).
Not sure where you got that $18,000 number.
The school would still be unaffordable, and you would still need a gigantic loan for each subsequent year.
You are only looking at tuition costs. Sorry, but you need to add the other costs to your list as well…and that beings the total to about $50,000 a year.
I don’t think you have an ice cubes chance in hell of gaining independent status…but even if you did…you would have a grand total of $16,000 or so of aid but a $50,000 bill. Where will the balance of $34,000 come from?
This school is not affordable for you.
Where did you hear about the ‘going independent’? Where do kids get this useless idea?
Hello again My Mother/Father would be willing to be a co-signer on a loan, the problem is they don’t have the money to support me now, but would be more willing to help as they save more. I have personally saved up ten grand and will be living with a roommate off campus and have the costs of living down, along with my job that willl bring in money.
I was unaware of SCAD not guaranteeing to meet the full need… thank you for that information. I’ve been looking into Pell Grants as well, but I’ve also looked into SCAD’s Scholarships for currently enrolled full time students, and I am going to be working to the utmost to qualify for those as I go from quarter to quarter, along with applying for any grants available.
Becoming Independent was suggested to me, mainly for the federal aid purposes but I’m seeing that’s not all it’s cracked up to be now. Though I may be getting married and forced to become independent within the next two years regardless
I actually heard about it from a teacher, sadly ! Hahah
If your parents don’t have the money to support you now, I wouldn’t take out huge loans and expect them to be able to help you later. If they could save that kind of money, they’d most likely be doing it already. And if they don’t have much money, they may not qualify for the loans anyway. Some families may qualify for a loan for the first year, but discover that they don’t qualify for years 2, 3, and 4. Really, the most a student should borrow is the maximum student loan amount (about $27k for all 4 years).
Do you have any financial safeties?
If your parents have income that exceeds about $50,000 a year, you will,not qualify for one cent of Pell Grant money.
The Pell,is based completely on your FAFSA EFC. What was that number? It would have to be $0 for,you to qualify for the full $5730 Pell Grant. I doubt that your EFC was $0.
And remember…if you get married, yoir spouse’s income and assets will be considered when you apply for financial aid.
And like I said…even with a max Pell and Direct Loan…you would still have thousands and thousands of dollars shortfall.
Well, students get the idea to ‘go independent’ from old folks, like me. My sister did it in 1973, and until my kids got ready to go to college I had no idea it wasn’t still an option. As OP said, a teacher recommended it and that teacher is probably 40-60 years old. It was common in the 70’s and 80’s, as was declaring bankruptcy on student loans. Things have changed.
Sorry, OP, but you need to talk to SCAD. If they are really only offering ~$2000, you need another plan. Community college, taking just one course, waiting another year. Not fun choices. Another option might be to play a sport, as SCAD does give scholarships.
Oh! Well my parents make pretty good money, my father is a chief police… But they were misled about college costs, and only saved a few thousand unfortunately. I wouldn’t want them co signing on anything more than a first year loan anyway though.
My apologies but can you define “financial safeties”?
@carlyk97
If 1997 was the year you were born and you don’t qualify under the other criteria that @austinmshauri posted, your odds of declaring independence are not looking good.
A financial safety school is a school,that is affordable, and where you will be accepted and would attend.
Did you appl,y to any colleges that your family can afford?
What state do you live in? Usually the most affordable schools are in state. I’m not exactly sure what your intended major is but every state has a school that teaches art and photography. I went to SCAD’s site and they are very forthcoming about the cost of tuition. How can you and your family not have seen it?
I went to a university that has a high profile school of the arts. Many of my friends majored in art. A lot of them are now teachers or realtors. IMO they spent a lot of years waiting tables while their peers were building careers. The world needs art and I respect it. But don’t borrow money you won’t be able to pay back for many years! I would not borrow even $5k per year for an art degree.