I will do what I can to somehow speak to my parents. i dont know when said conversation will happen but it will happen when it needs to. </p>
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not sure… I will add that to my list of questions for them</p>
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I actually had a conversation with my older brother (who recently graduated) and he said that the only college they are willing to put ANY form of money into is SACC, but I also don’t trust them because they stopped helping my brother midway and he had to drop out.</p>
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are they REQUIRED to pay that or just expected to?</p>
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like I said, only SACC and I don’t trust them with that because they use money as an object of threat, as a weapon. </p>
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I don’t think they would sign anything that has anything to do with loans, though my grandparents might.</p>
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yeah I wouldn’t call myself an abused child.</p>
<p>I can not thank you enough for your help, I appreciate the time you have spent on my thread and I will definitely heed your advice to the fullest extent possible.</p>
They are not required to give you a dime, but universities offering need-based financial aid will expect that kind of contribution regardless of whether your parents choose to help out.</p>
<p>The universities will expect at LEAST that amount in payment for your college education. If your EFC is $20,000, that should be,viewed as the MINIMUM the schools will expect to see from you. Most schools do NOT meet full need so the EFC plus whatever shortfall remaining will be yours to at.</p>
<p>As noted…parents are NOT required to pay…but the colleges do a computation and that is that.</p>
<p>That’s unfortunate:( I guess only speaking to my parents can decide what they’ll pay… </p>
<p>Who knows? Maybe the whole SACC thing only applied to my brother. His grades were worse than disappointing, maybe my parents will give me more options if I do better in school.</p>
<p>OP, I was like you in high school. I know others are suggesting you should just settle for Texas (personally I’d call that a horrible suggestion to give to anyone - Texas is an awful state for my money’s worth), but I figured I’d give my side of the story. Wanted to get the hell out of my state (I grew up in Wisconsin) and move to California. I graduated high school in 2006 (albeit with a really awful GPA, 2.4), moved to this state, and enrolled in community college. What ended up happening was I paid out of state tuition in the community college for the first year, while saying I intended to make California my permanent place of residence (I wasn’t lying - I truly did intend on this and made it my goal to work enough to survive on my own, including filing taxes as an independent and renting rooms from people). Working full time really sucked for my grades though, so I ended up dropping out and worked odd jobs for the next few years.</p>
<p>Finally, when I turned 24 I decided to re-enroll in college as I was no longer beholden by the FAFSA rules for parental support. I was marked as an in-state student and made my way through the community college courses. I ended up being accepted to UC San Diego (I didn’t apply to Santa Barbara because of its party school reputation but now I’m kind of regretting it because of how good their engineering programs are) and I’m just about to enroll in my classes for my first quarter tomorrow. I’m an in state resident, and since my parental income doesn’t exist, I have a grant that covers tuition and some other expenses entirely - my net cost out of pocket is $9000 a year according to the school but some of their expenses are a bit excessive.</p>
<p>Sure, it took until I was 25 to make it to a university, but I’d say the jobs I’ve worked and the time I took off from school made me a much better student than I ever could have been had I “settled” for my home state. OP, if you don’t think you can stomach being in Texas anymore, I would recommend you find friends, relatives, hell, -anyone- you trust and are willing to live with, and to move elsewhere and to work hard and develop those job skills and time management skills. You’ll be one hell of a student once you do. Just…don’t pay out of state tuition. That’s just asking for trouble and too much debt. You don’t need to go to university right out of high school, contrary to what others in your high school must feel.</p>
<p>Do you have the full story as to why your parents stopped helping your brother? (Their side as well as his). I stopped supporting my S. midway through college – but it was a mutual decision, triggered by poor grades and study habits. I gave my son a specific option for continued financial support from me, but he chose a different path. My younger child had full support from me for all 4 years-- she had the exact same rules from me to work with as her brother, but she kept her grades up & stayed focused on school. </p>
<p>I see from your subsequent post that your brother’s grades were “worse than disappointing.” – which tends to reinforce my point. </p>
<p>You said your own grades in 9th grade weren’t all that great. Maybe if you work really hard your sophomore year you will see your parents’ attitude change as well. It might also improve the relationship that you have with your parents at home. They will probably treat you better if they feel proud of you and also feel that you are demonstrating a greater ability to assume responsibility over your life. </p>
<p>So you will definitely want to find out what caused your parents to withdraw financial support from your brother. It may be that rather than not trusting your parents, that your brother made some mistakes that you don’t want to repeat.</p>
<p>I echo everyones’ sentiments about working hard and studying and making good grades. There are plently of small state schools in TX that will give good aid to high ranking students. Also, if you have the opportunity to graduate early, the state of Texas will give you a $1,000 scholarship automatically. In Texas we also have the Texas Grant for students who graduate on the recommended or baccalaureate degree plans in HS, talk to your adviser and make sure you are on one of these plans- NOT the minimium plan. </p>
<p>Schools that you may like and are affordable in-state schools:
Texas A&M- Corpus Christie. It’s on a freakin’ island and right next to the beach.
Sam Houston State University. This is a medium sized state school with a party scene, it is an hour north of Houston and many students leave on the weekends to visit the beaches or the Keemah boardwalk.
Texas A&M- Galveston. This campus is near East Beach which is the largest beach in Texas. This school offers maritime majors- marine biology, underwater archeology, marine resources, etc.
UT-Brownsville. This college is located close to South Padre Island. </p>
<p>Colleges in Houston would also be close to the beaches- University of Houston, University of St. Thomas, Rice, Texas Southern U, Houston Baptist U, etc.</p>
<p>Actually, I think that “close to beach” is not a particularly good criteria for college selection unless the student wants to major in something like oceanography. College is 4 years – after that, a person has the rest of their life to live wherever they choose. A better choice financially may be a non-beach front college coupled with an annual beach vacation, if the tuition differential is significant. For most college kids, the beach should be a plus factor in choosing among colleges, but not a determinant as to where to apply-- especially when the need for financial aid is thrown into the mix.</p>
<p>Sorry for not responding guys… Didn’t want you to think I’m ignoring my problems, I’m not. School just started and in doing everything in my power to make good grades, and I’m kind of a stupid kid so I’ll need all the studying I can get. Thank you all for the advice you have been giving:) really means a lot that you put time into a random kid</p>