How can I pay for college when my parents said they will cut off all contacts with me?

I have to leave my parents house for reasons (reasons too long to list and unimportant in this context). I really don’t have a choice to stay.
I have received admission to Whitman College via Direct Admissions, and already signed up for the FAFSA months before my parents said they wouldn’t support me anymore.
I feel that if I should have a better future in life, college is literally the only way out. I can’t take a gap year, gap year is not even on the list of “last things I want to do.” So don’t tell me to take a gap year, otherwise I swear I’ll block you.
I do have a part time job at McDonalds’, but the amount I earn is certainly not enough to pay for this semester’s tuition.
Please help me with how to deal with this issue. Please help.
Thanks.

Sorry about the threat earlier about blocking you if you suggest a gap year. I’m angry that’s all.

@headbang_thrasher

Whitman also requires the CSS Profile. Did your parents complete that too?

Unless you got a full FREE ride to Whitman, it’s not going to be possible for you to attend. It’s just not.

What other acceptances do you have?

With regard to leaving your home. You don’t have to tell us what the deal is…but unless you have a police report or something similar dealing with your parents, their information will be required on the financial aid application forms, and there will be an expectation that they will pay the calculated costs to attend college.

If you have child protective arrives or police involvement, you could request a dependency override…but that’s not a guarantee you will get a totally free ride to any college.

How about the military? There are excellent scholarships available.

@thumper1
I already got a great chunk of the tuition fee knocked off, because of the financial aid I got. But STILL it’s not enough for me to attend!
And no, neither my parents nor I have police records. And I am 18 too.

@gallentjill
I am not joining the military for anti-statist as well as moral reasons.

You can discuss your situation with the college admissions officers who admitted you. If you are homeless or have other situations that can give you extra consideration, they will discuss them with you.

This sort of thing happens quite often with kids and parents during these high charged years of young adulthood. Unless the schools can come up with a plan to give you the funds to make it possible for you to attend the college, you will have to come up with another alternative as to how to spend the next year or so. Financial need is generally calculated on the finances for the year prior–for this upcoming school year, you needed to come up with how you were supported in 2017. The 2017 tax return is used. For the next school year, it’s 2018. So there is quite a delay before the fact that you are no longer being supported by your parents is recognized. So some sort of exception has to be given by the admissions officer.

Being an independent student does not mean you get your full need met. Most colleges do not get involved in funding situations like this. If you already have a very good financial aid package and there isn’t that big of a gap, something might be able to be worked out. You may be able to get DIrect loan limits increased, for example. But all of this is up to the individual college and admissions director.

I hope things work out for you.

I think you should contact the school immediately and explain your situation and your high motivation to attend. I bet they will be supportive of you and will help you navigate this. You need the assistance. You can not do this alone!

@cptofthehouse
Thanks – this gets my hopes up. I would do anything to continue with my education.

@lostaccount
Who knows, they might coldly turn me away! they’re capitalists after all!
Thanks for the support though!

You aren’t independent for financial aid reasons at this point, and likely won’t be until you are 24. Options I think you have:

  • Make up with your parents. Sucks, but maybe the only choice that will allow you to attend Whitman.
  • Start supporting yourself, and look at other school options. Start taking a class or two a semester at a community college while you work. But you can’t get federal loans unless your parents fill out FAFSA.
  • The option I know you don’t like, which is a gap year. But you would need a full merit ride — you still can’t get loans unless your parents fill out the FAFSA paperwork.

The system is set up so parents are first in line to pay. If it was easy to get out of that, plenty of families would. Unfortunately it gives parents a lot of power, too. I’d consider whether you can make nice with your parents at least for the course of your college years. Maybe you can find ways to stay on campus over the summers - work in admissions, get a research position, etc so you only are home a few weeks a year.

How much more do you need? $1000? $10,000?

How much?

Who are the capitalists here- the adcom’s at Whitman? They are hard working, highly educated professionals who work for a non-profit. So not sure your sarcasm has landed.

Drop the attitude. You need help, and they are the folks right now who can provide it. Your hostility is coming through your emails. Sounds as though you are in a tough spot- but don’t take it out on the people trying to help you.

@blossom
I apologize if the capitalist comment offended you. But I’m in a difficult place right now and I have nowhere else to vent. I will try to tone it down though.

Unfortunately, you may need to find a job and work to earn money to live until:

a. You apply to colleges with full ride merit scholarships (with no need for parental cooperation on financial aid) and get one. (Do not take any college courses after high school graduation if you want to apply as a frosh, which gives the best opportunities for merit scholarships.)
b. You reach age 24, or get married, or are a military veteran, so that you can get college financial aid as an independent student without any need for parent cooperation.

I know you say the reasons you have to leave your parents home are not important but I actually think they are very important. It would put your situation in context.

I am not asking you to disclose the situation here but here are some thoughts of why the context matters.

Did they throw you out because you are gay? Then look into LGBTQ resources, as you are not the first child this has happened to

Did they throw you out because you were using/dealing drugs? Then figure out if you want to change that behavior and make up with them

Did they throw you out because you won’t study X, Y, or Z in college? Consider enrolling in one of those majors and then seeing if you can come to a compromise later, once you have proven yourself successful in college.

These are just quick examples off the top of my head. But it is kind of hard to give advice with so little info

Were your parents going to pay the amount not covered by financial aid if you hadn’t had your riff? If not, you are in the same place you were when you applied.

You have to accept that you can’t go to a $50k sleep away school. Not everyone can. You have other options, but you don’t want them (military, gap year). You might be down to finding a place to live and going to community college part time and working full time. That’s what a lot of adults have to do.

Work full-time and attend CC part-time.
Work until you are 24 and then apply as an independent student.
Work a job that offers tuition assistance.

The reason matters as outlined in #14.

You also need to contact Whitman and ask for a deferral, explaining that your parents consider they are no longer responsible foe you starting at HS graduation and you’ll be moving out. Ask if there are “no break” dorms for internationals and foster kids hat you could also say at.

If colleges had to give full rides when parents say they won’t pay, most parents would say they won’t pay. Don’t expect Whitman to pick up the slack. Paying for college is a parent’s responsibility w with help from your state of you’re lucky (not all states help) and federal financial aid.
Colleges are non profit but they don’t have magical reserves of funds unfortunately.

Your first worry should be to find a place to stay. Then, see whether you can increase your hours at McDonald’s and take a second job that has good hourly wages. If you’ve been kicked out you’ll need to support yourself. College (Whitman or any other colleges) isn’t the issue, but rather supporting yourself. With a minimum wage job full time it’s likely to be insufficient (there’s NO state where a minimum wage salary allows someone to pay for a 2-bedroom rental, gas, and food; you’d have to find roommates). Another possibility is finding a job at a University, working full time - those jobs sometimes allow workers to take a class per semester. However it’s not a given considering you’ll only have a HS diploma. You might want to see if Whitman is hiring cafeteria workers? It’s unlikely (they have work study students forna few hours every week so I doubt they need many full time workers) but it’s worth checking.

When are your parents kicking you out?

I need to say something…even being an independent student does NOT guarantee a full free ride to college. If the independent student has an EFC of $0, the only guarantees would be a $6095 Pell Grant, and $9500 in Direct Loans ($5500 freshman loan plus $4000 additional as an independent). That’s about $16,000 which would not pay the costs to attend most residential colleges with dorms.

He would have to count on getting institutional need based aid as well. Even that at many schools would leave a gap in funding.

If this “independent” student got accepted at a college that meets full need for all, then the funding might be adequate for him to attend.

I think everyone has some good advice for OP. Colleges do not simply pick up the cost of every kid who breaks off with their parents and then has lost that funding… Just like if you lose a scholarship (which is something earned), it doesn’t automatically get replaced by the school. Each year, many students already at a college, some right at the verge of graduation, have to take off time to come up with the needed funds to finish up. You, aren’t even in there yet, and it looks like you are going to be a problem for several years to come in terms of paying for your college. This is not at all an attractive prospect for a college.

However, you say you have a good strong financial package. If the gap is small enough, it may be possible for the college to consider closing it, and you may be able to come up with some ideas to come up with some money too. As mentioned before, there are some situations like homelessness that may allow you to get additional loan money for yourself–not a whole lot but somewhat more, from the government, and maybe, maybe the college will kick in a little bit more. They are highly unlikely to come up with a large amount of money but if it’s a closeable gap, something might be able to be worked out. It certainly does not hurt to ask.