Parents can't help pay & I don't have hardly any money either. How will I afford continuing college?

Paying for College
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I am at community college now living with my parents. I have a retail job barley making ends meet to pay some small bills (car, insurance, food and couple others.) I have about 48 credits now and have a strong 3.91 GPA. I also have built a strong extra curricular related to my major. I believe I have a good shot at transferring to some of my dream schools after one more semester but I am worried it simply is out of reach. Not because of grades but because I don’t have the money or my parents. Is there somewhere on the forum that gives info for people in my shoes or someone that could give me realistic advice on this thread? I plan to apply to USC, NYU, Georgetown and Emory. All these schools are expensive. Would loans even be an option when I can’t put anything toward the tuition myself?

P.S. I could put about 1k a semester, but that is absolutely nothing when you are looking at around a net 25-30k per year, which all these schools are around.

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Hi–There is a chance that you can transfer to an very good four-year school, but it’s not clear that it will be any of the ones that you mention. USC and NYU are known for bad FA. I’m not sure about Georgetown and Emory.

Are you male or female? Several women’s colleges have generous FA for transfer students. Look at Simmons, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Hollins U or Agnes Scott or Wellesley. Wellesley or Mt. Holyoke may be your best bets.

If you’re male, look at Beloit, Grinnell, Haverford, Vassar (has a special program for CC students – https://eter.vassar.edu/ ) (Vassar also is very generous with FA for low-income students – that doesn’t mean a free ride, but they make sure that you can afford to attend that school), Earlham, Wesleyan in CT, Knox, Southwestern University, Union in NY, Connecticut College, Hampshire (part of a Five-College Consortium where you can take classes at several other colleges – https://www.fivecolleges.edu/academics/courses )

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The Transfer Advisor at your community college should have ideas for you. For example, you might be a viable candidate for a Jack Kent Cooke scholarship, and you certainly would be eligible for PTK scholarships.

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Is there a reason you’re not considering any much cheaper state schools?

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Your other threads mention that you’re a poli sci major who lives in GA and your parents income is ~$21k/year. I don’t know why you considered asking your parents to co-sign a $20k/year loan for you, but even if they could be approved the first year that’s not an affordable option. Please don’t ask them to do that.

As a junior you’ll be eligible for the $7500/year federal student loan. With the ~$5900 Pell Grant that gives you a budget of ~$13k/year. Do any of the schools you’re considering offer enough aid to transfers to bring your net costs down that low? If not, you need to look for less expensive options. Are there any 4-year state schools within commuting distance? If so, apply there as a safety.

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Also there are private schools that for students with low family incomes the costs are at or below $13K.

Mt. Holyoke (I ran the quick NPC on their webpage ) might be in your range. The NPC gives three amounts, lowest, middle, highest costs. Your lowest cost there would be about $7K. Your highest about $12K. (I had to guess at your other numbers but this is if your family owns a home that’s worth $350K.)

Union also has very good FA and it has a wide range of courses, including engineering.

Other need-based schools are mentioned in my earlier post, but I forgot to mention Colby, Bates, Hamilton (Hamilton’s transfer-in rate is pretty good. It’s one of the few that has a higher rate of acceptances for transfer students than for freshman applicants. Look at Hamilton.)

There are others. Use College Navigator and check the NET PRICE tab for each school that interests you. It will give you a broad estimate of whether that school is in your range.

Again – look at St. Olaf – great school, great opportunity, excellent aid.

Nearer to Georgia – maybe look at –
Rhodes
Hendrix
Davidson
Agnes Scott
Hollins University

Vassar – seriously consider this school. The FA is great and they have the special program for community college students to assist transfering in – https://eter.vassar.edu/ Vassar aslo seeks out high achieving, low-income students – it is part of its mandate.

Here is College Navigator – click on the NET PRICE tab for each school that interests you. That gives you a basic idea of what the costs may be for you. You’re extremely low income and there are schools out there that seek out high-achieving low-income students – like you. Your costs may even be lower.

https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/

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@bjkmom Yes. My field of interest within political science is more focused and prevalent at schools which have more a Jewish student body. Being in Georgia, there is not many great options for this. Second is reputation: I would like to go to a school which is reputable and has respect to its name. I know this is not important for some, but to me it is. Third is that I feel going to a more top college will give me more opportunities for internships related to my field and also reputability when applying for employment post-graduation.

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But you have to pay for it. From the info you’ve posted, that just isn’t going to be possible at NYU or USC. Emory might be your best choice if you can use Ga Hope/Zell Miller scholarship money but you are still a long way from the $$$ sticker price.

You have to balance what you want with what you can afford. There have been some good suggestions made above where you might get more financial aid. If your family’s income is $21k, you most likely will get a full Pell grant ($6100), the $7500 loan, maybe an SEOG of $2000 for a total of $15.6k. If you can add Hope/zell Miller ($3000? $5000?) a Georgia school becomes very affordable.

You don’t have the luxury to be that specific. Someone can dream of studying politics of California but if he can’t afford the OOS tuition at Cal, he can’t go there. An actress can be focused on Broadway stage acting, but if she can’t afford NYU, she might have to go to college in Nebraska and someday make it to Broadway.

It’s likely if you have such a specific area of study, you’ll need grad school anyway. Get your undergrad where you can afford it and then go to grad school at NYU or Georgetown (which is a Catholic school and while it has Jewish students, maybe not as many as you think).

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What subfield of political science are you interested in? We can probably help you with a list of schools strong in that area. And we can help on the internship front as well.

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If your parents income is $21k/year, you need to go back and redo some of the NPC at the schools. I believe that USC is a meet full need for transfers. You shouldn’t have to come up with more than the federal loan + work study. Look for schools that meet full need for transfers and do their NPCs.

Make sure that you also look for a backup plan. The schools with the big FA for transfers will also be difficult to transfer into.

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Not sure if @twoinanddone realizes it but Emory meets full need so if your parents income is $21K , you shouldn’t have any real issues attending. You’ll have some work study and maybe a summer job but other than that you’ll be taken care of.

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Do you have a non-custodial parent?

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Another possibility is taking off a year and working. Maybe you can find something related to your field. The money you make plus any aid etc might get you closer to your goals. People take a gap year. Why not take a work year so you can reach your goals?

People do go fund me pages and the like also. If you belong to a church etc sometimes they can help also.

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^^ one reason people don’t take a gap/work year after starting school is it changes things. Student loans go into repayment status, some merit scholarships are for ‘8 consecutive semesters’, some state scholarships require student to continuously go to school or to at least start taking the scholarship within a year or two of high school graduation. Some people might also have insurance issues if working in a state without medicaid expansion or if an employer doesn’t offer coverage.

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@twoinanddone excellent points but if she doesn’t have money and the above options don’t work out then there aren’t really a lot of options.

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I’m sorry, but I’m not sure I can buy "My field of interest within political science is more focused and prevalent at schools which have more a Jewish student body. "

Can you somehow support that? I find it hard to believe that, say Catholic University in DC doesn’t have a decent political science program… so I’m guessing that other schools probably do as well.

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Based on admittedly a very little research, take look at the University of Georgia, Georgia State and Georgia Southern

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JACK KENT COOKE UNDERGRADUATE TRANSFER SCHOLARSHIP x10000 (if you’re actually low income)

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Here’s the 2017 list of schools with the large Jewish populations –

Oh wait, it’s a link for a blog so I can’t post it.

Google “hillel list of schools with jewish population” and it will come up.

Here are the “top 60 schools Jews choose” – the percentages are percent jewish population

Yeshiva University: 2,714 Jewish students, 100%
Jewish Theological Seminary of America: 158 Jewish students, 100%
American Jewish University: 150 Jewish students, 100%
Brandeis University: 1,600 Jewish students, 44%
Tulane University: 2,815 Jewish students, 41%
Barnard College: 850 Jewish students, 33%
Goucher College: 450 Jewish students, 31%
University of Hartford: 1,500 Jewish students, 29%
Boston University: 5,000 Jewish students, 28%
Sarah Lawrence College: 400 Jewish students, 28%
CUNY, Brooklyn College: 4,000 Jewish students, 28%
Binghamton University: 3,700 Jewish students, 27%
University at Albany: 3,500 Jewish students, 27%
George Washington University: 3,000 Jewish students, 26%
Oberlin College: 750 Jewish students, 26%
Muhlenberg College: 613 Jewish students, 25%
Queens College: 4,000 Jewish students, 25%
Columbia University: 1,500 Jewish students, 24%
Haverford College: 300 Jewish students, 24%
Washington University: 1,750 Jewish students, 23%
Hampshire College: 325 Jewish students, 23%
Tufts University: 1,200 Jewish students, 22%
Vassar College: 500 Jewish students, 21%
Cornell University: 3,000 Jewish students, 21%
University of Maryland: 5,800 Jewish students, 20%
American University: 1,600 Jewish students, 20%
Emory University: 1,300 Jewish students, 19%
University of Florida: 6,500 Jewish students, 19%
Skidmore College: 500 Jewish students, 19%
University of Miami: 2,000 Jewish students, 18%
University of Vermont: 2,000 Jewish students, 18%
Mitchell College: 120 Jewish students, 18%
Rutgers University: 6,400 Jewish students, 18%
Clark University: 400 Jewish students, 17%
University of Pennsylvania: 1,750 Jewish students, 17%
Syracuse University: 2,500 Jewish students, 16%
Kenyon College: 275 Jewish students, 16%
Lehigh University: 800 Jewish students, 16%
Northwestern University: 1,300 Jewish students, 16%
University of Michigan: 4,500 Jewish students, 16%
Vanderbilt University: 1,050 Jewish students, 15%
SUNY College at Oswego: 1,050 Jewish students, 15%
Yale University: 800 Jewish students, 15%
Queen's University: 1,500 Jewish students, 14%
Bryn Mawr College: 200 Jewish students, 14%
Brown University: 1,000 Jewish students, 14%
University of Rochester: 900 Jewish students, 14%
University of Chicago: 825 Jewish students, 14%
Union College: 300 Jewish students, 14%
New York University: 3,500 Jewish students, 13%
Nova Southeastern University: 574 Jewish students, 13%
Western University: 300 Jewish students, 13%
Franklin & Marshall College: 300 Jewish students, 13%
University of Wisconsin: 4,200 Jewish students, 13%
University of California, Santa Barbara: 2,850 Jewish students, 13%
Queensborough Community College: 2,000 Jewish students, 13%
Hofstra University: 850 Jewish students, 12%
University of Delaware: 2,250 Jewish students, 12%
Case Western Reserve University: 630 Jewish students, 12%
Harvard University: 803 Jewish students, 12%
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NYS publics will cost OP $30k/year because she’s an OOS student. GA colleges may be more affordable because she’ll get in state rates.