Age 24 = Independent?

Joy_N
Tue, 24 May 2016 16:14:21 +0000

(kind of long)

There are quite a few pinned threads. I read a few yesterday. I didn’t see anything about that. No offense meant to anyone. My thought behind using that “discounted” term is that it would be a discount for me. It would be a discount to what I was paying before as a Dependent. Thanks for the heads-up. And yes, I was referring to what I do qualify for under FA.

The only problem with that is, like we’ve said, I highly doubt most schools are going to just give you the whole thing for free. In no way are they obligated to offer that much FA. My point was that if the tuition were $30,000 a year, it doesn’t necessarily mean I qualify for $30,000 in FA. In fact, they could very well determine I only qualify for $9,000 in FA. Like you said, if I do not qualify for any FA even as an Independent, it would still be the same. I would be paying the school’s regular tuition. Therefore, the rest would still need to be paid for in loans and what little savings I have. The fam somehow believed that after I turned 24, I could go back to these schools and enroll for free. It’s definitely not that easy. I think that is because we did indeed know a few people who did it. Since they were already Independent students (24+), these folks went to college for free. Granted they paid for books, but we heard everything was severely cheaper than what Dependent students were paying. They all enrolled at public CCs or CSUs, though. My question was: if I were to return to college, do I also get everything for cheaper than I was as a Dependent? So far the answer seems to be, yeah, but only if you enroll at public in-state schools. What about out of state schools?

When I filed my FAFSA before, I was just attending a public CC. My CC GPA was 3.8. My HS GPA was 3.6. I received a 34 for my ACT and 1450 for my SAT.

So my parents and I were able to pay for that with our savings. I have a degree in English and Paralegal Studies. I wish I had a degree in something more practical, but at the time all I ever wanted was to write. A professor warned me while this might be a natural choice (always been a writer), it’s very underappreciated. There aren’t a lot of jobs in that unless you teach. I’ve looked at job postings for English degrees online. All of them want at least a BA, if not MA. Add that in to 3-5 years of experience.

Indeed, I toyed with the idea of what to study if I returned to college. I’ve heard Sonography has good job prospects. For some reason, not many public schools offer that. I’ve mostly read up on trade schools. Same with private. And I think those places have different FA guidelines than public institutions do. Technically, I do have the option of going back for another English or Law degree. I haven’t been able to find work for such a long amount of time.

Ultimately, I’m hurting pretty badly financially. It seems to me that no matter what I do, I am definitely going to incur some sort of debt. I just know that I do not want to be in the same position. Jobless, broke, and going back to college.

Thank you for the suggestions. They are definitely very helpful.