Paying for college on my own

Paying for College
1

<p>It looks like I'm going to be paying for college completely on my own. My dream school is going to cost $20,000 in tuition plus room and board, and that's with a $20,000 merit scholarship.</p>

<p>My parents are in debt, but make too much for me to qualify for financial aid. The FAFSA EFC was $13,000 o.o They can't really help me, and since we don't have a great relationship I don't think they'd help me even if they could. They can't take out any more student loans either since they did that to pay for my sister's tuition, and I have no credit.</p>

<p>When I was doing college applications, I stupidly disregarded prices and just went with the ones I liked the most. Now it's too late to apply for most of the cheaper schools, but even in-state schools are expensive.</p>

<p>I haven't received the financial aid package from the school yet (they said they'll be out within the next few weeks), but once I do I'll schedule a meeting with the fin aid department to see if they can help at all. Meanwhile I've been applying for outside scholarships like crazy, and I think if I can get maybe $10,000 I'll be good to work part-time and do work study programs on campus. But assuming that doesn't happen, looks like I'll be working full-time while in school and starving.</p>

<p>I know it'll be difficult, but... can anyone give me an idea of just how difficult? Is it even possible to work full-time and keep grades up? </p>

<p>Also - I've figured out that if I live at home and take public transit to school every day, it'll cost about $5,500 less than it would if I lived on campus and paid room and board. It's a 45 minute drive, but I don't have a car and don't want one (hate driving, plus cars are too expensive), and takes an hour and a half on public transit. I'd have to get up early in the morning, but that's not an issue for me, I already do. Any input on whether it's worth it or not to take the bus instead of living on campus? I'm not sure how much of a pain it would be.</p>

<p>Thanks for any help you can give.</p>

2

<p>Jessa, with all due respect, this is just not workable. You will end up racking up debt and then dropping out. It happens to many kids. Then you will transfer to a 4th tier state college and struggle. </p>

<p>Assuming you can live at home for a year, what you need to do is take a gap year. Work, volunteer whatever. Do NOT.NOT.NOT take any classes. Keep your freshman status intact. Reapply. You will need much better aid.</p>

3

<p>You should check on the responses on some of my threads. I’m in the same boat as you and people offered up good advice. Just a note on scholarships though. If the school is giving you any financial aid (grants, loans, etc) then the outside scholarship money (the $10,000 you said you were hoping to get) will dig into that money first. So you might want to look at your FA package or estimate and see if that’s a viable option. The outside scholarships don’t actually affect EFC until all the grant and loan money has been covered.</p>

4

<p>there are still a few schools not only accepting apps but still offering automatic merit…</p>

<p>have seen that uah is still offering
and i know that uab [UAB</a> - The University of Alabama at Birmingham](<a href=“http://www.uab.edu%5DUAB”>http://www.uab.edu) is still offering scholarships to oos (instate funding already exhausted)// total cost for oos is 20-25K (tuition, dorm, food) and with a 28 act and 3.0 gpa they award 15K… cost left over would be 5-10K (much less than the 20K you are looking at now)</p>

5

<p>What are your stats?</p>

<p>Something like the above would work…you could take out a student loan for the rest and work part time.</p>

6

<p>From your PM, it looks like your M+CR is about equal to an ACT 29. </p>

<p>If so, then UABirmingham will work out for you so apply there ASAP.</p>

<p>From your PM, your major and career interests work well for UAB.</p>

<p>with a student loan (5500) and some summer work money, I think you’re good!</p>

<p>Hopefully, Parent56 can give more details on OOS costs, R&B and so forth.</p>

<p>I think that UAB doesn’t require a meal plan, but maybe I’m wrong there.</p>

<p>Just checked, yes your M+CR is equal to an ACT 29. You may get a bit more money if there’s some available…but it may depend on your actual major selection.</p>

<p>.</p>

7

<p>I’ve thought about a gap year. But again, my relationship with my parents is iffy, and even if I paid for all my expenses and gave them rent, I think they want me out of the house.</p>

<p>“Just a note on scholarships though. If the school is giving you any financial aid (grants, loans, etc) then the outside scholarship money (the $10,000 you said you were hoping to get) will dig into that money first. So you might want to look at your FA package or estimate and see if that’s a viable option. The outside scholarships don’t actually affect EFC until all the grant and loan money has been covered.”</p>

<p>So, if I’m understanding correctly (I’m probably not xD), I would still have to pay the EFC if I get enough money to cover grants and loans? :S So let’s say I do get $10,000 in scholarships. I don’t have the FA package for this school yet, but other schools have given me about $2000 - $3000 in loans. So the scholarships go into that first and I’m left with $7-8,000 for the EFC? Sorry, I don’t really know how all this works.</p>

<p>parent56 - Hm, I’m in NJ and don’t think I could live that far away from home lol, but thanks, I’ll check into it. I’m going to check on more public state schools though to see if any here are still accepting apps.</p>

<p>Thanks for all your suggestions. I’ll have to wait and see once the FA package comes in and go from there I guess.</p>

8

<p>So, if I’m understanding correctly (I’m probably not xD), I would still have to pay the EFC if I get enough money to cover grants and loans? :S So let’s say I do get $10,000 in scholarships. I don’t have the FA package for this school yet, but other schools have given me about $2000 - $3000 in loans. So the scholarships go into that first and I’m left with $7-8,000 for the EFC? Sorry, I don’t really know how all this works.</p>

<p>===========</p>

<p>Let’s say that…</p>

<p>your EFC is $15k</p>

<p>COA is $25k</p>

<p>Then need is $10k.</p>

<p>If you get a $8k scholarship (private or from the univ) then the school will apply that to your “need” and maybe give you a $2k loan.</p>

<p>You would still have to pay the $15k…but you could take out a 3500 loan towards that.</p>

<p>BUT…if you got a $20k merit scholarship (per year), then you’d only have to pay $5k…and you could do that with a $5k loan.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t dismiss UAB outright…send an app there and see what comes. I wouldn’t wait. The app is easy and fast. I don’t think there are essays or letters of recs needed. Just send scores and transcripts.</p>

<p>It’s likely that your state schools won’t work out…since it sounds like you do need to live away from home to get away from strife or whatever.</p>

9

<p>jessa …would be glad to give you info on uab…the app as m2ck says is quick and easy…no essay required and you will hear quickly once they receive your transcripts and test scores… cant hurt to have it in your back pocket… I recently checked with the scholarship people and the oos scholarships are available but going quickly. so if you put in your app, you have a great shot at it. It is too late to apply to the honors college, but there are honors tracks for most majors.</p>

<p>you can stack scholarships at uab… and they do have financial need based aid too.</p>

<p>food costs can be kept to a minimum at uab, as the suite dorms have mini kitchen area and the apartment style dorms have full kitchens with fridge stove etc. dorm costs run about 5200 per year</p>

<p>faculty student ratio is 17:1. average class size is about 30 students. avg act is 24.3. i recently checked for someone else and its 2010 75% stats are on par with upitt as a comparison. for sat scores uab had 75% of 680 and 690, pitt had 670 and 670… so it is a good school, just not talked about very much on cc.</p>

<p>it has been ranked 3rd for student race/class interactions and 11th for student happiness by princeton review. It is 26%AA. It is not a strong football/greek school. Only about 6% greek. </p>

<p>here is an overview:
[University</a> of Alabama at Birmingham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Alabama_at_Birmingham]University”>University of Alabama at Birmingham - Wikipedia)</p>

<p><a href=“http://collegeapps.about.com/od/sat/a/alabama-sat-scores.htm[/url]”>http://collegeapps.about.com/od/sat/a/alabama-sat-scores.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://collegeapps.about.com/od/sat/a/university-system-of-top-pennsylvania-sat.htm[/url]”>http://collegeapps.about.com/od/sat/a/university-system-of-top-pennsylvania-sat.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>what major are you interested in?</p>

10

<p>Jesse, there will be lots of other people from NJ at UA H. Dont sell it short. If you cant live at home much longer, you are running out of choices.</p>

11

<p>I hope I’m not disclosing anything too personal. The OP told me that she wants to be close enough to visit her pet on weekends.</p>

<p>She is thinking of majoring in bio or something else.</p>

<p>Once she’s a soph somewhere (UAB??) then she can have her pet with her at an off-campus apt. </p>

<p>I don’t think she should pass an opportunity over her pet. I love pets, but I think she needs to get herself settled.</p>

12

<p>i can honestly say as i am looking at apts for son right now… i was actually surprised at how many (the majority) apartments did allow dogs and cats. i had thought most would not allow them.</p>

13

<p>I am not understanding kayf’s original advice for the OP to take a gap year. How will this help? oh, nevermind, I think I just figured it out. That way, they can apply at other more affordable schools next year?</p>

14

<p>For example, say you got a $20,000 scholarship and $5,000 grant and $3,000 loan package. EFC is $25,000. So if you got a $10,000, it would first take away all your loan, and then your grant, and THEN start digging into EFC. Then you’d have $20,000 scholarship and $23,000 EFC. </p>

<p>If you only got say, $6000 in outside scholarships, it wouldn’t lower your EFC. It would first take away from your loans and then leave you with a $2,000 grant. </p>

<p>I don’t know if that’s any clearer?</p>

15

<p>here are the costs and merit scholarships for uab for oos students</p>

<p>total cost for oos is 20-25K (tuition, dorm and food)(easy to keep food cost down as dorms are suite with mini kitchen or full apt with fridge/stove etc)
Fall 2011 First-Year Freshmen Estimated
First-Year Freshman Out-of-State
Tuition and Fees* $14,256
Books and Supplies** $1000
Meal Plan $450 - $3,894
Total $15,706 - $19,150
Residence Hall (Blazer/Camp Hall)*** $5,200
Grand Total $20,906 - $24,350</p>

<p>The last scores that we will consider for scholarship purposes are the December ACT and SAT test scores from your senior year in high school.
Blazer Elite Scholarship
$15,000
Based on academic achievement (28-36 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA)
Blazer Gold Scholarship
$10,000
Based on academic achievement (26-27 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA)
Blazer Pride Scholarship
$5,000
Based on academic achievement (24-25 ACT and at least 3.0 GPA)
Students receiving UAB merit-based scholarships are required to live on campus for their first year of enrollment.</p>

16

<p>jbourne…yes…do a “do-over” for apps that will work for merit.</p>

<p>Parent56…I, too, am shocked how many apts let you have a pet. Typically you do have to give a deposit.</p>

<p>Right SB…In order for merit to cut into EFC, it needs to first cover all of need.</p>

<p>In your case, you’d need very large merit.</p>

17

<p>You might consider waiting for another year. During that time, you can find a job and earn some money for college (If I had a gap year I would work on two full time jobs…)
Working and studying full time is possible - I have been doing it for a year and I’m on the Vice-President’s list. However, I’m just a community college student :slight_smile:
I believe that everything is possible within your own limits. You should just think about them.</p>

18

<p>Alright, I applied to UAB, just gotta send my transcripts and SAT scores tomorrow. And yeah, I understand staying close for my dog seems ridiculous, but she’s really getting up there in age and I want to be with her as much as possible, plus my parents honestly have no idea how to take care of her. I’ll see what happens.</p>

<p>I’ll have to check with the FA departments of the schools I got accepted to on how they handle outside scholarships. What I’ve been thinking about doing is maybe going to whatever school I was accepted to that’s the least expensive, and then transferring to a cheaper school the spring semester (is that even possible???). Or just taking off fall semester and then applying for spring as a freshman, if I can find a school that allows it (anyone know of some offhand in/around NJ?). And if nothing else, maybe I’ll just stick it out for a year and then transfer.</p>

<p>I’ll talk to my parents about a gap year too, see how they feel about it.</p>

<p>Thanks again, you all are so helpful!</p>

19

<p>glad to hear that you applied. Let us know how it goes.</p>

<p>you won’t get much/any merit as a spring admit…or as a transfer student. your BEST merit is as an incoming frosh. And those offers are only good for income FALL frosh.</p>

<p>your issue is that you need LOTS of merit. And that is given to fall frosh.</p>

20

<p>well, congratulations jessa… and staying near your dog is not silly or ridiculous!! but you will have to consider, when/what/where are your best opportunities right now, that are affordable… much more is available to freshman, than transfers… be very careful with transferring or spring semester admission, if you are relying on merit aid… just isnt as available, not saying it isnt out there at all, but much more limited… the gap year wont hurt your status, but that is a choice you have to make about waiting for a year. </p>

<p>let us know what uab offers you, and if you have specific questions re majors, social life etc, feel free to pm me…</p>

<p>cross posted with m2ck</p>