To explain, I never really had a good relationship with my family. I know many parents will give me the “my roof, my rules” talk, but my parents are abusive and it’s just ridiculous. My parents don’t want me to study, they don’t want me to be academically successful. They’ve never voluntarily stepped a foot in my school and I’m pretty sure they don’t even know what an AP class is. I also get yelled at for participating in extracurricular activities, although I’m president of a couple clubs. I think they figured out studying was my escape plan.
For college, I ended up applying to 13 schools. I don’t have a job, but I had an internship and made enough money to take the ACT a couple times, send stuff to colleges, and apply to the schools. I have an ACT of 33 and I’m top 10 in my class at a highly competitive school so I applied to really expensive places (I’m also dumb and don’t think things through, but I didn’t really know this was going to happen). I did apply to cheap safeties, but they’re very close to home and I feel paranoid. Today my mom said I’m not even worthy of going to community college and there’s no way that I’m going out of state. I don’t want to be controlled by my parents forever so I need to get out of here. My parents earn quite a lot so I’m not getting financial aid. I don’t think I’m smart enough for merit aid anywhere either. Can anyone offer me any information? I don’t even know how loans work.
You are smart enough for merit aid at many places, but you may be too late to apply for this year. U of Alabama, Temple, Pitt, offer pretty big merit awards. You’d still have to figure out room and board, but people have been able to do that.
You cannot become financially independent until you are 24 (a few other situations like military or marriage).
@twoinanddone – incorrect information about Pitt. The most a 33 got anyone this year was $10,000 OOS. which still leaves tuition at almost $20k per year and then room and board.
Get an appointment with your guidance counselor immediately and tell him or her everything you said here. There may be some options you aren’t aware of. We don’t know where you are in-state or where you already applied.
Did your parents file your FAFSA? Even if you don’t get aid, the FAFSA will let you get loans. Sometimes families are mistaken as to whether they qualify for aid as well. It’s good to know for certain.
The government will give unsubsidized loans to students who do not have their parent info, so that would be an option as well. Freshmen can only take 5500 in federal loans. If your only option for paying for school is student loans, then you will be going to community college. If you live in a reasonable cost of living area you can work and get roommate(s) to afford to rent a place away from home.
Probably the best strategy is to find schools where you would be eligible for a very large merit scholarship. For example, If you have a 4.0 and can retake the ACT and get a 34, UAH would give you full tuition plus room. You could then take out a $5500 student loan and/or save summer work earnings to pay for meals and books. If you are a National Merit Scholar, you have more options.
Is there a family member who you get along with who you could live with perhaps while working full time? Maybe if you defer acceptance for a year and save up money you could have 25-30k saved up.