Transferring VS Gap Year

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello, CCers! :)
I graduated from high school this year, and still haven't decided where to go yet.
Just last month, I applied for permanent resident status, and am waiting for it to get processed.
For all the schools I applied to, I was accepted as an international student, and that makes things really complicated...
I have been thinking that I should start off at a community college to save cost, then transfer to a 4-year institution. However, I started to think about taking a year off before college, because grants and scholarships are very limited to transfer students. </p>

<p>What do you think is better?</p>

2

<p>How soon do you expect that green card?</p>

<p>It will make you a US applicant, and will completely change your financial aid options. So yes, a gap year with no college classes at all can be a very good choice.</p>

<p>Run the Net Price Calculators at the websites of your target colleges and universities, and see what kind of difference your pending status change can make. </p>

<p>On the other hand, if your only viable option based on your grades and exam scores is the CC then transfer route, and your family can afford the CC tuition and fees in your current status, then you may as well start college this fall. Your aid package can be modified once you have your green card, and you will finish your degree sooner than if you take a gap year.</p>

3

<p>I know some folks who have waited a long time for a green card, If it looks good for the next few months, yes, I’d wait and take the gap years. But if the down to earth facts are that it is going to take a lot of luck for you to get it by the time you have to get fin aid apps in–you don’t have a full year; it isn’t that long before you start the fin aid process again, then start at the CC.</p>

4

<p>

Do you think you only have to wait a year for the “green card”. What is your status now? Can you work in this “off year”?</p>

5

<p>Thank you all for your opinions!</p>

<p>happymomof1:
I’m expecting to get it around December this year.
My GPA is 4.0 and ACT is 29. Although my ACT score is low, I graduated within top 5% of the class, so I think that’d help a little. I’m looking at schools in WUE Program (Western Undergraduate Exchange) so that I can get discounts on tuition. Since all the schools in the program has fairly high acceptance rate, 50% or up, I don’t think I’d have to take the CC->Transfer route. But yes, I will research more on the net price of those schools, and see if my parents can help me out with the tuition.</p>

<p>cptofthehouse:
I’m expecting it to come out around December this year.
I guess it would be better financial aid-wise for me to take a gap year, since I’ll be getting it in few months. But always, something unexpected can happen, so I’ll research about CC’s as my backup choice. </p>

<p>4kidsdad:
Just few months :). My status now is dependent visa, and no I can’t work right now. But! I am waiting on my working permit, which should come out in about 1~2 months.</p>

6

<p>If you take a Gap year, how about retaking the ACT or SAT and try to bump that score up?</p>

7

<p>A Gap Year looks pretty good. </p>

<p>While you are waiting for the work permit, do some serious prep for the ACT. Even just raising your score to 30 will give you better options.</p>

8

<p>Are you a WUE resident? In other words, do you reside in one of the states that WUE covers?
When my dd applied to Univ of Wash and tried to go through WUE, they stated that they had a limited number of spaces for WUE and that they had met their cut-off numbers for California. Her scores were good but not “perfect”, so we were looking at ~60K per year.</p>

9

<p>^UWash doesn’t participate in WUE:</p>

<p>[WICHE</a> - Student Exchange Programs](<a href=“http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all]WICHE”>http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all)</p>

10

<p>oops my bad, washington state!</p>