<p>I am completely at a loss of what to do. I go to school out of state, classes start August 26, and my parents just now decided they will no longer pay my tuition. I have absolutely no financial aid as the paid for everything before, and I have less than $1000 saved up. I really, really, REALLY do not want to take a semester off because I need specific classes for my major that are only offered in the fall semester, which I then need for certain classes in my spring semester. So basically taking a semester off would put me a year behind. As of now my tuition is about $15,000 per semester, but I figured out that if I only go to school part time to take the three classes that are only offered fall semester, it would be under $5000, and I could get a full time job to save up and pay my rent. But I do not know how I can get that money in the next month because I don't qualify for student loans without a cosigner. I really just need ANY help, ANY ideas. Thank you!</p>
<p>If you can’t work it out with your parents, you’ll probably need to take a full year off to earn/save, and even then it may be tough. </p>
<p>What is your parents’ rationale? Usually there is some background situation that causes parents to draw a line - something like this “out of the blue” would be unusual. What have they been telling you up until now? Are there things you could do to change their mind?</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s not exactly out of the blue. I basically made a huge mistake, but I don’t see how cutting off or delaying my education is a correct consequence… I think I’m old enough to learn from my mistakes without them needing to punish me like that. I’ve tried, the only reason why I’m so desperate now is because this all happened back in May but my mother told me she’d send me back to school until just a few days ago. I really just don’t know what to do, but there is nothing more important to me than getting back to school in the fall.</p>
<p>If your parents filled out a FAFSA, you should be able to get a federal student loan. But if they pay for everything themselves or you are otherwise ineligible (you’ve been in school too long or you’re not a citizen, etc), that won’t help you. Some schools have payment plans. Look into it to see if you can buy yourself some time while you work. Honestly, though, your best bet is to figure out a way to rectify things with your parents, if possible.</p>
<p>I tried, believe me I tried. Anyway, I never filled out the FAFSA because my parents refused to give me the information that I needed, because they are weird about giving that stuff out and insisted they made too much anyway. And since they were paying for it, there’s no reason I needed loans. And now it’s too late for that, plus they STILL wont give me the information. I’m going to call the school tomorrow about payment plans, though I’m pretty sure they don’t offer any.</p>
<p>I believe you can still get money through the Staffords even if your parents refuse to sign off, but not as much. You have to check on that. But otherwise you need to take the year off and work and get squared away for the next year. Are you living with your parents now? </p>
<p>DO remember the Golden Rule: He who has the gold, makes the rules. Your parents do not have to pay for your education. It is expensive and an an grateful child is painful and makes the expense not worth while to many. You are not a child anymore.</p>
<p>Suck it up and take a gap year.</p>
<p>Your college will grant you a leave of absence. Work and save during the year, make yourself independent, and return to school. Your major will wait; the only thing you are losing is time - time which once you join the rat race you will wish you have more to enjoy. The economy sucks, so getting out into the real world can be delayed. Look at this as an incredible opportunity. If you miss your friends and social scene at school, move there, live nearby and work in a real (albeit probably low paying job).</p>
<p>At the end of the year, you will appreciate the incredible number of hours it takes in a menial job to pay for a college credit. You will appreciate your independence and look back at the year you just experienced with pride.</p>
<p>See if you can take a one year leave of absence from your school. During that time you should work, and see what you need to do to regain your parents’ support.</p>
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<p>Op cannot simopky make her self independent. There are strict guidelines that determine if one can be an indepndent student.</p>
<p>from FAFSA</p>
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<p>Since none of this applies to OP, she wil still be a dependent student after she takes a gap year and goes to work. If she makes enough money to fully support herself and pay for school with out any assistance from her parents, then all is good. Otherwise, until she turns 24 or graduates college and starts grad school, she will need her parents finanial information in order to receive finanical aid.</p>
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<p>The unsubsidized loan would be $4000.</p>
<p>By independent, I did not mean legally under the fasfa guidelines. I meant in the terms that a person without wealthy parents, and who does not want to get buried in debt would view it - work, save, think about how to spent (allocate) scarce resources.</p>
<p>Who cares about legal niceties; this is a question of gaining spiritual independence,
; of making your own way in the world; of beginning your own life away from the nest.</p>
<p>Go head Tell them thing like if they don’t pay for you!you are no longer their child!for you that mean they give up on you!trust me it will work!at least it worked for me!haha</p>
<p>Do not attempt to pay for this year yourself, even going part time. You’ll likely get into a hole financially…and then you’ll owe the school and get stuck.</p>
<p>Take the gap year, find a job, work - work - work, and then return to school.</p>
<p>I agree with the other parents who have said, either find a way to work things out with your parents, or take a year off. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you everybody for responding. I really just don’t see taking a year off as a possibility. Like I said I go to school out of state and that’s where my entire life is now… I absolutely hate the area where my parents live and theres nothing left for me there because everybody I know moved on and out. In addition my parents and I have a horrible relationship at this point and my stepfather has essentially kicked me out of the house, and I know I cant stay here. All I want to do is get out and do this for myself. I know that most of the posters on here are parents so they are obviously going to tell me to give in to mine but there has got to be some other way… And my parents are NOT negotiating anything anymore. Oh and workhard I tried telling them that, except with me it isn’t even a threat anymore it’s the reality.</p>
<p>You are miserable at home. Your relationship with your parents is severely damaged, if not permanently broken. You have reason to believe that you can make a new life for yourself in the city where your university is located. So, move there. Get a job. Pay for your living expenses. Study part-time when you have the cash for your classes. Take a semester (or more) off when you need to in order to save up for tuition/books/etc. It will not be easy, but it can be done. In fact many college students do this very thing.</p>
<p>However, given the short time frame that you have, it may not be possible for you to put this plan into action in time to enroll in classes this fall. Do consider the earlier advice about a leave of absence while you reorganize your life.</p>
<p>* Like I said I go to school out of state and that’s where my entire life is now…*</p>
<p>You’re not thinking clearly. Your plan of going part-time and working full time to pay for everything would mean that you wouldn’t even have a life at your school. You’d have no time/money to be with friends…they’d all move on without you. and, they’ll graduate on time, while your plan means graduating later.</p>
<p>If your SF and mom are cutting you off (and kicking you out sounds like they will never pay), then your goal of going part-time will not just be for this year. Instead of having 2 years left of school, you’ll take at least 4 more years. </p>
<p>I highly doubt that you could earn enough to pay for your college classes, rent, food, and getting back and forth to a FULL TIME job to make ends meet for 3-4 more years. I doubt you could even do it for one year.</p>
<p>You seem to think that you can somehow get to your OOS school, somehow pay first month’s rent/deposits, QUICKLY find a full time job, QUICKLY start receiving paychecks and it will all work out. Sorry, but that’s just naive thinking.</p>
<p>OP, it’s not that the parents are “siding” with your parents, it’s that as parents we know that there is no money fairy out there, and we also know that it is not possible to just all of a sudden come up with tuition in one month. The reality that you are facing is that you are getting kicked out of your house, you need to work and pay for your living expenses. If you live frugally and make a decent living you may be able to save some money to go to college in the future.</p>
<p>Do you have any other relatives that would be willing to pay for your college tuition and living expenses? If not, there isn’t going to be a way for you to come up with the funds in a month to pay for a semester or a year of school. This is just your reality.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to live at home, you can rent an apartment in the city/state where your school is if you can get a job there and if anyone will rent to you without a co-signer. </p>
<p>But I don’t think you can afford to go to school. You say tuition is $15K per semester but if you only take 3 classes it will be 5K – that doesn’t sound right. I full-time load is probably 4-5 classes, so it doesn’t make sense that 3 classes would cost 1/3 of full tuition. And… even if that’s correct, you don’t have 5K. And you don’t have money for first/last month’s rent that you would need to rent an apartment. You don’t have money to pay toward room & board at school, even if you can get a monthly payment plan. If you can borrow 4K, and with your 1K in the bank, that may cover the first payment on a payment plan for tuition (if it’s really under 5K) and room and board. Room and board at school for a semester is probably another 5K. So, that’s 10K before books and incidental expenses (do you have a cell phone bill? medical expenses? social activities?). If there is a payment plan that allows you to pay in 4 payments, your 5K from loans and money in the bank covers 2 payments. Just to make your other 2 payments, you need to make another $5K over the first 3 months (your payments will almost certainly be due at the beginning of the month). So you have 13 weeks to earn 5K just to cover your billed expenses. Working full-time, that’s 520 hours, so you need to earn $9.61/hour to cover your fixed expenses. And that doesn’t leave you anything for your books, phone, medical, travel back to school (even if you never go home, you need to get there at least once). So, suppose you’re very frugal and can get by on $2K/year for all that. To make 7K over 13 weeks, you need to earn $13.46/hour. And of course all that assumed that there would be no deductions from your income, but there will be (social security, etc.). So you probably need to work full-time earning at least $15/hour or more to make this work. I don’t think you can get such a job, so… I don’t think you can go back to school. Once you start the semester, if you find you can’t earn enough to make payments, they will boot you out, but you will STILL OWE THEM THE MONEY. Even if you take a year off to work, particularly if you are not living at home and thus paying for your own rent and food, you probably won’t even be able to afford to go back to school full-time the next year. If you work full-time for a year at $10/hr you’ll gross $20K, out of which you’ll pay taxes and living expenses. At that point you’d be in a better position to go back to school part-time while still working full-time at least.</p>
<p>We’re not telling you to suck up to your parents because we’re parents. We’re telling you to suck up to your parents OR take at least 1 year off, because those are your only options, unless you have a <em>very</em> lucrative job lined up. No one is going to loan you enough money to go back to school, even part-time, without a co-signer. And attending part-time is probably not the best financial bet in the long run. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>You say tuition is $15K per semester but if you only take 3 classes it will be 5K -</p>
<p>exactly right. 3 classes would likely be about 7-10 credits, and that would cost more than $5k. Each credit would be at least $1000 each…likely more if this is a private school. </p>
<p>Maybe you misread the school’s financial page. Maybe ONE class of 3 credits would be about $5k…that sounds about right.</p>
<p>However, you’d need another $10k or so for room and board…plus any travel costs PLUS personal/daily expenses. It’s highly unlikely that you’re going to quickly find a job that pays you $20k+ per year to cover your costs.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that you’'re not going to get your entire earnings…There will be deductions from your paycheck…fed & state taxes, FICA, etc. Single people get hit hard with taxes.</p>
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<p>Parent here…this would NOT work in my house. We don’t predicate our support for our children on their threats. This student already has some sort of issue with her family. To do the above would make the issues even bigger.</p>
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<p>I will say…<em>I</em> don’t see how you plan to return to school without the funding to pay for it. If you are going to college OOS, and you have not completed a FAFSA, this implies you are FULL PAY at either an out of state public or a private university with costs somewhere between $40,000 and $60,000 for ONE year. How would you pay these costs? Even if you get the Stafford (Direct) loans, that would merely be a drop in the bucket for your costs of attending this college out of state.</p>
<p>You need to look at the bigger picture. Either you need to figure out a way to make amends with your parents…OR you need to figure out how to garner a huge amount of money to cover your college costs.</p>
<p>I think your best bet is taking that year off, doing something that demonstrates to your parents that you deserve their support…and hopethat they will do so.</p>