<p>Alright, so I'm pretty confused right now. I'm trying to figure out my options. I'm 19, from Mississippi, dropped out at the middle of my senior year (Personal problems) got my GED and will be attending community college in the fall. I don't particularly want to stay at community college any longer than I'd have to. I want to transfer out after either first term or at the most after my first year. What are my options? Dad's a retired veteran on SS, moms deceased, so not much income, but I do have a EFC of 0. Everyone I've talked to said it's better to stay at CC for two years then transfer, though I feel I'd enjoy the atmosphere of a university better. Just curious to know of options, if any. I'm looking at in-state, The University of Mississippi, or Mississippi State University, both aren't really top-colleges, so I don't feel like it would be that crazy, lol.</p>
<p>If you have zero EFC you are eligible for full pell grant 5.5K. I am not sure if Mississippi has state grants, but if it does you will be eligible for those too. You are also eligible for direct federal loan of 5.5K (first year, then the limit increases), 3.5K out of which will probably be subsidized. You probably will also be eligible for some work-study.</p>
<p>With zero EFC you have to find a school to which you can commute and which tuition will be covered by Pell and state (if any) grants.</p>
<p>Other than cost considerations, you have to figure out what are requirements for transfer from CC to the Us you mentioned. While you might be able to afford the cost, you might have to meet academic standards before transferring and therefore will have to stay at CC for 2 years. Did you talk to your CC adviser about what you need to do to transfer to each of the schools?</p>
<p>I haven’t talked to my adviser yet, but from what I can tell transfer requires you to submit ACT and high school transcripts if you have under 30 credit hours. We have state AID, but I don’t believe I’m eligible because of the full pell grant.</p>
<p>I don’t know how your state’s aid works, but in my state (MN), if you are eligible for Pell grant, you are eligible for state grant.</p>
<p>You say that to transfer you are required to submit ACT and high school transcripts. I am sure there are some minimum requirements for ACT scores and HS gpa if you have less than 30 credit hours.</p>
<p>I am puzzled that you don’t know what you are eligible for in terms of aid. Did you apply for financial aid at your CC? The award amounts will give you a starting point in terms of what you will get when you transfer to a 4 year college (assuming your and your parents financial circumstances do not change). Given those amounts you should find a school that will not require you to take loans and will accept you.</p>
<p>At CC I was awarded a full pell grant which covered my tuition and fees so I didn’t worry about state aid. =p</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.mississippi.edu/riseupms/financialaid-state.php]RiseUp[/url”>http://www.mississippi.edu/riseupms/financialaid-state.php]RiseUp[/url</a>]</p>
<p>You should browse through this web-site to see if there are any state programs applicable to you (start with the pull down menu for undergraduate programs). This will give you an idea of state grants you are eligible for and will help you determine what school is affordable for you.</p>
<p>You need to go see the person at your community college that handles transfers and gives advice to those going on to 4 year programs. You can then find out the likelihood of getting into which schools, given your profile and what kind of aid you can expect. You know you have the PELL, and you need to know if MIssissippi has any state programs that will also come up with the money. You can also borrow from the Staffords each year, but you may want to stay at CC for that year to cut down on those loans, or borrow and pay your parents rent and have them stash it for you to pay for the future two years. What is the expected cost of a year away at school for you, given your possible choices? Do up the numbers.</p>
<p>From what I’ve come up with, If i were to transfer it would cost about 8,000 over what I could get for financial aid, so I’d need to take out a Federal Direct loan for 5500 and then I’m left with about 2000, so I guess a stafford loan? So, over 3 and 1/2 years without anything changing I’d owe about 24,000. Is that average, or a lot higher than average for a good college education?</p>
<p>A Direct Loan and a Stafford loan are the SAME…they aren’t different loans.</p>
<p>Ole Miss and Miss State are good schools and you’ll get good aid as an instate low income student.</p>
<p>^^Mom2 is correct. You can’t get a direct student loan *and * a Stafford loan. They are just different names for basically the same loan. (Stafford loans used to be available through private lenders if a school chose not to participate in the direct loan program. But a few years back, the law changed to where all schools had to participate in the direct loan program, so the Staffords don’t really exist - but everyone is so used to the term that they still just call them that.)</p>