<p>I’m currently a jr in high school, and I want to try and pay for most if not all of college by myself instead of letting my parents pay and being in debt. I plan to attend medical school after undergrad, so I want as little debt as possible.</p>
<p>If I say that I’m paying for college myself without the help of my parents, will I get more aid? </p>
<p>Thanks~</p>
<p>no
you cannot be listed as independent unless
you are 24
you already have your BA
you are married
you have a dependent
you are a veteran/ward of state
otherwise- wouldn’t it be a great way to save your parents money?
Just say youre’ independent and get aid that otherwise could go to students whose parents can’t pay?</p>
<p>Boops</p>
<p>As Emeraldkity4 says, you will not be considered as an independent, so you must start now to think how you and your parents can finance your college education.</p>
<ol>
<li> Do well in school and on the SAT to increase your chances of merit aid</li>
<li> Research need based aid and know where you family stands in regard to need based aid. There is an EFC calculator on College Board. Plug in your 2005 income tax numbers and that will give you a good idea what kind of need based aid you will get. If you will qualify for need based aid, there are things you can/should do NOW to get your finances in order. A good book is “Paying For College Without Going Broke” by Kalman Chany. Buy it and implement some of his suggestions.</li>
<li> Research schools where your have a good chance of getting merit and/or need based aid.</li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>This is not necessarily ethical, but it is an option nonetheless. You could always take loans and declare bankruptcy upon graduating from Medical School. I wouldn’t do that, but some people do. Depends on your ethics I suppose.</p>
<p>only if you have big boops.</p>
<p>my boyfriend is being forced to pay for college all by himself. his parents are rich, but they just refuse to pay. consequently, he’s currently in debt like crazy and it’s only his first year of college.</p>
<p>financial aid packages assume parents will help, and are awarded on how much you and your family are able to pay, not how much you and your family are willing to pay.</p>
<p>of course, there are scholarships availible everywhere too.</p>
<p>I agree…I am paying the my whole way also but colleges assume that your parents are going to help out and you are awarded aid as such…all I can say is that you have to look harder then anyone else for scholarships and other outside aid…</p>
<p>You may wish to try reading this thread about full-ride scholarships that can help you & your family learn about this as an option, particularly if your grades & test scores are pretty high. Being active in some extra-curricular activities can also be a help.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=148852&page=1&pp=20[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=148852&page=1&pp=20</a></p>
<p>As has already been said, there are limitations on who can be declared an independent student under financial aid. Several of us have encouraged our kids to apply to schols where they will are likely to receive substantial merit aid, to lessen the financial burden of getting an undergraduate degree. It does take more searching, but it can be done.
Good luck!</p>
<p>hey boops… if u get married, u will be considered independant… (thats a thought)</p>
<p>Just kiddin’ :D</p>
<p>I’m kind of in a similar situation to amlariul’s bf. My dad is VP of a major company, but he refuses to pay for anything. His reasoning for not wanting to pay is in my opinion ridiculous. He thinks that if kids have their parents pay for college then they will be more likely to fail out. I intend on working just as hard in college as I have worked in high school; do I really need to acquire an insane amount of debt just so that I can prove that I’m a hard worker? </p>
<p>His efc is 99,999 so i won’t be getting any money whatsoever from the government. I don’t want him to pay for everything, but a little help would be nice. I dont really want to go to any of the schools that are offering me more money, they are mostly lesser state schools and they aren’t what I had in mind in terms of size and location. Am I selfish? How am I going to pay for grad school on top of this? Right now selling drugs us looking like a good option. Just kidding, but Freakonomics says cocaine dealers make 200k a year.</p>
<p>Re: #4 College loans are only rarely discharged in a bankruptcy and only because of special circumstances.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You can no longer declare bankruptcy on student loans. those days are long gone</p>
<p>If you chose a school that uses the profile and uses institutional methodology of assessing FA, except in the most extraordinary circumstances, Colleges classifies incoming students as dependent upon parents for institutional aid purposes, even though some students may meet the federal definition of independence.</p>