<p>I didn’t say it was minnimum wage. She’s a substitute teacher though, so make that 50 weeks into about 30 (a bit low, but 10 weeks summer, two weeks each Christmas and Easter. Two weeks between midterms and finals, and fourish weeks of other days off–she gets paid by the day)and assume that she cannot make the full 400 every week because they might not need her. So that is 12000 a year if she works every single day she can, which like I said is unlikely. But I will admit that was very poor math without an explanation.</p>
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<p>So I stand corrected. I looked it up and it seems student assets changed to only being assessed at 20% per year with no asset protection allowance. Parent assets are assessed at 5.6% (and there is an asset protection allowance that is dependent on the age of the oldest parent). So I would venture a guess that you have $60k in assets sitting around in your name. Since you say you haven’t been working, your contribution is purely from your reported assets. (Disclaimer: the lovely posters in the FA forum are much better at determining this part of FAFSA far more than I am and they are a wonderful resource that I highly recommend utilizing).</p>
<p>Why do you feel you cannot pay your portion if you really do have this much in assets? Is it because the assets are in the form of an account you can’t access or something?</p>
<p>You don’t have to actually answer, just food for thought. I wish I had those kind of assets sitting around so I didn’t have to take out any loans. My assets are just meager savings that I’ve been steadily depleting so that I only have to take out the bare minimum loans.</p>
<p>Luckily my parents are paying for my tuition/books/room/board/gas/cell phone for me and my sister. We will probably be paying for extra stuff - clothes/entertainment/etc. We’re both going to a $40,000/year school, so I am super lucky they are able to pay for it. My dad owns his own company, so I can work over there whenever possible to make some money. I’m hoping to have about $2000 (preferably closer to $3000) before the semester starts to cover all my personal expenses for the school year. </p>
<p>We both got $15,000/year scholarships, thankfully, so that will help with expenses somewhat. My parents are hoping to pay some of it out of pocket right away, and put the rest of it on loans to pay off in large chunks a couple times a year when our family business is extra profitable. I’m crossing my fingers for no student loans when my four years are up!</p>
<p>I apologize if I missused the word.
We don’t have the 13k, my dad got lucky and sold a piece of art we still had, and that will pay for first semester, we still don’t know if we can afford the second semester or beyond. We only have 2 pieces left and we ve been trying to sell them for ages, but that is it. I feel 80% sure that I will go back home after the first semester unless a miracle happen, but I will enjoy every second of it and then find a plan b. :)</p>
<p>While I do understand the problems of a family hit hard by the recession, (Mine obviously was, but I was lucky enough to already be on full ride at a great school) you saying that you sold a piece of art and paid for your first semester is a concept completely alien and unrelatable to 99.99% of the world’s population.–So it’s probably going to be hard to get any sympathy. (Not judging whether you deserve it or not. Just an observation)</p>
<p>Gina, you don’t know the situation. My grandparents owned an antique store and I literally have a few hundred thousand dollars worth of stuff in my house because of this. My parents also make poverty level income, and even if we wanted to sell the antiques, there isn’t really a good market right now. I’m just saying, you don’t know the circumstances</p>
<p>romani, 60 hours/week of work is pretty impressive if that’s during the school year!!</p>
<p>^ haha no. In the summer only. During the year its about 30-40 depending on the season. I am taking 9 credits online this summer though with that work schedule. Let’s see how this goes…</p>
<p>i live with my dad (my mom left a couple years ago). he got laid off early last year so all he gets is unemployment and social security checks. im not sure if he still gets unemployment though. i pay for my car insurance, cell phone bill, and gym membership every month. as for school, its covered by financial aid, but usually every semester i come up about $1000 short of my fees so i pay that out of my pocket. during the summer and winter break i work at a retail job for about $9 an hour. although its already may, im still hoping one of the internships i applied to at least offers me an interview. if that happens hopefully ill get paid a little more this summer so i can save some money up.</p>
<p>My family’s very comfortably upper middle class (although not without our hardships. just trying to appreciate what I do have), and yet somehow I get enough in grants from Vandy per year so that my parents pay $8-10k (can’t remember which). Basically Vandy covers tuition, and my parents pay for everything else. They’ve joked about me paying them back the $40,000 after I graduate, but I fully intend to, because I want them to know how much I appreciate it. I have a part-time* job at home during breaks and summer, and the money I save up from that covers all of my necessary expenses, except for gas. My grandma pays for gas because she only has 3 grandkids and worked until she was like 75 just for the hell of it, so she loves to spend money on us, but I feel awkward about it because I feel like people think I’m spoiled for it, even though I could afford to pay for it from my money from my job. Idk. I work hard for my money, and do cover a lot of my own expenses, but I feel like people still think I’m entitled, just because I sometimes spend it on frivolous things (I loooove online shopping). But I know how many shifts I had to work to earn them, so I try to tune them out usually, since I know I earned it.</p>
<p>*part-time meaning about 39 hours/week, mostly because they won’t let me work 40+ so they don’t have to give me benefits haha</p>
<p>reallifeis - It’s all good. 
Poverty is a relative term anyway.</p>
<p>I come from a middle class family. Did CC for two years so I didn’t have to pay for school at all. (Pell grant covered it.) About to transfer but don’t plan on taking out any loans. I just got an awesome new job with Delta Airlines ($10.80/hr + 40 hours a week. Awwessomme) So yeah I’m living modestly but I’m not really too worried about money</p>
<p>Reallifeis–I meant no offense by my comments. I was just tossing out there that this is why you may not get sympathy from people. I’m not saying my feelings in anyway.</p>
<p>And I know exactly what he said of the situation…which didn’t have anything to do with a antique store. But if it had that would not have changed my comment’s intended meaning.</p>
<p>Parents aren’t contributing any money whatsoever to college, other than food whenever I come home a couple times a semester. Got a scholarship for four years of tuition, and another one for full room and board for the first year (includes $2000 work-study though). Have about $1000 in savings, so I’ll have a pretty reasonable debt load after four years.</p>
<p>Will have a 100k loan and a CS degree by the time I graduate</p>
<p>so…</p>
<p>you judge</p>
<p>I’m surprised you can judge that at 18 years old WastedxYears. You just finished you freshman year presumably? Sure people do that, but you have to be the best of the best.</p>
<p>Full Ride.</p>
<p>Parents pay cellphone, and supply spending money.</p>
<p>Because of that, I do not spend as much as I’d like since I don’t want to be a hardship to them. Tried the job/college thing and didn’t work out for me.</p>
<p>@Vladenschlutte</p>
<p>I don’t get what you’re trying to say. The best of the best for what?</p>
<p>I’m just saying I will have a huge loan but a good degree when i graduate.</p>
<p>Whoops, sorry. Somehow I read that as a 100K job rather than 100K loan.</p>
<p>Broke as a mf-ing joke.</p>