Hi, I’m a incoming freshmen going to San Diego State University in the fall. This year, my parents are paying for me to go to college. However, I am thinking about paying for college the last 3 years. I don’t want all this debt on them, since they have to pay for my 2 other brothers to go through.
Let me explain the situation a bit more more. Tuition for SDSU is 35K including room & board OOS. We have enough to pay for the first year, but after that, we’re in trouble. If I apply as an independent for next year, I wouldn’t have any income to report. Just savings, which is maybe a little less than 2K, and scholarships I’ve received, which is $1.2K. If I apply with this, how much would FAFSA give me? SDSU does offer scholarships, grants, work-study. Would I get federal work-study? Plus, since they can only pay around 10K for the next 3 years, I think that paying on my own would be a better idea because they might offer me more money. One of the scholarships is renewable, $500 every year for 4 years if I stay above a 2.5.
I would obviously have to take out loans & work during the summer, but do you think I could make this work? Any input would help. Thank you!
Being considered an independent student is not merely a matter of being responsible for your own educational expenses. You must meet certain criteria to be declared an independent student for the purposes of the FAFSA:
Be 24 years of age or older by December 31 of the award year;
Be an orphan (both parents deceased), ward of the court, in foster care or was a ward of the court when 13 years or older;
Be a veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States or serving on active duty for other than training purposes;
Be a graduate or professional student;
Be a married individual;
Have legal dependents other than a spouse;
Be an emancipated minor or in legal guardianship;
Be a homeless youth;
Be a student for whom a financial aid administrator makes a documented determination of independence by reason of other unusual circumstances.
You need to put the brakes on this. You cannot afford SDSU based on what you have posted there. You are not an independent. You can take out loans and work during the summer and STILL won’t be able to afford SDSU without your parents support.
make it work with any schools $5,000-$10,000 dollar difference, but I don't want to push it. SDSU sent my official award, & I'd have to pay $35,000, UIC would be $29,000, ISU would be $21,000 (they gave me a $6,000 scholarship), so the most affordable, but they've had a lot of problems there with race & other things from what I've heard, and I'm an African American female. Both my parents don't want me going there if they can help it, but it's affordable so i
Are you instate for Illinois?
You need to apply to reasonable list. You applied to UCLA and a few other unaffordable OOS schools.
And is your major some sort of film or entertainment???
@CTTC yeah I was & I really did think about it A LOT, but it turned out that DePaul, UIC, Loyola Chicago were more expensive & my parents didn’t want me to go to UIUC or ISU so I chose SDSU. That & then they had the business program I was looking for. I decided to put film a bit over for later & go for a business sort of degree, even though I’d still like to work in the industry.
You need a four year plan for paying for college. So often, people focus on the first year only. What is your four year plan? If you only will enough for the first year, you will be forced to transfer to a school you can afford or work full time and take courses when you can afford it.
You can’t just "apply as Independent student next year. Sorry…that just isn’t how it works. You will be a dependent for financial aid purposes until you are 24, married, have a dependent child YOU support, are a veteran, are homeless. None of these things apply to you…right?
In addition, you will be paying OOS coats because your parents reside OOS.
Some folks are able to GE t a dependency override. I’m not sure that this would do you much good anyway. You would still be an OOS student at a CA public university. You still would NOT receive any institutional need based aid. None.
The most you would get would be $4000 additional Direct Loan, and whatever Pell Grant you are entitled to receive. All of that would lay for less than half of SDSU costs for an OOS student.
And…you don’t have a basis for a dependency override.
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Some folks are able to get a dependency override.
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How well do you know this “friend”? For a young single person w/o a child to get an override in for a Calif public, serious things must have occurred…like abuse in the home, parent abandonment as a minor, court-ordered legal guardianship.
Calif is just too popular for it to allow OOS students to simply move there, go to school, and claim “independent status”. Everyone would do it.
Be very careful when you hear other young folks say things about these matters…they often don’t tell the full story. Another student posted that he got residency…and neglected to mention that he’s a GRAD student. Another forgot to mention that his parent is in the military and Calif publics give instate rates to certain military kids.
SDSU is a California public university. There is limited public money for the university. The best funding for comes from the universities themselves. SDSU can barely cover state residents, so, they will not cover costs associated with OOS students using their limited public funds.
Your federal aid isn’t anywhere near enough to cover your OOS costs. Work-study money is minimal, at best, and it’s on a first come, first serve basis. (Maybe $3K.) It’s probably already been allocated for the incoming local students, for the next 4 years.
Your best bet is to wait a year and reapply to affordable universities…
Otherwise, you will go to SDSU for one year, and have to go home after freshman year.
Then, you will have to go to a local CC to transfer.
Transfers from OOS don’t receive any funds in California publics other than student loans. You;ll be worse off.
If your parents have $35k saved for your college, that’s ~$8,500/year. With the ~$5500 student loan and ~$3k summer work earnings you have a budget of ~$17k/year. If you take a gap year and work while you look for colleges that are within your price range you may be able to swing one that’s ~$20k/year, but I don’t see any way to make a ~$35k/year college affordable.
Work Study is a need based financial,aid award…awarded by the colleges. CA colleges are no longer offering need based aid to OOS students…so…this student would not get a work study award.
^^I don’t think that’s correct. WS is federal aid, not state aid. An OOS student at a California school would still get a Pell grant if entitled to it, and should be eligible for SEOG and work study. California is not giving state aid to OOS students, but should still be giving federal aid.
^^I don’t know if that is 100% true. Our EFC is zero and we receive the Pell and SEOG grant but no WS at our state school. The school implied we did not qualify for WS. We are guessing that since our Profile EFC was much greater that the school deem others to be more deserving of WS (which is only right). So I wonder if schools have leeway on how WS is distributed even a student qualifies.