<p>Keep in mind that you have to fund 4 years. Those little $500 scholarships for Freshman year are great, but 99% of the time are one-time only. You need a plan for all 4 years. </p>
<p>Too many kids only figure out a way to pay for year 1. Can’t pay for year 2 and then drop out. Guess what? 6 months later the student loan payments have to start being made. And you can’t get rid of them with bankruptcy. </p>
<p>Start at a school you can afford for all 4 years.</p>
<p>Where do you live right now? Room and board is very expensive and unless you get a generous award from a college, an uber generous award, you aren’t likely to be able to cover that. Find a school you can afford.</p>
<p>IM, he qualifies for CalGrant B, which seems to cover tuition and fees after the first year at a CSU and he has applied to a number of them (and I think, from his other thread, has been accepted at CSU Chico). His shortfall is really only critical in year 1. Taking a gap year and working full-time is probably not going to help this kid much as it could eliminate his Pell and perhaps Calgrant funding. Students have a fairly low income protection allowance and then 50% of their earnings go toward their EFC…which makes it a catch-22 situation because they can’t earn enough to support themselves, pay taxes, and save for school if they don’t have a degree.</p>
<p>29,500 (loan) + 5,500 (grant) + 2,500 (work study) = $37,500</p>
<p>It’s not worth to go to CSU Chico with this cost.</p>
<p>I’m also concerned that his parents may not fill out FAFSA for the following years if he doesn’t have a relationship with them. If they won’t do it, then he will stop getting his Pell Grant.</p>
<p>If this student wants to go to college, then he needs to either live with his grandparents and commute…or resolve things with his parents and commute.</p>
<p>There’s no way he can afford to go OOS for school. The money just isn’t there. </p>
<p>What are your stats? Did you get any merit money? </p>
<p>Keep in mind that if you do get a job and earn the money for room and board, that income will likely be enough to reduce or eliminate your future Pell awards. Student income is treated differently than parent income.</p>
<p>Ok…what is the deal? Will you be “kicked out” of the house at graduation or what?</p>
<p>The reason I ask is this… If the issue is just that you and your parents don’t get along very well, then what you could do is this… Commute to college, but spend as little time as possible at home. Go to campus early, study there, do homework there, join clubs, do your work-study job, and then only come home to sleep and to do your own personal upkeep (laundry, etc). With minimal interaction with your parents, things won’t be as bad.</p>
<p>Maybe the OP should move to California, work for the first two years, pay tax then go to college.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Folks, you might want to read the OP’s posts first…he IS a CA resident (or he wouldn’t already have a Calgrant) and the original post (with the $24K loan) was clearly about going to an OOS school. He had a thread very recently on this board where we discussed CSU Chico and the Calgrant B situation.</p>
<p>He CANNOT commute, he says, because the parents are effectively kicking him out and there’s no place for him to live. Also, he says there are no schools close enough to his home (I’m assuming that he applied and was accepted to) in Beverly Hills. So, therefore, he realistically has a ONE YEAR shortfall of approximately $4-5K if he attends CSU Chico and lives on campus because Calgrant B is only $1550 for the first year and then goes up to $7K for the subsequent years.</p>
<p>Even if I did get along with my parents commuting would be impossible since the school is all the way up in norcal. </p>
<p>Maybe I’m screwed and I shouldn’t go to school at all :P</p>
<p>I don’t know about the CSUs, but the UCs, when picking Cal Grant B, make up the difference between A&B with a campus grant the first year, then B is a bit higher than A in subsequent years. Apparently B is more money over 4 years than A</p>
<p>I know he’s a Calif resident who can get state aid if he stays in state. :)</p>
<p>However, I think he needs to do his best to try to resolve things with his folks because otherwise he will likely lose Pell and Cal Grants for future years because they may not cooperate and provide income info. </p>
<p>Many of these kids post that they’re parents are “kicking them out” after graduation. However, when the dust settles, often this doesn’t happen. I don’t know what’s going on in this household, but if the arguments are over such things as curfews, partying, being disrespectful to parents, not doing chores, etc…then there’s a good chance that those issues could be resolved by graduation (which in Calif, is early/mid June). If the problems are any of what I’ve described, then if the student were to keep “his nose clean,” it’s unlikely that the parents would still kick him out at graduation. </p>
<p>right now, I don’t think the student is motivated to “make nice” with the parents because he thinks that he can find a way to pay to go OOS or elsewhere. He will sadly learn that that isn’t the case. </p>
<p>I don’t understand the “shortfall” for Chico. Why would his Cal grant go up after a year? I’ve never heard of that.</p>
<p>*Even if I did get along with my parents commuting would be impossible since the school is all the way up in norcal. </p>
<p>Maybe I’m screwed and I shouldn’t go to school at all 
*</p>
<p>Did you apply to any local Cal States?</p>
<p>Who told you that you’d get a bigger Cal Grant for later years? Why would you get less your first year? I’ve never heard of that.</p>
<p>If you can settle things down with your parents, and you didn’t apply to any local CSUs, then you may have to commute to a CC and then transfer to a CSU or UC later. The UCs give better aid to 0 EFC kids.</p>
<p>@m2ck it’s not like that at all. I do behave I’m not some 12 year old outta control. Like I said not goin into details.</p>
<p>I’m just tryna do my best right now to see what I can do to make this whole tuition thing workout because I really am on my own after June</p>
<p>CC is a big no no. I’d rather join the military.</p>
<p>^^^maybe that should be an option that you look into.</p>
<p>Will your parents continue to fill out the FAFSA each year, because if they do not then you will have a major problem as you will not qualify to be an independant student.</p>
<p>sk8rmom - I did not have Cal grant. He said:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Did I miss something?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think you can make this work because your shortfall does not appear to be very large. You have to be willing to make some compromises and assemble the money in pieces, so it’s going to take some though and discipline. I’m not sure why other posters feel that this is such a dire situation or that you should risk having the situation with your parents get out of control over a relatively small amount of money. I would not advocate changing your plans and enlisting, or any other drastic action at this point. </p>
<p>I see that CSU Chico has a Student Support Services program and highly recommend that you apply for it as soon as possible. This program is a great benefit and resource for minority and economically disadvantaged students and will give you a support system when you get to college. They may also have scholarships and other funding opportunities for their students.</p>
<p>coolweather and Mom2, yes you’re both missing the OP’s thread from last week that I referred to in my post:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1090924-just-got-awarded-cal-grant-b-but-i-have-simple-question-about.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1090924-just-got-awarded-cal-grant-b-but-i-have-simple-question-about.html</a></p>
<p>I don’t know why the Calgrant B pays a smaller amount for CSUs the first year and then jumps to full tuition and fees after that. But I’ve seen other posts referring to varying amounts and assume that it’s true since another student confirmed it. The OP seems to have his award notification and I’m basing my responses on that.</p>
<p>This is from the CA Student Aid Commission website:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So, basically, after the first year his tuition and fees are completely covered as long as the Cal Grants don’t take a big hit. According to College Board, COA at Chico is $21642 broken out as follows:
In-state tuition and fees: $5,620
Room and board: $11,138
Books and supplies: $1,656
Estimated personal expenses: $2,180
Transportation expense: $1,048 </p>
<p>So far, he knows his awards will be at least $12,600 just from Pell, Stafford, and the Cal Grant. It’s likely he’ll also be awarded other aid such as Perkins, SEOG, and work study. As we all know, all of those costs except tuition and fees can be reduced fairly easily and I’m estimating he could probably trim at least $4K from the COA. CSU Chico has dorms that are less expensive that the ones used in the COA calculation and off-campus housing in that area is probably even less than that. If he’s not going home on weekends and breaks, the $1K transportation is not a factor. The book allowance looks unusually high for a freshman…if he shops around he can likely spend far less than $1K for the year. And personal expenses are not something he really has to come up with out of pocket at all, other than for necessary items. My kids do not spend anything close to $2K a year on personal expenses, including their cell phones and entertainment.</p>
<p>skr8mom - Thanks.</p>
<p>@sk8rmom how can I find out if I’m awarded Perkin and SEOG?</p>
<p>Those are campus-based decisions, so it will be listed in your awards package from the school. If you don’t see them, email or call FA and ask if they have them and what their policy is for awarding those funds. Btw, please don’t fail to apply for Student Support Services as they can be a godsend for kids with limited means and little family support!</p>
<p>Will apply for the SSS! Thanks for the help sk8rmom :D</p>