If you have this attitude at home, I don’t blame them for not talking to you about their money. Intended or not, your posts come across as entitles.
If they aren’t willing to pay for your college expenses, you have 3 options: get a job, ask if you can live at home and commute to a local school and take out loans to pay for tuition, or earn enough merit $$ to pay for tuition, room and board. The latter scenario is pretty unlikely unless you have major accomplishments and stellar test scores.
Fwiw, winning outside scholarships is not a very realistic plan. The best scholarships come from the universities themselves.
Don’t count on getting enough outside scholarships to fund your college education. The reality is the best scholarships come directly from the colleges.
You are a junior.
I hope you are looking at reasonably priced colleges. Remember…no one needs to go to a $60,000 plus a year school. If your family can’t or won’t pay for that…you will need to look for less expensive options.
@deadgirl First I’m going to rename you to something more optimistic. Second, you can only control you. Sone hard lessons on what you want to do when you’re a parent and how you want to live
But first things first. Getting you to college. Do you have a job during the summers or during the school year?
I’m sorry if my posts come across as passive agressive or entitled. I am very blessed to live in a house and have lots of food and water to drink daily; however, I am trying to become as independent as possible from my parents. Reasons for this include police charges filed against them multiple times for physical harm against me and other things I cannot disclose. I would have brought this up in my post; however, looking around online, this does not do anything for me in terms of fafsa and financial aid. Also, it looks bad for colleges. I wish I could edit my post but it’s not allowing me.
Also, I am looking at jobs; however, transportation is a big issue. I recently got accepted to work at a local Panera for money. My parents will not allow me to take the bus or drive so I am resorting to a lot of freelance work. I am currently working on learning a programming language and I have designed some websites for small businesses but so far, I’ve only made about 2.6k which may just be enough for food, textbooks, and some boarding expenses for college. Please someone correct me on this. I have it still left on my eBay account because if I cash it out to my bank, my parents will spend it on differing things.
Yes, I have started SAT prep and will be doing two SAT IIs but I’m not sure whether I should take the ACT as well. Also, I will be getting a full-time job somewhere as soon as I turn 18 and legally will be able to since my parents will not allow me at this time.
I will be getting my own bank account as soon as I turn eighteen and then I believe I will have to pay certain taxes on all my earnings I’ve made. I am hoping to live on campus because I do not have a car at this time.
You do not qualify for independent status under the normal rules, but this is a legitimate reason to ask for independent status from your college financial aid office via professional judgement.
Do you have anywhere to go after high school graduation? An extended family member or perhaps a close friends parents who might take you in? You’ll have to move out of the home somehow. It’s worth it to try for independent status from a school that accepts you and meets full need. But there is no guarantee of getting it.
Your other good shot for free money for college is institutional scholarships, not outside ones. There is just a lot more money available from the schools themselves. You need the best possible grades and test scores, and a lot of flexibility as to where in the country you go, and you can’t be hung up on rankings.
It is most likely not your parents preventing you from getting a full-time job. Most states have limits on the number of hrs minors can work and the hours of day.
Your posts spiral all over the place. Focus on one thing at a time. No, $2600 is nowhere near enough $$ for food, textbooks, and room. It might barely cover food and textbooks for 1 semester. Room and board alone can cost $10,000+ at many schools. Some are upwards of $15,000 once you factor in fees outside of tuition.
Attending away from home college is not cheap. Tuition at OOS schools, some instate schools, and private schools can be steep. For students not qualifying for institutional grants, Pell grants, etc, w/o parental contributions your options are limited. That is the blunt reality.
FWIW, my kids have loving supporting parents, and guess what? They don’t have college funds. They have very limited college options. That is true for the vast majority of students.
If you don’t want to continue to live at home post graduation, you are going to limit your options even more unless you have any in-state friends or relatives that might be willing to let you live with them. (you cannot live with them OOS and get in-state residence with the exception of a very few states. Oregon might be one. I can’t remember.) Or you qualify for large merit. That you really won’t be able to discuss realistically until you have standardized test scores.
A better question might be if your parents are abusive, have you confided in your therapist? The therapist would be a mandatory reporter. If you are removed from your parents’ home and become a ward of the state, you will be considered independent. If your parents have had charges filed against them numerous times due to physical abuse against you, have you been removed from your house and placed in foster care?
Since you are a junior, find a PSAT prep book ASAP and work towards qualifying for National Merit semi-finalist. That opens up many automatic scholarships, some of which approach a full ride.
For discussion sake…let’s say this student does gain independent status for financial aid purposes…and doesn’t need parent info.
This will net her $5900 in Pell Grant money (if her income isn’t too high) and $5500 in loans…plus $4000 additional loans because independent . Those are the ONLY guarantees…and that’s if she is eligible for the full Pell.
So that would be $15,400…which is NOT enough to pay for a residential college, tuition, fees, room , board, books, and personal expenses. It would fund a community college…of the student had a place to live.
My main focus right now is on the PSAT Oct 11. And a gap year is a very good idea too! I do not feel safe in my home but there is no other option for me as my therapist and I have already assessed all the possibilities.
@deadgirl One of my best friends was in a bad situation and she ended up being a live in nanny for a few years. They have community classes on babysitting, child CPR. You could get certificates if you were thinking of that.
@thumper1 - Yes, there are definitely risks w/ the independent student strategy. The student needs to get into a school that supplements the federal aid with generous institutional funds and then win their appeal for professional judgment for independent status. (Unless, as hinted in post 31, the student somehow gets into foster care and becomes a ward of the state, which guarantees independent status. But that, frankly, has it’s own risks of educational and life disruption that can also derail a college career. Also, the state may prioritize the youngest and most vulnerable children and be less likely to take teens out of the home.)
Given the GPA, it is advisable to do both the merit aid and the independent student strategies simultaneously. Which means both getting great grades and test scores, and keeping track of documents, witnesses, etc. to the abuse as well.
I wish I could edit my post but it’s not allowing me.
I do not feel safe in my home but there is no other option for me as my therapist and I have already assessed all the possibilities.