I will be attending the University of Florida in Fall 2017 as an in-state freshman. My mother makes too much for me to qualify for federal aid and I did not receive any merit scholarships. At the current moment, the only aid I will be receiving will be about $3500 per year from Bright Futures. UF recommended that I take out a student loan and a parent loan, however, my mother will not take out any loans to pay for my tuition and will not be paying any money towards my attendance at UF.
I’m freaking out right now, as I don’t want to be $40,000 in debt by the time I graduate.
Are there any scholarships specifically for students who don’t qualify financial aid? Do you have any advice for students like me?
You can look for local scholarships. Ask your school counselor about those. The problem is…they are one time awards… it every penny counts.
If you don’t already have a job, get one! You should be able to earn $3000 a year by working full time in the summer and on breaks…and about 10 hairs a week while in school.
Are your parents able to give you any money towards college expenses?
Most of the local scholarships require proof that you need financial aid, which has prevented me from applying to them. I will be working over the summer at a local office, which should give me about $1600 by the time summer is over, hopefully. Based off of what my siblings did when they went to college, I will be paying college expenses like books, gas, food, etc. My mother may give me money towards housing if the rates are low enough.
Honestly, the reason why my mother won’t be supporting me much financially is because my siblings received financial aid when they went to college, because both of them were in college at the same time. My sister graduates this year, which leaves me as the only child attending college and the only dependent in the household.
I’m majoring in linguistics, which cut down my college options to two colleges in Florida (FAU and UF). FAU didn’t offer me anything either. I’m a dual-enrolled at a local community college, but will be moving on because of the lack of courses in my field. On the bright side, I will have my A.A. degree once I graduate this May.
The state legislature is looking at raising Bright Futures to pay full tuition ($6K+) and another $600 for books ($300 a semester). Hopeful that will happen (we’ll know later this month).
With max loans ($5,500 as a freshman), you still fall short. You’ll need help from your mom to pay for the dorm (or food and other expenses). Going with Broward or Jennings (typical freshman dorms), that about $2,648 a semester. If you don’t get a meal plan (they are expensive), buy a small used mini fridge (we got one for $25), and don’t mind cooking, you can significantly reduce your meal cost.
You can also look into getting a part time job. Most that are available to freshmen would be limited to Federal Work Study, but a few are not.
If you’re going to school in Summer B, that’s a great time to snag one of these jobs.
Either way, you’ll need your mom to help out. Try to work with her.
Worse case scenario, don’t go to UF, but to a local CC or switch (if you can) to UF PaCE (online). Earn your AA degree, while living at home and saving money before transferring to UF. Then you’ll only need to take out loans for 2 (or 3) years at UFs. Almost 1/3 of undergraduates at UF are transfer students. Keep in mind that it’s your major that determines how competitive you’ll need to be as a transfer student. You’ll find it’s a lot easier to transfer into UF as a linguistic or nuclear engineering major, than as a finance or mechanical engineering major.
Since you will have your AA this may. when you start, will you have junior status? You can ask if you can get the $7500 student loan for junior status.
If your mother is not helping and you, then you may have to go to the affordable option. are you commuting distance from UF? If not you may have to attend the 4 year school that you can commute to where bright futures and your loan will cover tuition and live at home?
You need to work with your mom on this. First, did she fill out the FAFSA? You will need that completed to get a student loan. Even if she makes a lot of money you will still get a loan. If you are a freshman, you get $5500. If you are transferring in as a junior, you get $7500.
If you get bright futures at $6000 + $600 books, you have enough to cover tuition. However, a $7500 loan plus your $1600 from work is still not enough to cover room, board, and personal expenses for a year (around $11,500). Can your mom provide the $2,500 a year? Would she loan it to you?
Your other options include a) finding a school you can commute to or b) defer for a year, work full time while living at home, and save the $5000 needed. I know kids who have done that, and they say the work year goes by quickly
Sounds like mom paid nothing or little for the siblings’ college costs, but they qualified for a good bit of aid since the EFCs were much lower because multiples in college AND larger household.