<p>I'm a junior in high school, who makes straight as (gpa is 3.68) and participates in extracurricular activities, etc. Basically, I try my hardest to be the best student I can. I spend time on my own studying for SAT tests, AP tests, and generally I spend 1-2 hours on an average day studying/researching college choices. However, my parents are refusing to pay for anything- including SAT tests, AP tests, college, etc. I've applied for jobs and even attended interviews, and recently got accepted for a summer internship. I'll be making about 1000 this summer, but my parents have made it clear that this money is going to pay for any testing and college applications senior year. Since I spend so much time on my schoolwork (1-2 hours a day), researching college, and playing an instrument (which entails 2 hours practice a day as well as several rehearsals a week) I find it difficult to find a job opportunity during the school year. I'm not trying to be a complainer, and I'm sorry this is so long. I'm just frustrated that I work hard for my schoolwork, yet my parents aren't willing to cover any of the necessary costs. How can I convince them to help out? (Also: we are a high income family, 80k+, so it's not as if we are suffering financially. This also means we don't generally qualify for financial aid.)</p>
<p>Have you talked to them about it in a rational, quiet manner?
Asked them why they won’t help? Ask them if there is anything that would change their minds? Maybe you could do some work for your parents?</p>
<p>If that doesn’t work I would consider asking your school guidance counselor for some help.
You could also put out the word that you are in the babysitting business!</p>
<p>Ask your parents what they expect you to do after high school, since their refusal to pay for anything will likely cause you to be able to afford only community college while working until you save enough money to go to a full college. Unfortunately, the government and colleges expect parents to pay and base tuition and aid on that, with no exceptions.</p>
<p>You need to find out what, exactly “refusing to pay for college” means. Will they continue to let you live at home for free if you commute to a local community college or 4-year institution? Will they help with transportation expenses if you do that? Will they feed, house, and clothe you during vacation periods if you get a big enough scholarship to go to a college or university that is farther away, or do they expect you to be out the door right after high school graduation?</p>
<p>If your parents’ pre-tax income is about 80k, that doesn’t automatically mean that you will be ineligible for any need-based financial aid. To find that out, you would need to run some of the Net Price Calculators for the colleges and universities that you are interested in. However, what the colleges and universities expect your family to pay and what they truly are able to pay can be two very different things. “Refusing to pay for college” may be how your parents have chosen to tell you “We can’t afford to pay for college”. So that is something else you might want to have a chat about. They really, truly may be in desperate financial straits and may not have one extra cent for anything.</p>
<p>Your grades are decent. If you nail the ACT or SAT there could be serious merit-based aid out there for you. Start reading here for ideas: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>Wishing you and your family all the best.</p>
<p>If they’re controlling this expense, they’re going to be much more controlling when it comes time to decide what college to pay for. Before you get too far into college research, find out to what extent they plan to help you with college costs. Please don’t be one of the thousands of kids who post on CC every spring saying they’re in tears because parents refused to pay where the kids got accepted. </p>
<p>There are many colleges that don’t charge an application fee. This info is listed in a chart on the Common App web site. Research the ones like that and which of those also offer decent merit aid for strong students. </p>
<p>This would get you free apps to colleges that may greatly reward your hard work. Be aware that these will not be “Ivy” colleges or similar “top” colleges. But many will also cost less. Be prepared to learn to love the colleges you get accepted to. I can tell you already that your parents will be very resistant to paying for anything beyond community college with their income amount and current behavior. This means you will be responsible for basic fedetal student loans each year in college and for working a paid job every summer. </p>
<p>How did you do on the PSAT this year?</p>
<p>Legally they have to pay for school. If they claim you in their taxes they have to help you pay.</p>
<p>Driko04 - You are absolutely wrong about that. Except for divorced parents who have specific obligations for paying for college written into the divorce settlement, no parent is legally required to pay one cent for their children’s educations. Claiming an individual as a dependent for tax purposes does not create an obligation to pay for college.</p>
<p>Driko04
Can you back up that statement with some proof. As happymomof1 stated, only in the case of a divorce where there is a written requirement in the divorce settlement is there a requirement of a parent to pay college tuition. </p>
<p>To the OP, unless they change their mind, I see that you have 2 options:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Community college. This is not an option only for slackers. Not at all! You will be amazed at how many smart kids are taking classes at community colleges and saving money. Look at the articulation agreements that your local cc has with area colleges and I suspect that you will be pleasantly surprised. And good grades count as there are often some very nice scholarships just for transfer students with top grades.</p></li>
<li><p>Apply to a uni that is likely to give you a merit scholarship with the grades/SAT scores you have. It may not be a top tier school, but it will be an affordable degree and that is what matters. </p></li>
<li><p>Study at home. Earn college credits via CLEP exams and then when you’ve earned a year or two of credit, contact Thomas Edison State College and look into finishing up. This is an extremely affordable option. I can direct you to resources specifically about this option if you are interested.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Don’t give up hope. You still have options.</p>
<p>You can actually get a college bachelor’s degree at some community colleges who have agreements with state Us AND/OR get a certificate to be an emergency medical technician, registered nurse, respiratory therapist, medical technologist, mechanic, paralegal or one of many other fields. There are A LOT of wonderful programs at CCs–one advantage of getting a certificate there is that you can earn & save a LOT of money with one while you contemplate what more you would get if you further your education beyond that at a traditional U.</p>
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<p>I’d be interested in hearing more about that myself!</p>
<p>Ultimately, if your parents aren’t willing to spend money on college, that is their right. </p>
<p>I’m sure your parents want the best for you and are willing to help you in other ways. See if they’d let you live with them while you go to cc, or maybe they just want you to be cost concious, and would be willing to help out with CC tuition - find out. See if they’d be willing to help with food…etc.</p>
<p>That means you will not have to waste time to study for SAT test or research colleges anymore.</p>
<p>Plus if you cut down on your instrument practicing and your extracurriculars, you will have time to get a job and save up money for college. Chances are that the skills you learn in your first job will be more useful to you long-term than your musical skills and/or extracurriculars anyways.</p>
<p>Your life’s only going to get more busy after highschool. If you can’t make time for a job now by cutting certain things back, you’ll definitely have a difficult time later. So, practice now.</p>
<p>Check out College Board’s CLEP program to get more info about this:
[CLEP</a> - College Level Examination Program (CLEP) -Save Time. Save Money. Take CLEP | College Board CLEP Site](<a href=“http://clep.collegeboard.org%5DCLEP”>http://clep.collegeboard.org)</p>
<p>Plenty of people go this route and then earn their degree through Thomas Edison State College, Excelsior College or Charter Oak. Check out this site to get some basic info on the whole process: [Degree</a> Forum Wiki](<a href=“http://degreeforum.wikia.com/wiki/Degree_Forum_Wiki]Degree”>http://degreeforum.wikia.com/wiki/Degree_Forum_Wiki)</p>
<p>Not to pry, but without giving too much identifying detail, what is your family background? This includes cultural, ethnic, US regional, immigrant, etc. I’m trying to get inside your family’s heads as to what’s behind their resistance to paying for your tests or application fees or anything to do with college. I don’t know if this is because are trying to instill a sense of responsibility in you by making you pay your own way, or maybe it’s because that even with $80K in income, family finances are still be tight because of the number of family members that need to be supported on this, or there is a higher than average cost- of-living due to living in an expensive area, or maybe there are other expenses (such as a high mortgage) that are eating into the family budget, etc. that they’re not telling you about? On the other hand, maybe they feel college is a luxury and that you are presumptuous for looking at it as an entitlement, and that they’d prefer you to work after high school either at an outside job or maybe in the family business.</p>
<p>So my questions for you to ask yourself are: are your parents making a point by not supporting you in your quest for college, along the lines of thinking that you’ll work harder if you know it’s coming out of your own pocket; can they really afford to pay for college, test feees and application fees; do they even think college is necessary for you, and if they don’t, what do they expect you to do after high school; and finally, what do you think will be their response if you do if plan to go to college anyway? </p>
<p>Not that the strategies offered by some of the posters above would differ, but if there are unusual circumstances, understanding what’s behind their intransigence might help you avoid resenting your situation and give you the strength to do what you have to do to reach your goal of a college education. There are many paths to a college education. Some involve community college, some involve night school, some involve going to a place that will give you enough money to get by (but it’s not the place you might have “dreamed of” if you’d had your choice of any college).</p>
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<p>The financial aid system expects them to pay under most situations, but the parents are not required to pay. Exceptions would include very low income parents whose expected contribution is zero, or students who are married, military veterans, or 24+ years old.</p>
<p>If the parents refuse to pay the expected contribution (which will be non-zero for income of $80,000 per year, although need based financial aid is likely at that income level), then the choices are likely:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Look for big merit scholarships which discount the cost of attendance down to that which can be covered with work-study and small student loans ($23,000 total over four years is the subsidized Stafford loan limit).</p></li>
<li><p>If military is a desirable option for you, there are some options: (a) apply to service academies, (b) apply to ROTC scholarships, (c) enlist and serve as per enlistment contract, then go to college on GI Bill money and financial aid independence of parents as a veteran.</p></li>
<li><p>Live at home and go to community college, but there could be issues with that as others have described above. And then you will have to figure out how to pay for a four year college to complete your bachelor’s degree.</p></li>
<li><p>Deep Springs College, but it is highly selective and you will have to figure out how to pay for a four year college to complete your bachelor’s degree.</p></li>
<li><p>If you are in California, UCs will give you grants of systemwide tuition if your parents’ income is $80,000 or less (Blue and Gold Opportunity). So if there is a local UC you can commute to while living at home, and your parents are willing to fill in the financial aid forms, it should cost about as much as community college (but then there could still be the issues of living at home as others have described above).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Maybe your parents have heard horror stories of kids who take the SAT 5 times and apply to 20 schools at $80 a pop. It would certainly make you study for the SAT and to carefully choose the colleges to which you apply if you have to pay your own money to do so…</p>
<p>I would definitely see what “won’t pay for college” really means. If it means that you will have to foot your whole college experience, then that will affect your future plans–ROTC, CC, work or military first, etc.</p>
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<p>If your GPA is less than a 4.0, you have not made “straight as”.</p>
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<p>Say what?? This is beyond absurd. Driko…where did you get THAT info. Your parents tax filing status has NOTHING to do with college costs in any way., shape or form. Even if your family does NOT declare you on their taxes, you will still be required to list their income/assets on your financial aid application forms. There is NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING that legally says they are REQUIRED to pay for your college costs. BUT if the college financial aid applications say they can…the parents are the FIRST in line for college payments. Still…they are not required to do this…just EXPECTED to by the schools.</p>
<p>To the OP…there are lots of ways to skin your cat. You have the money to sign up for the PSAT test given in October…do that. If you need to pay for the SAT…do that.</p>
<p>With regard to college costs…you need to get all of your info…and then look at affordable options for college and different ways to skin the finances cat…if your parents really won’t pay anything.</p>
<p>Practice for the ACT and SAT and get the best scores you can. </p>
<p>I don’t know if that internship is the best idea, since you’ll only earn $1000. If you worked full time over the summer, you could earn more.</p>
<p>Since your family isn’t low income and won’t be paying for college, your choices will be limited to:</p>
<p>1) finding schools that will give you huge merit scholarships for your stats (don’t understand how your GPA could be that low if you get “straight A’s”???</p>
<p>2) Commute to a local state school and pay with student loans and earnings.</p>
<p>3) start at a CC.</p>
<p>BuckeyeatHeart did a good job pointing out a few links explaining how CLEP works. DSST exams are another way to earn college credit. It’s called credit by examination. APs are another way, but they are only available to high school students. CLEP and DSST are available to anyone, regardless of age. </p>
<p>A few of my kids took them in high school and earned college credit that way as they are much more convenient to schedule when you are ready to take the exam. It helped them finish up college in less than 4 years so there was a nice cost savings. </p>
<p>College Board sells study guides for these exams just like it sells study guides for AP exams. Instacert is another resource for studying for these exams. </p>
<p>Not all colleges accept them, but not all colleges accept AP exams either. And as BuckeyeatHeart pointed out, there are 3 schools that readily accept them and you can put together an entire degree via credit by examination. It is a very inexpensive way to earn an undergraduate degree.</p>
<p>Check to see what opportunities are available at ALL your in-state Us & colleges & community colleges. </p>
<p>Our flagship U back in the day let me take the CLEP exam for Spanish language. I placed into 2nd semester, 2nd year. When I took a course where I was placed, I got credit for that course & the 3 courses leading to that course. I also placed out of psychology, so started my college with the equivalent of a semester of credits all from placement exams.</p>
<p>Us & CCs & colleges vary tremendously as to which give credit for what & which credits and courses WILL and WILL NOT transfer. If you are willing and able & your HS offers the option, some students do “running start,” where you can be dually enrolled in both HS & college for your JR and/or SR years and get credit for both while taking CC or college courses. This is another inexpensive way of getting college credits.</p>
<p>Try hard tdo avoid for-profit schools, which charge you MUCH more and you can often get the same at MUCH lower cost at public Us.</p>
<p>Not to highjack this thread but I must not understand the grading system on a 4.0 scale
Because I thought you could make straight As and have a 3.68</p>