Suggestions for a VERY nontraditional transfer student!

Colleges can require whatever financial documentation they want from students for purposes of awarding their institutional aid. A student who is considered independent by FAFSA rules will have to receive federal aid based on being independent. The school can require additional financial information when awarding their own aid. For example, a student who is in guardianship is independent for FAFSA. Some schools will dig deeper before awarding their own aid: What is the specific guardianship situation? They may determine that the parents should be helping pay for school 
 or the guardians. OTOH, they may determine that the student truly does not have adult assistance with the cost of college. The point is, FAFSA is designed for the masses. Schools can look at the individual situation for purposes of determining how to award their own aid to a specific student. It’s not meant to hurt access for those who need it, but rather to keep from giving money to those who have adults who can help them.

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Does anyone else have any colleges to suggest applying for?

I have in state colleges on my list as well as some women’s colleges such as Smith and Bryn Mawr and some smaller LACs.

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Smith does meet full need for all undergrads, including xfers, but I’m not sure about Holyoke (and it’s not clear on their website either)

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Many employers ( Target, Walmart) now reimburse college tuition for their employees. It is worth considering

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The OP indicated that they work full time as an EMT (with medical insurance) and part time in a research position. I don’t recall them asking for advice on employers who reimburse college tuition, but maybe I missed it?

The number of students who need a full-ride greatly exceeds the grants available, particularly for transfer students. Such grants can be exceedingly competitive to obtain and are by no means a sure thing for anyone, including OP. In the possible event that she does not obtain such funding but wishes to pursue her education, some types of employment may be a good option towards that goal.

Feel free to scroll right past my posts next time.

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Definitely talk to your Community College transfer advisor. All NC publics accept NC Community College credits and have articulation agreements in place. The Carolina Covenant at UNC offers a lot of support to folks who don’t have a lot to spend on college, but I don’t know if your grades will get you into Chapel Hill or not (again talk to your community college advisor) and I’m not sure if the Carolina Covenant is available to transfers. There are specific pathways at many of the NC Community Colleges to get you to UNC and NC State. Talk to your advisor! UNC-Asheville is smaller if you want to check it out and very queer friendly.

I don’t know if these schools have Anthropology, but other smaller schools to consider are Guilford College in Greensboro (also has an articulation agreement with NC Community Colleges). You might also look into Hollins and Agnes Scott (both women’s colleges) that are very accepting. I think Hollins might be a good fit for you as a transfer. Agnes Scott could be too, but I know they have a 4 year Summit program that might be a little trickier to find your place in as a transfer.

A lot of schools have an Interdisciplinary major where you can kind of create your own major if you’re not finding “Biological Anthropology” listed as a major. Also check out Sociology, sometimes Anthro is combined under there.

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Thank you for your response.

I actually did the math and I would be taking a pay cut to work at somewhere like Walmart.

I used to work at Walmart actually and their tuition reimbursement is around 2500 a semester and for related fields such as supply chain logistics, bussiness admin and things that would be useful to them. I doubt Walmart is in the market to invest in anthropology. Additionally, I also need to work there for at least 90 days to qualify for those programs. Maybe it’s changed but it really didn’t seem worth it to me.

Believe me, I’ve tried to look into ways to pay for school. My current job pays fine enough for a 19 year old and I would be taking at least a 5 dollar pay cut to work for Walmart or target.

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With your medical training, there may be other employers to consider with more generous reimbursement policies.Post covid, I know of several companies which have EMT or nurses on staff to assist with testing and follow up for their employees and visitors.

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I’ll second the suggestions of Smith and Mt. Holyoke. Also, you might want to consider Macalester (MN), Reed (OR), or Skidmore (NY), in addition to the schools I mentioned upthread.

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@catssaymeow did you look at the Colleges that Change Lives website?

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At least personally, when I looked at CTCL, most were very unaffordable, even with a very low EFC and the highest merit scholarships possible. Most were in the realm of $13,000-15,000 a year. Some were upwards of 20K.

They do follow the FAFSA definition of “independent” student, which does include “orphan”.
For cases where parents are not cooperating/able to cooperate, they request a waiver application:

With a comparably modest endowment, a college to put formal evaluation procedures in place to be certain that a student has exhausted all other funding sources, helps reserving limited funds to those where the family truly cannot provide?

If you went through EMT school, that is quite an accomplishment!
At least in our state, it’s a very intense and rigorous program with a very limited make-up policy and thus a steady wash-out. Hopefully you can look back at that experience, and how you’ve used your skills and knowledge since on every call, and see that your challenges are hurdles, but not necessarily walls.

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Re: Barnard requiring parent finances for FAFSA-independent students

But it is also unfriendly to nontraditionals of the age 24+, military veteran, and married type, who are FAFSA-independent.

Thanks - I now understand which paragraph - thanks everyone for helping me focus!

For those students who meet these criteria and are applying for Barnard College Grants, financial information from parents is still required. The requirement relates to Barnard’s view that education is the primary responsibility of both parents and students. A student who marries while in College is still considered as dependent of her parents for Barnard financial aid purposes and parents must continue to supply their financial information.

Please look at the link that ucbalumnus posted above. That’s what I’m reacting too. Your statement that Barnard accepts all reasons for FAFSA independence is not accurate. Regardless, this is off topic for this thread, so if you want to talk more you can PM me.

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It’s at this link that ucb provided, under “independent and married students”: General Policies | Barnard College

You can PM anyone from your account by clicking your avatar in the upper right corner of the page, then clicking the envelope icon, then clicking view all, then clicking start new message, and send to anyone by entering their @username in the ‘to’ field

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