Parents won't let me go away for college?

<p>I'm in my second year of university, and I plan on transferring for my Junior year to either University At Albany or University At Buffalo for the Fall semester to finish up my undergrad degree. </p>

<p>My parents however, don't want me to go live on campus, because I suffer from depression. They want me to instead apply to CUNY Queens College, which is my back-up college if I don't get accepted. </p>

<p>I can't support myself going to UB or UA because my parents are paying for me to go to college, which is why I'm in a tough situation. I live extremely close to QC, but I really don't want to go there because of the fact that I know too many familiar faces from my high school and my freshman year of college that I honestly don't want to see again. </p>

<p>Because of this, I'm stuck in a rut, I'm taking six courses at my current university to get my GPA up to a 2.97 ( I have a 2.6), which is borderline candidate. </p>

<p>How can I pay for college by myself without my parents?</p>

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<p>But a little over a week ago, you said this??:</p>

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<p>Either way, it’s close to impossible for a transfer student who is not independent to pay for college on their own. Merit scholarships for transfers are few and usually for relatively small amounts.</p>

<p>You probably can’t. You won’t get merit scholarships and there just isn’t lots of money out there. You need to wait until you are 24 to be considered independent by FAFSA rules to gain better EFC profile, but I doubt that would even yield much extra in institutional aid if any.</p>

<p>There are 16,000 students on CUNY Queens - surely you won’t run into old friends much, especially as you get deeper into your major classes and related activities. The few you will run into will have likely changed and if not, will be preoccupied with their own lives rather than reliving their HS days.</p>

<p>With a 2.6 GPA and an ongoing issue of depression, your parents’ stance is reasonable if understandably frustrating for you. I suggest that you think ahead for after graduation for making the move for independence. In the meantime, work on things that give you the steps toward independence…are you saving money? have you worked an internship in your intended professional field? looked at grad school options? figured out where you want to move after graduation? The 2.5 years left til graduation will go by rather quickly, so keep your eye on the long term prize.</p>

<p>True, QC is one of the colleges I"m interested in going to, but I’m worried because it seems like a far fetched dream of me attending Buffalo or Albany without my parents signing off. So I’m stuck either going to QC or if I get lucky, get accepted into either Hunter or Baruch.</p>

<p>Honestly I don’t because the main problem is, they fueled my depression. I fell in love with a girl my freshman year of LIU, but she transferred to Queens College. We aren’t on good or bad terms, it’s a bit complicated, but the thought of knowing she goes to the same college won’t let me be productive as I want to be. I kind of want the past to be the past and forget about her and my HS classmates.</p>

<p>Many moons ago, my parents demanded I was a commuter too. In retrospect, the family element was comforting, I had peace and quiet to study, and graduated with no loans because the tuition alone was affordable (state school) (magna cum laude). Having no loans translated into buying a car right out of school, and a home soon afterwards. I despised my parents for ten years, but cherish their decision now. Talk to them, they are people too, maybe there is some relevance you can find in what they are saying. And most of all, wow, I think its fantastic that you have parents that have taken the time to think this through and really do care about you. Best of luck, you will do great.</p>

<p>You are not in a tough situation because you don’t really have a choice to make. Either you go to QC whiling having you parents fully support you which is absolutely nothing to be depressed about or you find something else to do until you are 24yrs old and able to apply as an independent student to the college that you really want to go to. Seems like an easy choice to me.</p>

<p>First of all, worry about getting admitted into any of these colleges first because your GPA is low. Your excuse of not wanting to go to Queens simply because you don’t want to see familiar faces again is pathetic. Your parents are paying for your tuition plus they care about your depression problem so you have to listen to them.</p>

<p>Your chances are not looking very good for all the colleges you listed (Albany, Buffalo, Baruch, and hunter) and ironically, you can probably get into queens.</p>

<p>You don’t have money nor a good GPA. You don’t have any choice in my opinion.</p>

<p>The problem with QC is the fact that in order to get in as a transfer I have to pass three semesters worth of Math. Since I did poorly on the Math portion of the placement exam I got placed into the lowest category, last Spring I failed the remedial Math class, which means I can’t take the placement exam again. </p>

<p>As far as I’m concerned with Buffalo or Albany, I can raise my GPA up to a 3.0 by the end of the Spring semester, and take summer courses to raise my GPA up even higher. So in general, my chances of getting into QC are in fact lower than getting into Albany or Buffalo in my opinion.</p>

<p>You must be kidding. You are telling me that Buffalo and Albany won’t care that you have never taken any college level math? I can guarantee you that even Buffalo and Albany accepts you, they will still make you take a placement test.
I am just curious to what your major is? If you can’t handle a remedial math class at a community college then there is no way you are going to succeed at a 4 year university. </p>

<p>You can’t keep avoiding taking these math classes. Trust me, even if you get by and transferred to Albany or Buffalo, you would still need to take a placement test. And it is going to be a hell lot tougher there.
I am not trying to discourage you but my brother and I was in the same position as you. He didn’t do well in his math placement test and was put into introductory algebra class, a class that is 2 semesters away from the 1st college level math and is 4 semesters away from calculus(the class he needs to complete in order to transfer to his #1 business school). He worked his butt off and at the same time felt glad that he was put into that intro to algebra class. He learned so many things that he did not learn in high school. He will be taking calculus this upcoming semester and then transfer for fall 2011. I also did not do very well on my placement test and was put 2 semesters away from where I should be. </p>

<p>My point I am trying to make is that your placement test result shows that you don’t have the foundation to do well in college level math class YET. Don’t worry, you will eventually get there if you put in the time to study.</p>

<p>Anyway, did you look at the requirement for transferring into Buffalo and Albany? you are sure that it is not required to finish any college level math class?</p>

<p>Afaik, there are no placement tests at UB unless they do them for people in remediation. Placement is normally done via SAT math scores in the absence of other college/AP coursework. IIRC, a minimum of 3 credits of non-remedial math are required as gen-eds for all SUNY schools and it can be as simple as algebra/trig, although certain courses, like stats, may be required pre-requisites for whatever major you intend to apply for. </p>

<p>In fairness to the OP, success in math depends to a certain extent on the teacher and course materials and he may have had difficulty concentrating if he was also depressed. There are probably math labs and tutors available at all of his intended schools and he should definitely take advantage of them!</p>

<p>You’re definately correct bottlecap, as far as the Math requirement goes, I didn’t try as hard as I could last Spring semester with the course work. Because of this, I’m going to try harder with the Math. My plan is to take six courses during the Spring, most of them are easy introductory courses required by the college. I talked to an advisor in a meeting to make sure that they would transfer over. So I’m taking:</p>

<p>Philosophy II (3)
Non-Western Literatures (3)
Introduction to Sociology (3)
Music (3)
Developmental Skills in Math (0)
Career Readiness (1)</p>

<p>You’re definately correct bottlecap, as far as the Math requirement goes, I didn’t try as hard as I could last Spring semester with the course work. Because of this, I’m going to try harder with the Math. My plan is to take six courses during the Spring, most of them are easy introductory courses required by the college. I talked to an advisor in a meeting to make sure that they would transfer over. So I’m taking:</p>

<p>Philosophy II (3)
Non-Western Literatures (3)
Introduction to Sociology (3)
Music (3)
Developmental Skills in Math (0)
Career Readiness (1)</p>

<p>First, I am not trying to be a smart ass and I know people’s ability to learn is different but you shouldn’t have any trouble with the schedule that you have this upcoming semester. You seem like you know what you want to do and I think you will do well in those classes.</p>

<p>Think of it this way. You are now stuck at this community college that you hate much therefore you need to use this as a motivation to do well so that you can get the hell out of it :)</p>

<p>What is your major by the way?</p>

<p>Actually I’m attending a four year university, Long Island University Brooklyn Campus. I’m studying English, so that I can become an ESL Teacher, Grant Writer, or a Technical Writer. I suck at basic Math to the point where it’s hard to remember simple equations but I did well in a Technical Writing course this previous semester, which I got a B+. </p>

<p>The reason why I want to transfer has to do with the fact that LIU cost a lot of money, so I want to go to a college that will put me in the least amount of debt.</p>

<p>To be honest I don’t think there are a lot of memorization in math. As far as I remember you just have to understand the how to solve the problem. The key to doing well in math is practice.
I am glad that you want to transfer out of LIU. The school isn’t even ranked and expensive at the same time.</p>

<p>Did you take out a loan to attend LIU?</p>

<p>I applied for mostly scholarships and grants to pay for the expenses at LIU, my parents have been paying mostly out of their own pockets, but it’s not something they make a big deal out of. To be honest they make too much money so I"m not eligible for financial aid.</p>

<p>LIU is better for premed and nursing, mostly QC is a smarter decision because they have a better ESL program which allows students to go abroad for a year and teach while finishing their bachelor’s.</p>

<p>Since you got scholarships and grants from LIU you must be a really intelligent student back in high school. You shouldn’t have a problem pulling off good grades in LIU and transfer out.</p>