Please Help Me Out (Most Spec. Merit & Transfer Aid Questions)

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi, sorry if a similar thread has been made before (I'm sure it has) but I'm having trouble searching the forum for the info I need as there aren't really clear search terms for my questions.</p>

<p>I am in a bad situation when it comes to financial aid. I have lived with my grandmother for over two years now and she is retired, supporting us on Social Security alone. The problem is, I had to use to my mother and step-father's income for the FAFSA so my EFC is 5233, clearly not representative of my actual situation. This is only made worse by me making some bad personal choices when I was still living with my mother and not performing nearly as well as I could have in school. As a result I have an EFC my grandmother and I can't afford and I don't qualify for any merit aid. I'm not pointing any fingers and I deeply regret putting myself in this situation. However, self-pity isn't going to get me anywhere and the only way I am going to get out of this is with the hard work I should have been putting in over the past 3 1/2 years of HS.</p>

<p>As a result of my grades, I'm not able to get into any of the institutions I want to study at as a freshman student. I do however have a 1900 on the SAT so if I pull my GPA up at one of the schools I did get accepted to or a community I think I have a good shot of getting into some upper-mid range schools as a sophomore or junior transfer student.</p>

<p>The important questions for me though are financial aid. I could get accepted into every Ivy school out there but if I can't pay for them it isn't much use. What are the financial aid opportunities out there for transfer students and are things like merit aid based on a college GPA and SAT scores something that a transfer student would be considered for or are they reserved mostly for freshman?</p>

<p>To make the situation more understandable here is my specific situation. I live in Pittsburgh but am not eligable for the Pittsburgh Promise ($5k scholarship for Pgh residents going to qualifying PA schools) due to my GPA. This leaves me one of two options. I can go to California University of Pennsylvania where I was accepted into the honors program but also have roughly a $6.7k gap in my financial aid package Stafford loans included. My other option is the Pittsburgh Promise will pay for me to attend the local community for a year and given that I maintain a 2.5 GPA throughout the first year I will qualify for the last three years of the Promise, $15k total. I fear that the lack of acedemic challenge at community as well as an unconventional "college experience" that is far more like 13th grade of high school will lead to me making the same poor choices I made in high school due to a real lack of interest in doing "busy work". None of this focusing made any easier by my ADHD.</p>

<p>Given my financial situation affording CalU this year seems feasible but would involve using my entire $2.2k in savings and either convincing one of my biological parents to take on a PLUS loan or at least get my mother to apply and be rejected in order to get the additional $4k in Stafford loans. The problem with this is how I would pay for my next three years of school, though this is a pressing issue for any institution I would attend.</p>

<p>So my main question is although going the community college route and getting the Promise money may seem the best route, is it really? I still am unsure how I will afford 3 more years of college even with the added $5k a year. Would I be better suited going to CalU and whlie spending a decent amount of money, be attending a better institution where I will be attendind honors courses as well as having oppotunities to build my resume with extra curriculars? I have my sights set on UPitt as I feel it's where I can get the best ed:cost ratio. The cost of attendence is roughly $25k a year there, very reasonable for the education and much more affordable than any of the privates or LACs that I like. But which of these two options is going to put me in the best position to transfer to UPitt (or elsewhere) for Physics and will either help me in terms of qualifying for merit-based aid based on my college performance and SAT scores?</p>

<p>Sorry if I rambled throughout that post, my head is just all over the place with worry right now. I greatly apprecaite any help that anyone can offer me on this. Thank you in advance!!</p>

2

<p>I know folks who went to Cal U and the consensus I got from them was that the difficulty level of the classes there are not more stringent than what you would get taking community college courses at the stronger CCs. I don’t know which CC you have in mind. Some of the Penn State tracked two year schools are definitely set up so that you can continue at the University Park campus automatically when you reach junior status without applying. That might be a good bet for you.</p>

<p>Though I wouldn’t say it is not possible for you to transfer to a highly selective college after a year or two at community college, you would have to do tremendously well at well chosen courses and have a plan that includes that college. Pitt or Penn State would be a less challenging transition.</p>

<p>THere are very few schools that treat transfers the same way as they do new freshmen, if they guarantee their freshman 100% of need. Even among the ivies. You have to ask each school specifically about how they handle the situation. </p>

<p>I truly do not see a good reason to sacrifice and scrimp to go to Cal U for a year. DO well at a good comm college with solid courses and you will be in good shape for transfer to PennState, Pitt or Temple (another possibility and one that might have some funds for you).</p>

3

<p>^ I agree with the Cpt. Frankly, if your HS grades were that bad you shouldn’t be looking at Community College as not challenging. Your biggest concern should be in getting yourself motivated to do all the work required. Concentrate on that and performing well (while saving $) and you should be able to transfer to a more challenging school.</p>

4

<p>The community college option seems like your best and possibly only choice.</p>

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<p>Think like this^^^^^ </p>

<p>Not like this:

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<p>If you make poor choices again then that is your choice. It seems like you are already making excuses. You have choices in how you behave. Make good choices, not excuses.</p>

5

<p>If you choose your classes carefully, you can definitely find challenging classes at the community college and avoid a repeat of high school “busy work”. The key is to select classes that interest you, ask around for the better professors and look for opportunities. I know that at our local community colleges, many classes are taught by the University of Colorado professors and they also offer “learning communities” – two classes combined into on, team taught with a small class size. Do some research on your local community college – I think you will be surprised.</p>

6

<p>I agree, it sounds like financially taking a year or two at a community college is the best route financially for you. Do your research. In our area there are two choices for community college. One is dinstinctively “better” in terms of caliber of classes, variety of classes and strength of the transfer program. The other is more geared toward a 2 year associates degree and far less focused on the transfer program. When you do pick the CC make sure you are working with an advisor or an office that will enable you to transfer the classes you take. It helps to know which college you have your sights sent on so you can also work with that college.</p>