Transfer Advice

Transfer Students
1

<p>Hi, This is my first post on this forum. I am in desperate need of some advice on financial aid and scholarships for transfer students. Before I ask my questions, I should probably provide some background information. I live in NH and graduated from HS in 2007 with a 3.69 GPA. My SAT score was a combined 1900. Most of my classes were honors level classes with a few AP classes in the mix. I was accepted to many of the state schools in the New England area, but I didn't have the money to attend any of them. My parents are both HS drop outs, who don't believe a person needs a college degree to succeed in life. They both are hard workers and work the maximum amount of overtime that their jobs offer, which meant that we didn't qualify for any financial aid from the FAFSA. The colleges I was accepted to offered me about $1,000 on average, which was nice, but no where near what I needed to attend the schools. I was nervous to take out massive loans, so I decided not to attend any of the schools.</p>

<p>After declining all the state schools, my parents offered me an alternative to college- a one year vocational nursing school, which they decided they would pay for. I took the offer and attended the school for about 7 months, at which point the school was shut down by the state board of education for some illegal and controversial uses of student's money. Unfortunately the credits were not transferable anywhere. </p>

<p>After leaving the nursing school, I began working full time as well as attending community college full time. My first CC semester was in the fall of 2008. I have been able to pay for school so far because I am still living at home (and therefore my parents have been claiming me as a dependent) As of now, my GPA is 4.0 and I am on schedule to graduate with an associates degree in accounting this spring. I would really like to transfer to a 4 year school, but this doesn't look like a possibility at this point. I will be losing my job in January so I probably will not be able to save up enough money to attend a 4 year school. I don't mind taking out a loan, but I would like to keep the loan as small as possible. </p>

<p>At this point, I don't really care where I transfer so long as I can finish my degree for a cheap price. So my questions are as follows:</p>

<ol>
<li>What is the likelihood of any school offering me a scholarship?</li>
<li>Which schools could any of you recommend that have cheap tuition?</li>
<li>When applying to schools, is it necessary to include the vocational nursing school that got shut down as a school I attended, even though the credits are nontransferable?</li>
<li>Will the vocational nursing school that I attended hurt me in the long run</li>
<li>What is the maximum amount of student loans that you al recommend?</li>
<li>Would it be better in the long run to just get the associates, not go to school right after, and instead work for a while and later go back as a part time student?</li>
</ol>

<p>I am feeling pretty hopeless right now, so any advice you all could give me would really help. Thank you</p>

2

<ol>
<li><p>Are you a member of Phi Theta Kapa? Some schools offer PTK scholarships. (See here: [Phi</a> Theta Kappa - Scholarship Listing](<a href=“http://www.ptk.org/schol/newscholdir/list.php]Phi”>http://www.ptk.org/schol/newscholdir/list.php)).</p></li>
<li><p>The college board website has a feature where you can search for schools based on price. </p></li>
<li><p>If you wait until you are 24, you would be considered independent for financial aid purposes.</p></li>
</ol>

3

<p>It would seem reasonable to borrow enough to go to a state school in NH and finish your accounting degree. Most accounting majors get solid, well paying jobs and borrowing $30K or so to get that degree is reasonable IMO.</p>

<p>You’re right to be conservative about borrowing, but an AA will do little for you so you should keep going.</p>

4

<p>1 & 2) I don’t have information on this, keep digging. I’ve seen threads here that talk about colleges with generous programs. I’m not sure if they apply to transfer students, but keep looking.</p>

<p>3) You probably will have to contact each individual transfer college to see their stance on vo-tech type credits. Since you probably will apply to a dozen or less colleges in the end, this isn’t that big of a deal to figure out by just asking the colleges directly.</p>

<p>4) I see absolutely NO reason why your few months at vo-tech would have any negative effect. Besides, you are doing awesome at CC… that is what they will look at and consider. If needed, in the “additional information” section of the Common Application or related area in your application, simply state that “XYZ Vo-Tech College closed down in March 200X by the state board of education. Subsequently, I decided to attend ABC Community College and change my major to accounting.” Done. Admissions will probably blink away that year in terms of any weight.</p>

<p>5) This is the equation I use with my two children. </p>

<p>*Are they entering a field with high income potential and a growth field like computer science? Or are they going into low income/erratic income and shrinking prospects like music or the mortgage industry? While this information isn’t all encompassing, it could influence a range from 50K (for the computer programmer) down to 10 - 15K (for the musician who isn’t quite sure how to turn it into a steady paycheck after graduation).</p>

<p>*Do they have a good work ethic already? Resilient and never gives up when it comes time to pound the pavement for a job, ANY job, to pay the bills? I have one child who falls apart when things don’t fall into his/her lap, and the other is very pragmatic and able to do a bit more planning and grunt work. The former I would recommend a lower number, the latter a bit more… I know which could handle the PRESSURE of having loans and just working ANYWHERE to meet the payment when times are tough. I use that to also adjust… all things equal… a mentally tough worker I’d put toward the top of the loan range and the mentally weak one I’d cut the number in HALF.</p>

<p>Put into action… a computer science major w/ good work ethic - 50K. A computer science major w/ weak constitution… 25K max <em>with</em> reservations. A music major with a good work ethic… 15K… maybe even up to 25K… a music major with a weak constitution… 10K or maybe less.</p>

<p>Those are ballpark figures only. But you see it is a matrix of sorts. Knowing very little about you, I would say you have a good career choice (accounting) and a strong work ethic. I’m thinking 20 - 40K. Don’t saddle yourself with more unless you crunch the numbers and feel VERY comfortable with how that turns out. If you asked me to pin the number down, I’d say 23K… which is the max for SUBSIDIZED federal loans… try not to go over it… it is a reasonable limit for many students.</p>

<p>Under no circumstances go over 60K for an undergrad… you only have 2 years left.</p>

<p>Worse comes to worse, transfer to a state university where you have in-state tuition, work fulltime, and finish your degree over 2 - 4 years or so. Alternatively, work fulltime for 2 years (no college) and save up… and then go to school fulltime on your savings plus loans.</p>

<p>If you stay slow and steady and PLAN, I am certain you can get your 4 year degree. Try out a few options, check out state universities. If needed, move to a state you want to go to school and live there a year to get In-State tuition.</p>