Can you broach the issue of the AOTC or is that risky? Because they’d be pocketing money meant for your college tuition and it’d make a big difference.
Are they hostile to UCF ? Did they expect to pay for the college of their choice which you didn’t want? Or did they spring that on you suddenly?
I’m very sorry for you in any case. I agree there’s little you can do beside the loans and jopenfr small scholarship.
Ask on the financial aid forum what private lenders are re least predatory. Make it clear you have no other choice due to parents requirements- you must take on 10 in loans in addition to federal student loans.
@MYOS1634 my parents believe that since they are getting the AOTC in their tax returns they have a right to it and shouldnt be expected or asked to give it to me much like how they don’t care for the expectation that parents usually help their kids with college. They’re not hostile to UCF they just feel like they shouldn’t have to support me because its my education and my decision to pursue it, not theirs and that at that point I would be a legal adult. Funny story is they still intend to claim me as a dependent on their tax return which is why I’m going to work during college to pay for my own expenses (besides the tuition and housing which would go into loans) so that I can prove I’m providing 50% or more of my expenses and be independent for tax purposes. at that point I would claim my own AOTC correct?
@omarrrr - Read trhough the thread at the top of this forum on the topic of Automatic Full Tuition and Full-Ride scholarships. Some of those are still taking applications for this fall, and could be much better financial deals for you. Many of them will also be pretty generous with your AP credits as well. The less help you need from your parents, the better.
We don’t know that the parents even get the AOTC, or if they do if it is refunded to them or used to offset other tax obligations. Parents don’t give their children the $4000 personal exemption, the child care credit, the child credit. The AOTC belongs to the parents of a dependent child.
Now the OP says he’s going to be independent when he moves to Florida, supporting himself. If so, the parents will not get the AOTC or the $500 credit under the new tax plan. If they claim him as a dependent and he files his own tax return as an independent, the IRS will bounce the returns. The OP is not a citizen, and maybe his parents aren’t either. Do non-citizens get to claim the AOTC?
There’s still something to be done.
You could go to a school that still gives big merit for your stats. Where you don’t have to borrow big loans.
Because the Knights award requires the filing of FAFSA every year.
If you think your parents are controlling now, why give them more power if you need their cooperation to do the FAFSA, even though you don’t qualify for aid other than federal loans from it?
What if they don’t like something you do and refuse to cosign private loans?
@twoinanddone my parents are actually citizens as of 2017, however I am not. I don’t think that affects it either way for tax purposes though.
@mommdc That is very true and truly I’ve taken for granted the fact that they would at least do that much for me. I do believe that they won’t go so far as to refuse the file the FAFSA since it does not negatively affect them whatsoever if they file but I’m truly not sure. I’ll look into some schools with automatic full tuition and full rides or just greater scholarships. Personally I was thinking that what UCF gave me was the best I was going to get.
If they are citizens, then you are too. Look into it - children of naturalized citizens understand the age of 21 should automatically and ligiclly become citizens.
@omarrrr As was mentioned UAH. You’d get a full tuition scholarship. It would only cost you about 12-13k the first year. Less the next years when you live off campus. Probably only 9k a year your sophomore -m senior year. They should be still accepting apps. I don’t know why you’d pay so much more for UCF. And look into citizenship. Post #27.
https://www.uah.edu/admissions/undergraduate/financial-aid/scholarships/merit-tuition-scholarships
Definitely apply to UAH, then compare costs and offerings. UAH is mostly strong for STEM and is located in a research park.
Email the honors college at UCF and ask them if there are additional scholarships you could apply for. Explain you’re “a little short” on the amount needed to pay and must handle costs on your own. (No need to go into further details).
Do you have a job? Can you save money?
When do you move to Florida?
@MYOS1634 they are unable to provide the documentation to USCIS that they have legal custody of me because my mom is divorced and my home country provides no such document. So I am.unable to get naturalized as a child of a US citizen and have to go through the process myself
You have a birth certificate right? Where both parents’ or your mother’s name are written? I think it’s worth investigating (once you’re done with my the college stuff).
@MYOS1634 either way I turn 18 in a week and once I turn 18 it would be too late
@MYOS1634 Trust me though we did look into it and a document verifying that my mother and stepfather have legal custody of me is necessary and we don’t have such document
I’m sure you looked into it but this requires professional help about ways to prove NOT custody but LEGAL GUARDIANSHIP. (She’s your birth mother and you’ve spent more than 182 days with her, so she’s the custodial parent unless there’s an arrest warrant for your kidnapping pending). It seems unfathomable you’d be stuck in limbo after your mother has become a citizen.
Can’t your mother ask for a judge to confirm you her biological child? A declaration is supposed to be made on your behalf. It’s worth hiring a competent lawyer for, or at least going to the nearest law school and asking the closest law clinic. It’s especially important nowadays. (A permanent resident in his 40’s whose parents had escaped communist Poland was recently deported because he’d spray painted a car when he was 17. Unbelievable things are happening. Do everything you can to secure that citizenship.)
Based on my limited knowledge, you’re automatically a citizen if all of these are true: you’re under 18, a legal resident, one of your parents was naturalized, your mother is your biological parent, and your mother has custody (physical, shared, or legal custody. In your case it’d be physical custody, ie., she’s not kidnapped you, you live with her).
After that, 18-21, it becomes more complicated but it’s still possible.
Since you turn 18 in a week, please hurry.
Nothing is automatic. You ALWAYS have to apply for citizenship if you are not born IN the US. Even children born to US citizens overseas have to apply for a certificate (some exceptions for military base births) The Child Citizenship act of 2000 is a way for the child of a citizen to obtain citizenship, but you still have to apply for it. Under that act, if the child enters the US with all the applications and documents filed with USCIS, then citizenship is granted upon entry into the US or later when all requirements are met (adoption, re-adoption, filing proof of paternity). The Act only applies to children under 18, so if all the requirements aren’t met by then, the act cannot be used to get citizenship.
It sounds like OP’s mother was not a citizen when OP entered the US, so he wouldn’t have become a citizen at that time. He (OP) didn’t enter the US on an IR-3 or equivalent visa. It sounds like the family doesn’t have all the required documents, including custody of the ‘child’. It is very unlikely this could be accomplished in a week.
OP- agree with the suggestion of finding a law school with an immigration clinic where someone can help you sort this out.
@MYOS1634 the issue is you’re looking at it from a standpoint of US laws of custody which don’t apply in this case since I am not a US citizen. We have consulted Lebanese lawyers and judges and there is nothing we can do until I turn 18 and apply for citizenship as an adult permanent resident
@MYOS1634 I’m not too worried about it though. Once I turn 18 and go to college I can apply for citizenship there and if all goes well it shouldn’t take more than 9 months. Seeing as my parents obtained citizenship fairly quickly after the had begun the application I don’t see why it would be much different for me.