<p>So this morning I finish all my college essay so I can finally submit my application. So I go to my parents and ask them for $50, for the application fee, so I can send in the application, and they say "No". I ask them why and I and they give me all the garbage about how it's too much money and i'll be in debt till im 100. So then I asked them to give me my money that i had them keep in a box in their room, for safe keeping. They tell me no again saying that i'm going to community college. </p>
<p>Now what kind of crap is this? I asked for my money so I could mail in my application. If they didn't want me to apply to any colleges then why didn't they say anything to me while i sat here for 3 weeks filling out the application and thinking of what to do my essay on. Instead they sat there watching me do my essay and stuff and then when I finished they tell me that I can't go to the college I want.</p>
<p>So now I have no money to send off the application and it's due Jan. 15, and with the mail system, if I don't send it off today it probably wont be there in time. Isn't life grand?</p>
<p>Wow. Your parents suck. I can't believe they'd do that; it's your money anyways!</p>
<p>Try to borrow some money from your friends!</p>
<p>If they aren't even willing to pay for the application fee, then I assume they aren't going to help pay for tuition at all... you probably are going to need to look for some kind of scholarship or lots of financial aid.</p>
<p>If your income falls within those ranges, and if your schools are part of the association (check the nacac.com website), then you can submit a fee waiver. Your high school doesn't have to be a member. It also wouldn't surprise me if you could send even if the college wasn't a member. If they don't agree to the waiver, then they'll just tell you to pay the fee afterwards.</p>
<p>Also, the application has to be postmarked by January 15th, not received by. BTW, does anyone know whether that means you can mail it on the 15th, or if it has to be on the 14th? Thanks.</p>
<p>Wow! What happened to you is awful.
" So then I asked them to give me my money that i had them keep in a box in their room, for safe keeping."</p>
<p>Not a good idea even if your parents would return the $ to you on demand. You're missing out on interest. You're also risking having the $ stolen. You need to put the $ into a bank or other truly safe place.</p>
<p>You won't be able to get a fee waiver unless you are low income.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, if your parents refuse to pay anything for your college, you need to apply to colleges that you know you can afford. This may mean local public institutions where you can live at home and commute.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, one mistake that you apparently made was not having an in depth conversation with your parents about their financial contributions to college before you did the work of selecting colleges and filling out the applications.</p>
<p>You still need to have that conversation. Exactly what -- if anything -- are they willing to contribute to your college costs?</p>
<p>It also sounds like it would be a good idea for you to get a job now so as to be able help pay for the many expenses that are connected with college (books can cost $600 a semester as textbooks are extremely high) even if your parents are willing to chip in and help.</p>
<p>Where are you planning to apply? Have you checked out whether you're likely to qualify for aid at those colleges? Having a lot of financial need can hurt admissions chances at many colleges. In addition, relatively few colleges guarantee to meet 100% of students documented financial need ("documented" means as determined by your families' income and assets). Many colleges gap aid, giving thousands of dollars less than students' financial need.</p>
<p>Consequently, take a very close look at colleges' financial aid info on their websites and look at how much their total costs are before you spend your time and $ applying for a college that you may not be able to afford.</p>
<p>Also look into merit aid. Often the best chance of merit aid is through aid offered by the colleges that you apply to and local scholarships that you can find out through your guidance office.</p>
<p>When I checked your back posts, here's what I found:
"GPA: 3.0(will be going up a bit after this semester)
SAT I(new): Math- 500, Critical Reading(old verbal)-510, Writing- 460
I have 5 hours of community service done at the local library
Out of state(i live in NY)"</p>
<p>You are going to have a hard time qualifying for merit aid anywhere with your low stats. Your best bet of being able to afford college will probably be going locally and living at home. This may mean starting off at a community college and then transferring. </p>
<p>If you get strong grades in a community college, you may be able to transfer with merit aid to an in-state public university.</p>
<p>It will be very difficult for you to get the $ now to go out of state. The schools you are considering -- U Mass and U Conn. are likely to make it a priority to give aid to residents of their own states. The same is true of admission. Most state public schools have very little if any financial aid available for out of state residents. They may have some merit $ available for exceptionally strong out of state residents, but not for people who barely slip in.</p>
<p>You probably should talk to your GC about college that you're likely to gain admission to and can afford.</p>
<p>that sucks a lot.. i had a friend in a similar situation, and she sat down with her parents and explained how much she wanted to go to a particular school and why it was so important to her to go to a private university in a city five hours away rather than the community college down the street. her parents weren't happy about it, but they let her apply (she had to pay the fee herself) and she's there now; she got a lot of financial aid but is going to have to pay back her loans all by herself.
so maybe try explaining to your parents how important you think attending a 4 year university is for your future, and how in the end it will pay off. you'll get a better job, and you'll be happier so you'll be more productive anyway.</p>
<p>a drastic method would be declaring yourself independent from your parents. that way, when you apply for financial aid, the college will see you are expecting no support from them and are applying entirely on your own.</p>
<p>but for now, i would say to borrow some money from friends and submit your apps; you don't even know yet where you'll get in and it might be easier to talk with your parents if you have a specific school in mind that you have already been accepted to.</p>
<p>i agree with the above poster though; you need to have that conversation with your parents about money to figure out if they are going to support you or if you will be on your own. living at home and going to school saves money but it sounds like it might be difficult to do that with parents who don't support your life decision.</p>
<p>after reading northstarmom's 2nd post, i agree with her. why don't you try some in-state schools? there are many great suny schools or even cuny that aren't that hard to get into and will give you aid. that way, your parents wouldn't feel like you were trying to get away from them, but you would also be making the decision about college that you felt was best for you.</p>
<p>Some parents redefine sucky. Best thing to do is set a gameplan with your parents on how to afford it, i know i did it. What kind of parents want to make sure their kids future will not get further than mcdonalds?</p>
<p>Do you guys think it's worth it to take out loans to pay for most of it? I am planning on being an accountant, which pays good, so that might make it easier to pay them off. I'm really not sure what i'm going to do. The community college around here is not very good(my parents thing it is, but they havnt been there since the 70's).</p>
<p>"Do you guys think it's worth it to take out loans to pay for most of it? "</p>
<p>No, I don't think that carrying a total of $80,000 or so in loans to pay for 4 years of college is a good idea.</p>
<p>If you don't want to go to a community college, is there any NYS 4-year college within commuting distance that you can attend?</p>
<p>I think that when school restarts, you should talk to your GC about your options. It's not a good idea to pay high out of state rates for a public college college when you probably can pay much less to attend an equally ranked public college in your home state.</p>
<p>The only SUNY school that offers the degree im looking for(accounting) is binghamton and I don't think I can get in there. I don't want to go to a small school(less than 10,000 people). I'm looking for a change in my life. I go to school with only 2,000 people, i see the same faces every day, all day. College isn't just about the learning it's about the experience, i don't think i can experience true college if i go to one that is just a mimic of my high school.</p>
<p>Colleges are wise to the concept of declaring yourself independent from your parents. They have structured the rules such that this is virtually impossible except under extreme circumstances. If a student who is interested in attending college in September 2006 has been living in their parents' house for more than two weeks of 2005, any claim of independence would probably be rejected on that basis alone. In general, the idea declaring independence is not sound advice except in situations where some sort of abuse far worse than unwillingness to pay for college is concerned.</p>