<p>*it is not your concern( i dont mean to be rude, its just a touchy subject for me. my sister was the only person i was close to in my family) … its done its over. no they are not native born americans, I am colombian, and my sister was the prodigy child until halfway through her MBA prep she got pregnant. thats all im going to say because like I said my whole family is flat out convoluted. *</p>
<p>I wasn’t really asking for the dirty details. I was more thinking that if the insults cross the line of “abuse,” then you might be able to get declared an independent for FA purposes. That would help you immensely.</p>
<p>I was also asking if you’ll have to literally be out of the house while you’re still in high school and whether you have friends/family that you can live with until you graduate. I’d hate to think of a high school student literally being homeless. :(</p>
<p>So, now that we know that you’re Hispanic…will you make National Hispanic or National Merit? What was your PSAT? </p>
<p>And, since we have a more clear picture of the situation, we can assume that you won’t be getting FA forms filled out by your parents. OK…you can still get small federal student loans. :)</p>
<p>You still have some options But, now we can suggest schools that will really be better given the known parameters.</p>
<p>How does Bright Futures work? Will that cover tuition and room & board at an instate school? If so, then you are one lucky guy! You could get a part-time job during the school year, which ought to be enough for personal expenses and books. Those times when the dorms close and summers will be a challenge if you can’t stay in your parents’ home, but you can probably figure out a way to resolve that too. I know a kid who lives on his campus year-round. In the summers he works for the college in their janatorial dept. It pays enough to support himself over the summer – he has to pay a modest rent to live on campus during the summer, and he earns enough on top of that for food and whatnot.</p>
<p>And then there are camp counselor jobs which pay and give you a place to live and eat as part of the deal. I’m sure there are other options as well.</p>
<p>The specific scholarship guidelines may change for 2011, but the search strategies discussed will still be useful to you. As others have written, there is no Financial Aid Fairy out there who will resolve your problems for you. However, if you can keep your own eyes on the prize, you can achieve your own dreams.</p>
<p>Happydad’s family is Spanish-Cuban-Venezuelan so I have seen plenty of crazy behavior in my time. If your insane Colombian family is more insane than the average, do your best to keep your own self sane. Over the long term, perhaps you will find better ways of dealing with each other. Perhaps you won’t. But if you become insane yourself, you will never achieve anything.</p>
<p>Yes, seabas9232, I wish you all the best too! I also came from a horrendously messed-up family. I couldn’t get away from them fast enough. Since then, though, life has been mostly really really good… and that was a l-o-n-g time ago now!</p>
<p>Very true…you can move on with your life with little-to-no future contact with toxic people/relationships.</p>
<p>You have been given the gift of intelligence. Combine that with some well-thought out decisions, you can have a very successful life apart from toxic family members.</p>
<p>I have learned something the very hard way that life is not fair. When I was younger, I would react with anger and it never helped. You have choices, they may not be the best choices in your mind, they may not be the best choices that you could have otherwise had, they are not definitely not the best choices you deserve, but unfortunately they are the only choices you have now. So how do you make the best of it? The first thing is acceptance.</p>
<p>It is easy for me to say, but being angry is not going to get you far. The best choice you have is to get a school where you get a full ride, work while in school so that you have some money for emergencies and go from there. And please realize, the parents on this forum are well meaning and they tell you what they think. mom2collegekids (as well as many of the others who have responded) is an active poster on this site and I have always found her posts and approach well meaning and showing genuine concern.</p>
<p>So if you disagree with people giving you advice, do so politely. After all you asked for advice and suggestions.</p>
<p>Sebas, lots of good advice here. As far as your family, consider reading the book Toxic Parents. It’ll be important that you can get some distance from them and some emotional healing so you don’t have it all come back to you when you’re on your own. </p>
<p>If you want a smaller college, would you be interested in New College or is it too small? </p>
<p>I still think you’ll be stretched to pay for room and board if you go to an instate school. You will have to get merit (is there anything local you can apply for), earn some money and/ or do what you can to decrease costs (perhaps look at what it would cost to live off-campus).</p>
<p>“I’d hate to think of a high school student literally being homeless.” - </p>
<p>Ya But - on the somewhat crazy side of this dilemma - Isn’t being declared homeless (for even one documented stay in a homeless shelter) grounds for simplified -0- EFC on the FASFA.</p>
<p>*
I still think you’ll be stretched to pay for room and board if you go to an instate school.*</p>
<p>I agree. Hopefully some FL state schools, such as UCF or New College might offer scholarship dollars that can be stacked on top of Bright Futures. </p>
<p>Room, Board, Books, misc, can easily cost $12k+ per year. That can be hard for a student to come up with since he can only borrow $5500 the first year. </p>
<p>He’s in a different situation then many kids. He won’t have parents who are paying his cell phone bill, etc. If he’s short for money one month, he won’t have parents to go to. He can’t rely on 100% of his own income to go for direct college costs. </p>
<p>He needs to include some schools that will give him big merit for his stats. There are schools that would give him a free-ride or near free ride.</p>
<p>And, if his SAT scores reflect his PSAT, he’s likely a NMF or at least a National Hispanic Scholar. </p>
<p>Sebas, read the qualifications for an independent student on page 3 of this link. Seek help from your GC, principal, or vice-principal in documenting your situation. If you are determined to be independent for FAFSA, you’ll not only avoid having to try to get your parents to file FAFSA, you’ll also likely be Pell-eligible (up to $5550/year) and eligible for increased Stafford loans. Good luck…</p>
<p>If you are not looking for a school with “9539879873419085902” students in it, like UF, (I completely agree), maybe you should look at Rollins, New College, Eckerd, and the University of Miami. They are all private school, and they come with a big price tag, but (from what I’ve seen) they offer a good amount of merit financial aid (which you could get, from the looks of it). I am going to visit Rollins next week, if your interested in what I find.</p>
<p>Last year I had similar stats and knew there was no way I was going to UF and that I had to leave Florida.</p>
<p>Apply for the Johnson Scholarship at Washington and Lee. It is a full ride. If you’re chosen they fly you out to the school for three days, it’s pretty amazing. </p>
<p>American University has the Kogod School of Business which has good rankings, you’ll probably definitely get some money but there are also full rides are available, the app is separate. </p>
<p>UCF has a good honors college and will give you the difference between bright futures and tuition (if you apply early)</p>
<p>New College will give you 2,500 a year</p>
<p>FSU gave nothing but I’ve heard of people calling up, asking for merit money and getting it so it may be worth a shot. </p>
<p>UF rejected a kid with a 33 ACT, your GPA is way low for them, you’ll probably be fine but good students use UF as a safety and it really isn’t.</p>
I was more thinking that if the insults cross the line of “abuse,” then you might be able to get declared an independent for FA purposes. That would help you immensely.</p>