His best bets are UCs because they package financial aid for room and board, unlike Csus which are supposed to be local. However that package will start with $7,500 in federal loans and $2,500 in work study. He’ll likely get something in Pell Grants, too, probably about $1,000. If he’s avoided debt so far, he’s doing well compared to most. Does he have a job? Can he start saving? Perhaps start looking for housing as soon as you know there he’s going to attend, in order to get one of the cheaper yet decent apartments with roommates.
Criminal Justice is NOT the right major to become a federal agent
@Jay1811 will provide more information.
Criminal justice is not the wrong major either. It’s just a major. History is just as good. FBI is looking for all kinds of college grads. No reason to cross off a school because it doesn’t have criminal justice as a major.
Blossom … he has been on fbi website and researching fbi careers for the past 6 years, since he was 14. He knows he doesn’t need a criminal justice degree, but that’s the degree he wants. He doesn’t want to be an Accountant, or language specialist, he wants to be a special agent which usually have military, police backgrounds, since he will not he will have to get creative. He’s considered going into Park Ranger work but ultimately his dream is the FBI and everything he’s done in his life is to make that happen. No drugs, underage drinking or being around anyone kids doing that. He’s read books on how to be an fbi agent, talked to police and military mentors and researched how to best go about doing that without sacrificing his passions and trying to get into the fbi by going into a field he has no interest in just to get a job. So he’s fully prepared and understands his options. He wants 2 degrees in those 2 subjects for his personal goals.
@thumper1 I wish I could help him but we can’t afford anything for him to go to college. We’ve will have 4 kids, and we will have at least 1 kid going to college ( and for the past 2 years) for the next 10 years STRAIGHT!! Were a one income family. At most I could probably come up with $50 a month for him. My husband drives a 17 yr old car with 235,000 miles on it, We have debt and live paycheck to paycheck. He will be first kid accepted into a university from me, his dad, my parents, my brothers, nieces, nephews etc.
My goal was blue and gold program with UC says it pays all tuition and fees for UCs if your family earns under 80k a year. He’s got scholorships for 12k-13k for merit aid and phi theta kappa from other schools already, so I assumed if the one program paid for tuition, scholorships and grants would pay the remaining amount for housing, he could do work study and anything else he will have to pay for using student loans. We qualify for Cal Grant A and B.
Colleges can think what they want but it was hard enough for us to pay for community college books as it was.
There’s no universities within 75-90 mins of our home anyways, but he wants to have the whole college experience he missed out on, on campus transfer student dorms, football games, basketball games. If he has to take out student loans thats what they are there for right?
Make sure the FAFSA is filed and sent to the state by 3/2. They do not accept late filings.
@MYOS1634
Yeah Im hoping for UCs, he is starting his first job as a tutor here in the next week or two. So he won’t be able to save much, will only be working 5-10 hours a week. He needs to focus on keeping his grades above 3.5 so working more than that would be more difficult and taking 16 units this semester, plus dealing with all this scholorships, paperwork etc. I feel like its a part time job for me …! He will only be going to a school he can live in on campus housing for transfers or juniors. That’s an important part of selection process. If he needs to get loans of 30k…that’s what he will need to do.
@MYOS1634
“Before applying as an fbi agent, it is important for candidates to hold a bachelors degree from an accredited institution. Most appropriate study areas include cyber crime, computer forensics, criminal justice, biology, and business administration”.
My sons weakest interests are science and technology. Lol so yeah he’s got to go with criminal justice. There’s actually not to many colleges with CJ degrees in CA. Being the liberal mecca it is.
@MYOS1634
He has no language history except for 3 yrs of sign language in high school and technology is NOT an option for him. He did do ROTC for 3 yrs in high school but that’s all the background he has. His strength is truly US/military history. He will likely get his degree in history and teaching credential so he can have a steady income while trying to get a job in fbi.
Fafsa is filed long ago…that’s how we got 003556. Cal Grant A/B approved. Phi Theta Kappa membership current.
If he has not borrowed any student loans yet, he could borrow the sophomore amount ($6,500) for this year, and put it in a savings account to help pay for next year and the year after. Think about that.
Also remember that any scholarship money over the cost of tuition (scholarship that covers room and board), becomes taxable income to your son.
The tax on scholarships may be greatly reduced next year because of the increase in the standard deduction for 2018. It will depend on the amount of the scholarship and other earned income.
Is there a possibility of adding a second wage earner to the pool? If your kids are all going to be college age within 10 years, that means you have all school age children. Even a part time job would help rather than taking loans.
you must also find out if the Phi Beta kappa scholarship can be only used for qualified educational expenses. if you get a full Cal grant and a phi beta Kappa that can only be used for tuition, financially, this does not help your cause
He can’t borrow $30k. He can only borrow $7500/year as a junior and senior. If he takes the $6500 sophomore loan now and banks it, he can put ~$3k of it towards next year’s bill. If he works over the summer he can earn ~$3k. That’s ~$13k. He’ll need some of that for books and travel, but if there are any schools near you that offer full tuition scholarships that will leave you a net price of about $10k, you could probably do it. An important point to remember about Work Study is that it’s something students get through the year – they work up to 10 hours/week and get paid as they work – so it’s good for living expenses/spending money, not direct costs like tuition or room and board.
Who will pay the excess over the $7500 student loan this student can take? That’s HIS limit in terms of loans. Anything else will require a cosigner or a parent to take out the loan.