Transfer Student, only 24 credit hours signed lease to apartment & screwed myself over

Colleges and Universities A-Z Texas Tech University
1

I am transferring to TTU as of Fall 2016 as a sophomore while simultaneously changing my major to communications. I am transferring not only for cheaper tuition, but for the experience and of course my change of plans major wise. Right now I am currently in merchandising and design and I’m attending a private art school. I made the decision to change my major at the beginning of my trimester so I meet with an advisor to see what classes I need to take to have a smooth transfer. Since it is an art school, the classes are limited as to what I can and cannot take to transfer into my preferred major. That being said, I ended up dropping two classes because why pay $550 per credit hour for classes that I won’t be able to transfer? So, my work load right now is 6 credit hours as a half time student. I planned on taking the rest of the credit hours at a community college but realized how IGNORANT I was for assuming I could take 12 credit hours during summer studies without completely killing myself. I am also pretty sure a 12 credit hour work load during the summer wouldn’t even get approved. So I am stuck with taking only 6 credit hours this summer. That leaves me short another 6 credit hours.

Heres the issue.

In early January, before all this mess happened I finished my application and my 4.0 gpa assured my admission so I decided to sign a 12 month lease / housing agreement to an off campus apartment nearby to tech, because I was under the impression that transfer students did not have to live on campus. However, I was doing more research for the university and I realized that since I will only have 24 credit hours, I will be applying as a transfer freshman and I am required to live ON campus, sadly I am already bound to a 12 month lease.

Now, I am trying to find a way around this. I seen that if I put in an application for a Financial Hardship Addendum, I may get approved to live off campus, and that would be the solution to my problem.

Here is where I need your opinion.

I am a 19 year old female, with an EFC of 0, no scholarships, currently and will be working more than 25 hours a week. The whole point of signing the lease to off campus apartments was to save money and so I could also apply for SNAP benefits (which I do qualify for) which would save me roughly 4 to 5 grand a year. Given the fact that I have an open auto loan completely in my name and under my responsibility, auto insurance, phone, food, and health expenses (my mom makes me pay for my doctor on my own) to deal with, its fair to say that I show financial hardship correct? If I submit the application I should have nothing to worry about, right??
Please, what are your thoughts?

2

Do your parents claim you as a dependent? If you have an EFC of $0.00 then you should qualify for financial aid — albeit loans, but hopefully you’ll be given federal grants too. It all depends on FAFSA. If you have a car loan and haven’t shown that you’ve saved anything for college, then it’s hard to know how you’ll be evaluated. Regardless of what some might say about FAFSA award generosity, the reality is you have to show that you NEED money and that means sacrificing luxury things (an old cheap car isn’t considered a luxury but a neccessity… a newer sporty car is considered a frill which you can swap out until you get through college… also your insurance would decrease thus leaving you with even more money of your own to contribute toward your college expenses).

You should get in contact with a Financial Aid advisor at TTU. Filling out FAFSA is easy, but speaking with someone about your situation will benefit you and get you on the right track and frame of mind about college expenses and what you’re expected to pay.

3

You posted in another thread that your family income is $80 k, that will not result in a FAFSA EFC of $0.

More like $10k. Living off campus and buying a car is a choice, people qualifying for financial hardship won’t be able to afford these things.

4

You need a better plan on going to school where you can afford to go with a federal student loan, maybe Texas state grant (if that’s your home state), maybe transfer scholarship. Do some research into which schools might give you merit for your good grades.

Get out of the lease now.

5

https://www.google.com/search?redir_esc=&client=tablet-android-samsung&hl=en-US&safe=on&q=texas%20transfer%20scholarship&source=android-browser-type&qsubts=1458311439148

search “texas transfer scholarship”

It will show what schools offer and requirements.

You might have to take some classes at a community college for another year if you can’t transfer until junior year.

6

https://www.depts.ttu.edu/scholarships/transferStudentsScholarships.phpw

Look at this, they have a top transfer scholarship of $13k with 60 credits and gpa of 3.5 from community college.
So go to a community college near home for another year, then apply for transfer to TT by March 1.
If you get the scholarship plus the $7500 student loan and maybe a texas grant it should be doable.

Find out about transfer credits and what classes would benefit you most to take at the CC. And what housing is available for transfer students.