<p>Allykitty, you can go straight into theater and screenwriting without college, but what 4 years will do is give you a chance to mature and also hopefully study some of the classic, become better educated, build your base. Take the courses you need to get a degree, whether it’s theater or not isn’t going to make whole lot of difference. You can get courses in drama, theatre, creative writing, screen writing without majoring in them, and believe me, the successful professionals in the field as well as those happy as amateurs and doing other things, often did not major in the arts. They have degrees and backgrounds all of over the map. College is just a place where your ideas can incubate and you can have opportunites in what you like, and sometimes an arena that is not as competitive will give you more opportunities. Also, not having loans on your back will be a huge help when you do start looking for work, auditions, becoming self sufficient once you are out of school. The starving artist is a stereotype alive and well today, with loan burdens from colleges that are just more than I ever imagined. TO have that kind of debt on top of trying to make ends meet is terrifying and will cut out a lot your choices. </p>
<p>New poster. This is the only thread on this forum. Story is getting more unbelievable as the posts get added. My “■■■■■” radar is up.</p>
<p>You are a high school senior and you “don’t like cleaning”? And you don’t want to live with your parents unless they “rehire the maid and gardener”! Seriously? </p>
<p>I surely hope this is a student trolling for posts.</p>
<p>However…if not…to the OP, you have only one affordable acceptance. Sorry darling, but unless you can pay the bills, you cannot enroll in a college. Time to come up with a better plan. You have been. Accepted to 12 unaffordable schools. </p>
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<p>Right. OP has been accepted to 13 schools so far, 12 of which are unaffordable, and the 13th doesn’t have any of the majors that he/she is interested in. Sounds like some pretty poor headwork in picking which schools to apply to, not to mention the wasted time and expense.</p>
<p>'we didn’t have them for that long. i don’t like cleaning. i want to be a screenwriter but only the expensive film school has that. i would major in theatre because i like acting but not english which is the only thing my state school has."</p>
<p>Welcome to the REAL world…NO ONE likes cleaning. We don’t like changing diapers, we don’t like cleaning toilets, we don’t like scrubbing floors, we don’t like cleaning up vomit…but guess what? We do it because we have to. And, unless you’re a Trust Fund Baby or strike it rich, you’re going to have to do those things at various times in your life. Even if you go away to college, you’re going to have to do some cleaning. And as a new (starving) graduate, you’re going to have to do some of those things.</p>
<p>Now…as for your career goals. Your state school is fine for that. </p>
<p>Have your parents said how much they’ll pay each year? If not, ask them.</p>
<p>I understand where you are all going with this. What frustrates me is that my parents worked hard for their money and I worked hard for my grades. I should have options to make my dream school a reality because I earned it. It saddens me to see how the college system works. Politically, I am all for the government helping kids who struggle financially to go to school IF and ONLY IF they have worked hard to get it. I hear all the time about kids who get C’s and D’s but get to go to college for free because they are on assistance. I never got a final grade of less that 80 (as well as many that were higher than that) and I can’t see how it would be fair that I go to a school where kids who almost failed are going. It might seem selfish to you, but it makes me feel like my hard work was for nothing and that I could have slacked and been in the same place anyway.</p>
<p>Just because you worked hard, doesn’t mean you get a lot of goodies and all is well in life. What it does is give you more choices, Your parents got things for their money; that they didn’t choose a college fund for you was their choice. They put the money they got elsewhere and some of their choices did not pan out so well. </p>
<p>You will likely have choices that most kids with C’s and D’s will not have in college, and if you build on the foundation you have in getting those grades, you have a good chance of getting through materials, courses and gaining knowledge and getting a degree in hand, which many of them will not. </p>
<p>Some very good students, from well to do families, in my son’s class, kids he knew chose to go to school locally and commute, My son did not want to go that route as he wanted the sleep away college experience. We could afford it and with his saving and work, he was able to go away to his first choice school (not a top of the price range private, but an OOS public). But now a few years later, he can see that those peers who chose the local colleges and commuting are having a good life, a good time, finding some danged good internship/jobs and that local school has served them well. Many of them will be stepping into working wage jobs with the programs they picked and they’ve had an active social life with a lot of opportunities too. When you take a full scholarship and commute, it can leave a lot of free cash to do things, whereas my son is on a very tight budget to pay for his choice… </p>
<p>That it’s selfish is not the sad part about your diatribe and feelings. That you think that your “ard work was for nothing and that I could have slacked and been in the same place anyway” is. Also very naive. You do NOT have any right, nor did you or your parents EARN a guaranteed spot to private school without getting entrance AND having the funds to pay for it, any more than you did in the k-12 years. Were you getting a full ride to go to a private boarding school? Doubt it. You are “entitled” to exactly what you were entitled to in high school. You likely went to your PUBLIC highschool for which you gained entry strictly by where your parents bought their house whereas some kids are stuck going to some highschools in districts that are clearly substandard, and even dangerous. They risk their lives and injury just going ot school each day., and the courses they get don’t prepare them for college or for educated interactions. Or perhaps you go to a local private school. Why, all of the sudden you think you are entitled to a sleep away college on someone else’s tab? Or a private school? Who do you think pays for the vast majority of those college kids who do go away to college and/or go to a private college? Their parents. Or they are stellar enough that they get a scholarship. IF their parents make less than the line drawn for aid, they get that, but believe me, we are talking about a miniscule niche that get enough financial aid to get enough money for a full ride or close, for a sleep away private college experience. </p>
<p>My friend’s DD was a top student who showed an enormous interest and did ever so much in terms of studying Far eastern relics and history. Yet, her parents never could get the money together for her to actually go there on some trips. It was a hurt when a friend of hers got a dream trip to not only Asia but Europe as a graduation present… and the girl didn’t even want to go! Fairness has nothing to do with this. You are no more entitled to the college experience of your dreams than the deserving young woman was for a grand tour of Asia, and in fact, she is probably more derserving. She didn’t get the funds to go to the private colleges she most wanted either. State U for her and she made the best of it.</p>
<p>So what you are entitled to, are the merit awards you may be able to snag, and you can borrow $5500 and whatever your parents want to pay for you to go to college. You and family will likely be able to pay for a local state school comfortably. Get a part time job and you’ll probably have the funds to buy you all of the theater and enrichment experiences you want. Lots of for-payprograms out there. You can take summer at NYU, in England, in where ever and get in a theater troup, do a term at the NY Film school. Lots of options. But a 4 year private college costs private money to the tune of $60K in some cases and who do you think is supposed to pay for the quarter million dollars? They are a business, you know. you are truly looking at this the WRONG way.</p>
<p>Actually, I have never stepped foot in a public school except to take my SAT.</p>
<p>"it. I hear all the time about kids who get C’s and D’s but get to go to college for free because they are on assistance. "</p>
<p>I doubt you know of actual circumstances. Those sound like crazy stories. Gov’t aid is very little. IT DOES NOT pay for college. A Pell Grant is only $5500. Where are you going to go to college on that? Only a CC would have costs that low. This country’s taxpayers are NOT paying for C and D students to go to college for free.</p>
<p>Furthermore, those with Cs and Ds would NOT get accepted to the schools that provide full aid. </p>
<p>Yes, your parents (like MOST parents) work very hard at their jobs. Personally, I don’t know of any well-paid jobs where people don’t have to work hard. </p>
<p>As for being a hard-working student…you’re one of MILLIONS. At every high school in the US there are lots of kids who work very hard. There are lots of kids who’ve never earned a B!</p>
<p>Families are “first in line” to pay for college, since college isn’t a “right”. It’s a privilege. And going away to college is usually a luxury. </p>
<p>IF you’re such a great student with strong test scores, then there are schools that will give you merit scholarships. “Slacking” would not afford merit award opps. However, at this late point, you’ve missed the deadlines of many schools that give large scholarships.</p>
<p>It’s your misstep for not looking into the financial end before coming up with your college list.</p>
<p>What are your test scores and what is your GPA? Maybe someone here can suggest some schools that will still give you large merit for your stats.</p>
<p>And, again…have you asked your parents how much they’ll pay each year?</p>
<p>I only got a 1770 but my GPA is a 4.14W/3.67UW. I actually got at least 8 merit scholarships, and most of them were 15-20K annually. It’s just that all of the schools are at least 50K or more. </p>
<p>Oh please! You have lived a very privileged life…house help, private school, etc. If your grades are THAT outstanding, there are any number of colleges where you would have received merit aid to soften the financial blow.</p>
<p>Those kids who had C and D marks are not going to highly competitive schools on full rides. The MOST the government gives for financial need based aid to a freshman is $5600 Pell Grant (if your FAFSA EFC is $0), and a $5500 Direct Loan. Those are the only guarantees. That will pay the full price for a student to attend a community college while commuting from their parents’ home. </p>
<p>There is a simple solution to all of this. If you REALLY want ALL of that federal aid you think you deserve…take a gap year. Have your parents sell their house and give all the money they receive for the sale away. Move into a small apartment. OH…have them quit their jobs, and apply for some means tested federal benefits. Tell them to give away all money in their bank accounts. You too can then get ALL that money you think the government is throwing at lower income students.</p>
<p>Count your blessings. You have had a nice life with all of the work your parents have done. Instead of counting all the money OTHER people are getting, you should be looking at only your situation…which apparently you did not do financially BEFORE you applied. There is a net price calculator on EVERY college website that would have given you an estimate of your costs to attend. If your parent’s could not afford to pay their family contribution for whatever reason (lots of debt, for example), you should have looked for affordable options with merit possibilities that they COULD afford.</p>
<p>Oh…and applying to colleges you don’t ever plan to attend is a waste of time and money…you should be applying to colleges that you WILL want to attend, and that you can afford.</p>
<p>Or maybe you can adjust your “attitude” about the ONE (out of 13) schools that actually IS affordable where you actually have been accepted.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but you sound very entitled. Your grades and hard work earn you a high school diploma. They do NOT earn you an affordable spot at the “dream college” of your choice.</p>
<p>Then your parents can put that private school tuition they have been paying towards college. You can get a job, starting NOW and through the summer and make sure you work during the school year and pay about $5K with earnings, $5500 the first year with Direct loans towards your college. How much over your private school money can your parents kick in for college? You can probably go to a local private school, and some might give you some merit money too. My son got a free tuition ride to a local private. He could go there cheaper than to community college, and some of his friends who got the same offer took it–from high income families too. You aren’t boarding now, so who did you expect was going to pay for your food and your rent at college? The government? That the school would want you so much to pay for this? Bear in mind that this is a business, and it’ ain’t the army where 3 squares and cot come with the package with a paycheck to boot.<br>
Your family and you can afford a lot of choices that a lot of kids can’t and your grades will give you some options that those who did not get them won’t have. The test scores, are not remarkable, and it’s unfortunate that many college will pay for them, and you don’t have what they want in that regard. That’s just the way i works. </p>
<p>As Thumper points out, those who make too much to get a shot (and it’s a shot, not a guarantee) at full financial aid at school, can certainly step down financially to make themselves eligible. IT’s the step up that’s difficult adn really not doable as people tend to want and strive to make and have as much as they can. If it’s worth it to your family to be able to qualify for full financial aid at a college, they can give it all up and you can reapply in a year and see how lucky you would be in such circumstance. You can’t just take one tiny benefit one gets from a lot of hardhisp and misery and exult how lucky such folks are to get that benney without looking shallow and foolish. </p>
<p>If you want your kids to have full fin aid opportunities, you might want to get into training for cleaning houses and yards for a living, so that in 30 years or so your kids get that chance in the lottery. THose with the money to hire such help DO NOT tend to be eligible for fin aid, as that money is expected to go to college first. </p>
<p>“I only got a 1770 but my GPA is a 4.14W/3.67UW. I actually got at least 8 merit scholarships, and most of them were 15-20K annually. It’s just that all of the schools are at least 50K or more.”</p>
<p>well, it’s a luxury to attend a $50k+ school. A LUXURY! and there are NOT C/D poor students attending those schools for free. not happening.</p>
<p>Working hard in school should be a given. It’s not something odd that deserves a tax-payer provided free ride.</p>
<p>Which schools did you apply to…and what merit did you get at each one?</p>
<p>AND…what are your parents saying about how much they’ll pay each year? ASK THEM!!!</p>
<p>“Actually, I have never stepped foot in a public school except to take my SAT.”</p>
<p>Ok…so you go to a private K-12. How much does that cost? Will your parents pay AT LEAST that much towards college each year? how about more than that?</p>