<p>Hello, I am new to this site but I came here due to my desperation. I am 18 and about to graduate high school. I just recently got accepted to the University of Washington and I REALLY want to go there. I have one problem though, I have no idea how to pay for it. Once I send in the $250 for enrollment by May 1st, I am obligated to pay the $32,000, which is expensive and the out of state price, since I am from Alaska. It would be easy if I could get financial aid, but I can't. My parents make around $200,000 a year combined but in this very moment they are going through a divorce after being married for 25 years. As many of you can imagine, there are a lot of financial issues involved after being married for that long and both having well-paying and socially respectable jobs. Both of my parents are in horrible horrible debt......upwards of $60,000 and they just cannot really help me with college. I have thought about trying to move to Seattle and get residency so I can get the instate tuition, but I prefer to start college this fall 2007 semester. I am completely lost on what to do and where I can come up with this money without putting myself in a horrible situation. My parents' credit is sooo bad too that we can't even qualify for a bank loan. I would greatly appreciate it if someone could help me out here - what should I do? Thanks a ton.</p>
<p>you are not going to find an easy answer, I am afraid.</p>
<p>Your situation is not unique -- many kids have parents that make a lot of money, thus they don't qualify for financial aid. And many kids have parents that won't (or for some reason can't) pay for school.</p>
<p>You can't just move to Washington and establish residency -- as long as you are considered dependent according to the FAFSA rules, where you parents live is your official residence, regardless of where you live.</p>
<p>To establish residency for FAFSA (financial aid rules) you must be 24 years old, have served in the military, be married, have a dependent (child) you support more than 50%, have already completed one bachelor's degree or be an orphan. You don't seem to meet any of these requirements, so you will be required to pay the EFC (in your case the full amount of the cost of attendance of the university) and your residency will remain Alaska, as long as that is where your parents live.</p>
<p>You are going to have to sit down with your parents and really talk about finances. You may find that your local state university is your best bet and hopefully they will at least be able to pay for that.</p>
<p>I know this is not what you wanted to hear -- and feel free to search the hundreds of previous threads where kids asked the same question and got the same answer -- but you need to start making plans to attend a college you can afford.</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply! My main problem with going to the local University is that my city, Anchorage, has only 300,000 people and the local university is really not the best place to get much of an education unless I was planning on going into the oil business. But anyway, I appreciate the advice. I will have to find some way to get to college, I know for sure I want to go.</p>
<p>lskinner -- I thought so, too but I did some searching and didn't find anything for her. I also thought that Washington State might have a tuition exchange program with Alaska -- but still came up with nothing.</p>
<p>chjr12 -- it might be worth asking your local university, your high school counselor and Washington is there is some type of exchange program or something that might lower your tuition or give you some assistance since you are from Alaska.</p>
<p>I found this: Alaska is a participating member in the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education's (WICHE) exchange program. The organization is a consortium of 15 western states all committed to providing a collective higher education to regional residents. Undergraduates and graduates may attend partner colleges and universities for a fraction of the cost of traditional out of state tuition. Alaska offers four different WICHE Exchange programs: </p>
<p>Western Undergraduate Exchange
Western Regional Graduate Program which provides for exchanges for Masters and Doctoral level students
Professional Student Exchange designed to offer expanded facilities for technical and vocational students
WWAMI Medical Program designed to provide medical students access to all the best programs, labs and facilities within the region's colleges and university systems </p>
<p>The university of Washington isn't on the list (it looks like they don't include the flagship universities of any state) but it gives you a list of other possibilities.</p>