<p>I'm a sophomore at Illinois State University. First semester last year I was put on academic probation. At the end of second semester and during the summer I had to petition for reinstatement. I was reinstated, but am currently doing poorly in my classes. I fear that getting my grades up will be impossible which is beyond pathetic given how early it is in the year. I'm not giving up; I'll fight for every last percentage point, but I am considering the possibility of leaving, either flunking out due to poor grades (my efforts being fruitless) at the end of first semester or simply dropping out second semester for the following reasons:</p>
<p>Financial life for my family is rough and only getting worse. My mom and three sisters all have severe issues (mental health, depression, fiscal irresponsibility, etc) and that's taking a toll in and of itself. That being said, we (meaning "my dad") can't afford to pay for us all to go to college. It's not just "Oh, this will be tight, but we can do it." It's having one sister at DePaul (a junior right out of community college), myself at ISU, another sister wanting to go to U of Iowa (a high school senior about to sign off on her college of choice), and the next year having my youngest sister entering college. If my mom somehow manages to get an even decent job then our financial aid goes out the window and one or two kids get screwed. I am willing to be one of those (hopefully only) kids. I am incredibly intelligent despite what my first paragraph may have led you to believe. I abused my responsibilities as an adult and I paid/am paying for it dearly. I can, however, give my sisters a chance to get an education. I'd much rather have myself out of college than my sisters. I understand how arrogant I sound, but I'd have a hell of a lot easier time finding a job with my intellect than my sisters could without a college degree.</p>
<p>If I do flunk out first semester, what happens to my financial aid/loans? I'm assuming the grants would simply disappear and the loans would enter their grace period, but I'm not entirely positive.</p>
<p>In a nutshell, your thoughts on a) my original idea (if it ever came down to it) and b) what you would do if you were paying for your child's college (2 $10,000 Parent PLUS loans over 2 years) and he/she dropped out? Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>Don’t flunk, withdraw. A string of Ws on your transcript would be infinitely better than a bunch of Fs. When your family situation settles down, and you do go back to college one day, it will be possible for you to explain the withdrawal due to family circumstances. </p>
<p>Today, go see your advisor, talk about what is going on with your family, and find out about arranging to withdraw from your university.</p>
<p>As for those Parent Plus loans: if your parents are borrowing that kind of money for all of their kids, they are borrowing too much given your description of their situation. Pretty soon they will have maxed out their credit, and they won’t be able to borrow any more. All of you need to get smarter about the money before the next kid hits college. U of Iowa is probably a very bad financial choice. Pop over to the Financial Aid Forum, and read through the threads there. Two good websites you should visit as well, are [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and [Project</a> on Student Debt: Home](<a href=“http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org%5DProject”>http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org)</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>Metallica, you are putting the cart before the horse. You are of no help to anyone as a college drop out with a string of loans and nothing to show for it.</p>
<p>Double down TODAY. Not tomorrow, today. Haul yourself off to class, sign up for office hours with each of your professors, have a sit-down with them and find out what you will need to do to turn the semester around. Show up at the tutoring center, talk to the tutors about where your deficiencies are and put together a calendar which shows when you are going to meet with the tutor, the deadlines for each of your papers or labs or what-not and your plan to finish off the semester.</p>
<p>You don’t have a lot of leeway if you’ve already had to petition once.</p>
<p>I know you think that once the financial burden on your parents is gone your families home life will improve, but that is a very short-sighted plan. Working at Walmart for minimum wage (while you have loans which will need to be repaid) doesn’t get your family very far. Working as a professional three or four years from now is a much better long term prospect. I know you think you’re smart and someone will hire you- but from my perspective, you’re a kid who wasn’t mature enough to handle college, and if I owned a business my guess would be that you wouldn’t be mature enough to handle working a responsible job either.</p>
<p>GET YOURSELF TO CLASS. You can turn this around. You need a bunch of C’s and B’s in your classes this semester to show the committee on academic review that they were correct in letting you back in. Then you can figure out if you need to take time off (withdraw, not flunk out) to help your family.</p>
<p>Look all you need to do is pass your classes with at least Cs. You don’t need to get As. A college graduate who got Cs is still a college graduate. What you need to do right now is to get to work making sure that you pass all of your classes.</p>
<p>What kind of job do you think you will be able to get as a college dropout? You already incurred debt and allowed your family to incur debt. You will be far better off ensuring that you get a degree than you will as a dropout.</p>
<p>It is only early October. You cannot be so far behind that you cannot pass your classes. Get moving.</p>
<p>I agree with happymomof1. If you are not ready to work harder to raise your grades, then withdraw or defer and continue when things get calmer. Wish you the best.</p>