So I got accepted to UT Austin. I’ve wanted to go there my whole life, but my parents won’t pay for it. I’ve filled out FAFSA, but all they offered were loans but majority of they loans are only offered to my parents. I got a full scholarship to my local community college, but I absolutely do not want to go there for two years. So far I only have $1500 in scholarships. I don’t live in Austin or travel distance to save money for housing. Loans are not ideal, but I don’t know what else to do.
Do you live in Texas? If you can’t afford UT Austin, then you can’t go. There are some good schools accepting applications still. If you don’t wanna go to CC, you can apply to those.
I live in Texas and I know schools are still accepting applications, but it won’t help if I have no scholarships to go to them, especially since it’s the end of the year and majority of full and partial scholarships are already given away.
Schools offer scholarships. Do research
There’s also need based aid that can be combined with merit. Or, you can take a gap year and apply again
My father alone makes over $100,000. I’m not sure how much my mother makes, but most need based aid are for incomes below that.
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but my parents won’t pay for it.
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Did your parents not tell you this before you applied?
Did you only apply to a CC and UT? It sounds like you have the stats to have gotten merit elsewhere.
Is it too late to apply and get scholarships to any other Texas college? What are your stats?
Are your parents saying that they won’t pay ANYTHING? or what? If they’ll pay for some costs, how much will they pay?
Your situation isn’t that unusual. I know that many kids think of their state flagship as their “go to” school, but for many kids, it is not affordable since many parents won’t/can’t pay the $25k+ per year to go.
You may need to do a gap year (don’t take any classes!) and come up with a better plan. The problem is that even if you go to a CC first, you’ll face the same problem as a transfer…and transfers get worse scholarships.
What are your SAT and GPA numbers? University of Alabama Hutsville is still accepting applications, and awarding merit aid.
Will your parents even agree to cosign a loan? If not, you will not be able to get loans in excess of the Dorect Loan of $5500 your freshman year.
Here is a thought.
You say you got a full ride to the community college? No costs to you? If so, go there. Take the $5500 Dorect Loan for freshman year, and bank it. If you say the second year, take the $6500 Direct Loan. You will then have $12000 toward your costs to finish your four year degree at UT-Austin…and you will be able to take the Direct Loan for junior and senior year as well.
You need to talk to the transfer advisor at the community college ASAP. Find out if they have an articulation agreement with UT-Austin. Find out what courses you need to take to guarantee they will transfer towards your bachelors degree.
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Lol I’m debating the same thing. Uh or austin. I’m leaning towards austin just because I like the school and environment better but go with what you feel is best. I literally get no aid from UT just offer for 1000 dollar loans. So I’m looking about being 100000 in debt if filling out scholarships don’t work.
Do what’s best for you. And what you want.
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Your father earns over $100k and your mom works also? Are they saying that they won’t pay for anything???
How much did UH offer.
Did you realize that YOU can’t borrow $100k? Was your plan that since parents won’t pay, you were going to borrow $100k??? If so, you should have been asking about THIS long ago. I doubt your parents would cosign that much in loans, and besides that is a crazy amount.
What are your stats??
My father wants me to go to CC first therefore, I believe he won’t pay for a 4 year until I have attended. He basically told me he’s not going to fund me if I decide to go to UT first. I applied to University of Houston and all they offered me was $500 for being in the Top 10%. I’m 16 out of almost 500 people. I also applied to Mary-Hardin BU, but I don’t really want to go there.
I have a 3.74, my test grades aren’t so good which is probably why I haven’t gotten any scholarships from schools based on SAT and ACT, they’re just average, because I suck at taking test that really matter which is a bad habit to have especially going into college.
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My father wants me to go to CC first therefore, I believe he won’t pay for a 4 year until I have attended.
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When did your dad tell you that?
Well, you could try this…ask your dad if you can borrow the money FROM HIM to pay for the first 2 years at UT, and then HE pays for the 2nd two years.
edit to add…
You could work as much as you can during summers and part-time during the school year to minimize how much you need to borrow from him.
look at it this way…
you borrow $5500 and $6500 for the first two years from the fed gov’t.
you work/save $5k over the two summers
That would mean that you wouldn’t have to borrow that much from your dad to pay for those first two years.
You probably could have recieved some merit money at TXTech or UTD. Depending on your stats, I would call those schools today and ask about money and admission for the fall. I know this is a long shot but you never know. UTD has excellent STEM programs.
Consider reapplying to schools next year and work for a year to save money.
Your parents really won’t pay anything? Is there some extenuating circumstance? Your other posts says they have a good income. I completely understand their placing a limit on what they will pay but nothing is hard to comprehend. The financial aid system does not accommodate students whose parents refuse to pay. Do they understand this?
If your dad will pay $25k per year for your junior and senior years, then this could work out if you present him with a plan such as this:
You tell dad that you’ll take out the full Stafford Direct Loans of:
$5500 frosh
$6500 soph
$7500 jr
$7500 sr
You’ll work/save $2-3kk every summer. You’ll work part-time (about 8 hours a week) during the school year to cover “day to day” costs.
Carefully buy your textbooks…online, used, rental, borrow, etc.
With all of that plus the $50k from dad, then you’d almost have all of UT covered for 4 years. You could borrow from your parents any other uncovered costs.
Maybe you could make a deal with your Dad that he will pay for your first year at UT and if you get a 3.0 or above, you don’t have to pay him back. I guess the big question that hasn’t been answered is why he wants you to go to a CC first.
I believe it’s just my father not wanting me to grow up which is why he doesn’t want to pay. I have 3 brothers. 2 are still in college. The oldest out of the two has taken out loans to pay for his education so my father isn’t helping him pay anything. My next oldest brother plays football so he’s been getting scholarships and now he’s going to Baylor, but not on a football scholarship. And I think he’s worried that he’ll have to pay for both of us but I believe my brother is on a partial academic scholarship with Baylor. He might also get football offers from other schools therefore his school might be paid for. My mother wants me to go off but she doesn’t make the majority of the money.
My mother suggested the deal of him paying for my first year of college and if it doesn’t work out coming back to CC which I was fine with, but he said why would I move backwards? Then he would eventually have to pay for CC when I already have a full ride to it now.
Have you found out what the family’s cost will be in light of three siblings in school at the same time?
There should be a significant discount, in that they expect families to pay a lot less per college student if they have multiple in school at the same time.
For example, if your family’s EFC was 50K, and you have one sibling in school, that would be 50K * 1.2 = family expected to pay 60K TOTAL for both college students.
Did your father take that into account at all? Point being, adding you may not be nearly as much increase as he thought, if the schools all consider that he is paying for three in college at the same time.
Make sure UT Austin knows this - you did file FAFSA and list siblings in college, correct?
Are you sure your FAFSA is correct? With three kids in college, you should get some financial aid unless your father makes a lot more than $100k.
Ask your brothers how they are paying for college. You don’t seem to really know the details.
I listed it I don’t quite remember what my EFC was though. I was offered about 3500 in loans that I could take out a semester and 10,000 something my parents could each semester