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So let me understand something that has confused me. YOU mentioned DON'T go to CC you will loose big freshman scholarships. Can I read that to mean - IF a student finds they are in a financial bind-, parent job loss, excessive medical bills, Family misunderstanding as in the OP case, etc, - this late in the application process (applied and accepted at schools), can they just decline every thing and take a gap year and start over? And just try it all again next year? using all of the stats and the HS transcript with a 2017 graduation. <<
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yeah. that’s exactly what i’m saying.
in this case OP cannot afford the schools he’s been accepted to, so he can decline all of them, take a gap year, get a job to save up some money, and try again with a different set of schools next application cycle – ones that will give him enough merit $$$ so that he can afford to attend without parental assistance.
LSU might be the one exception since it is the one place he’s been accepted that might be on the edge of affordability. I don’t know it if he should necessarily decline or ask for a one-year deferral of his admission / attendance.
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and still be eligible for Full Ride status at a school they declined this year? <<
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he has not applied to any schools yet that offer him a full ride, so he will not be declining any such schools. if he DID apply to any, I would congratulate him on his savvy navigation of the college admission process and offer him best wishes as a Fall 2017 freshman. but as far as I know, he did not, and that’s why he started this thread.
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Or would they have to try at different schools the next time? It seems that a school would wonder what happened and that you were gaming the system. <<
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he has to try different schools next year because he did not apply to any affordable schools for 2017-2018. and no, it does not look like he’s gaming the system. with regard to freshman admission, there is no system to game. there’s no law that says you have to go to college right after high school and if you do not, you’re gaming the system. lots of students take gap years, it’s not that uncommon at all. if you have graduated high school and have not taken any college classes anywhere after graduation, then you have freshman status whether you apply for admission right after high school or take a gap year.
however there is no guarantee that the schools will offer the same merit scholarships for 2018-2019, that they are offering now. that is why I think @oconnorer really should look into the full-ride options he has on the table right now and not delay. for example, he should call Louisiana -Monroe ASAP and explain his situation and see if their $12K per year scholarship is still available to him f he applies right away. their COA is about $15K-$16K per year for La residents. if he can add whatever this TOPS thing is, then that’s his full-ride. he might not even have to take out any loans, or just maybe the first-year loan of $5500 for initial expenses, then get a PT job summers and school years. I really think a no-loans degree from ULM beginning this Fall is within reach but he needs to move on it now.
for lots of kids who do not have the GPA/SAT/ACT to earn big $$ merit scholarships, community college is a great option to minimize expenses toward a 4-year degree. but not for OP because has possesses two very valuable commodities – freshman status, and the stats that can be monetized into a full-ride at a 4-year university. he should not even think about CC because if he takes just one class after high school, he loses his freshman status and has to kiss his full-ride merit award good-bye