<p>There has been a big financial disaster suddenly in our lives. I do not know how this will turn out. I might all be fine and clear in a week, but we might still be fighting it in a year. We do not know.</p>
<p>Right now, we cannot risk spending large amounts of money for fear that this crisis will cost us and we need to have money available for just in case. Obviously, we should not drop any college apps over anything. But, how would you handle this?</p>
<p>I don’t know what the disaster is, but six months ago, when we still lived in California, the answer would have been, “Well, kid, I guess your first year or two will be at the local community college.”</p>
<p>Agree with mstee. I would still send out the applications, maybe trim the list. And know that some schools will defer admissions for a year.</p>
<p>Good luck- hopefully you will be okay.</p>
<p>You have plenty of time to expand the list to include schools that might be more compatible with the financial situation. That might mean community college, but it could also mean schools that meet full need, if your child has the stats. There’s a lag time between when your circumstances would show up for FA purposes, but that’s what the add’l info section is for.</p>
<p>Good luck. I hope you’re planning for the worst but that it won’t be as bad as you imagine.</p>
<p>If the student has high enough stats, consider adding some of the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a> schools to the application list, if they are academically and otherwise suitable.</p>
<p>Of course, keep community college in the options list, as well as schools which are likely to give sufficient need-based financial aid (in-state public and wealthy private are the usual places to check).</p>
<p>I would apply as planned and if this financial situation is ongoing, most schools will review your financial data in cases like this and possibly offer more aid to meet your need based on the situation. Just have a back up plan if needed. Honestly though, even community colleges are expensive if money is tight and financial aid there is next to nothing. You will have a better shot getting costs down at a 4 year college.</p>
<p>I agree with Youdon’tsay. I would be taking a hard look at the list of schools to see if there is anything we could add that would provide additional financial safeties in the event that we had a radical change of financial fortune. Aside from that, I would take a “wait and see” attitude. I would not even consider postponing college unless the kid were already set on taking a gap year.</p>
<p>“I do not know how this will turn out. I might all be fine and clear in a week, but we might still be fighting it in a year. We do not know.” - Keep your course steady, with the addition of more financial safeties as time and new knowledge dictate.</p>
<p>Talk to the high school guidance counselor. Some high schools have strict deadlines for when students must submit requests for transcripts and recommendations – sometimes as long as 6 weeks before the college’s application deadline.</p>
<p>If you explain that a sudden change in your family’s financial situation has made it necessary for your child to add more schools to his/her application list at the last minute, the guidance counselor may be able to make exceptions to the rules.</p>
<p>Another point - if this potential financial disaster has a good possibility of revisiting you should err toward caution.</p>
<p>If you can afford the application fees, perhaps it is wise to proceed as planned, although no binding early decision applications should be filed. Once acceptances are in hand next spring, your financial situation may be more clear. Your student can then request deferral of matriculation for a year (some schools permit deferring for two years). </p>
<p>(You would have to put down a deposit to secure a place in the next year’s class.)</p>
<p>Not sure where you’re from, but in SC all high school students that qualify for basic lottery scholarship (basically B average) can go to Tech schools free and there are plenty of courses that are automatically transferrable to state colleges so that you could take 2 years of college courses that are guaranteed to transfer to 4-year college. Check to see if your state does anything like this…2 years would give you some time to hopefully work through financial difficulties and if student can get lots of gen eds out of way it won’t be wasted time.</p>
<p>Is a decision needed RIGHT NOW? You say that things might be clear in a week, so can decisions wait until Dec? </p>
<p>submit apps for schools that have earlier deadlines, but then wait on others.</p>
<p>Also, call some schools and see if they’ll waive the app fees.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about your situation, and I hope things work out for the best quickly. That said, it seems to me that it’s time to re-evaluate your kids’ lists with an eye to financial safeties and maybe look at lower cost in-state publics or community colleges that you may have overlooked previously. If any of the schools have Dec. 1 deadlines, then you will need to move very quickly…but remember that FAFSA etc aren’t due until much later in the process.</p>
<p>I’m sorry for your situation. If you don’t know how it’s going to turn out, I’m not sure that any of us have any better of a crystal ball for you. You know better than we all do about how much money you have in reserve and what this financial crisis will do to your savings. Hope it all works out.</p>
<p>It is a potential case of identity theft. Still investigating. It might be nothing and quickly taken care of. It might be a simple error or attempt at identity theft caught early enough. But in with it, it involves someone trying to forge a document, or something, to sell our house! I am still digesting it. The title company tells us all is fine, we have nothing to worry about. But with this happening, things are being looked in to further to see if there has been anything else. As far as we can tell, the person who is trying to do this, has my husbands social security number, but not mine. But, we do not know everything yet. And with the holiday, I think we are in a waiting game. I hope this is the end of everything. I hope this one incident was all there was and it got caught soon enough.</p>
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<p>Holy cow! That is scary. Hopefully all will be fine, How terrible that you even have this scare. Do make sure this is not a title-company-imposter scam… send no money.</p>
<p>I called the title company that handled the title on our house when we bought it directly. They are the ones who said we have nothing to worry about. But I also had to follow up with other entities. I am supposed. To be speaking to investigators soon too. Turned out, the person has my husband social security number and the numbers of my children.</p>
<p>Wow, how was this crook planning to sell your house without you catching on? Wouldn’t the real estate sign suddenly appearing in the front yard and the groups of prospective buyers trooping through your house be tip-offs?</p>
<p>They didn’t get that far. We were informed that someone was trying to take a loan against our house, and they represented themselves as my husband and had his social security number. Things are. Still unclear about some details. Either the person tried and failed to get a loan, or they are claiming to have a loan against our house, or a deed. The person contacting us originally seems to bethe scammer. So it comes down to, were they just trying to get away with something and will back off because they realize they cannot get away with it. Or, have they already done any sort of damage. The deed search and some other investigations are under way. Our saving grace is, this person either didn’t realize my husband was married, or something, they did not have my social security number, as far as we can tell. And, of course, we will be doing credit checks to see if there is anything else. It seems to be complicated to do credit checks on people under 18. So, either this person was just contacting us with intent to scam and that is it…or this person has already done other stuff. There is some evidence that this has been going on for a bit and other damages may be done. But we do not know yet.</p>