Stressing about paying for college!!!!!!

Paying for College
1

<p>my breakdown on me:
24, unmarried, no kids, and trying to go to college </p>

<p>So far figuring out how to pay my way has been REALLY stressful…
As for as college experience goes, I have taken several gen ed CC courses in the past 2 years, but am wanting to go to a university as a transfer or freshman (whatever would be most beneficial financial-aid wise)</p>

<p>In high school I was pretty average, took the ACT once, made a 23 (this was 6 years ago, would this be applicable?) 3.5 gpa</p>

<p>I did a few EFC calculators and some come up 0, and one actually was $7500.
By no means do I make a lot of money, maybe $20,000/yr, and I recently purchased a small house…other than that, no assets, no savings…</p>

<p>If its helpful I am in Louisiana currently…where would I have the best chance of going and getting significant aid???</p>

2

<p>Why did you buy a house if you are thinking about going off to college? Are there schools you can commute to from its location?</p>

3

<p>Honestly didn’t realize the house would hinder me from going to school; it is significantly cheaper than my previous apt and mantainenance costs are low…yes, I can def. commute to several schools from this location.</p>

4

<p>What state school can you commute to?</p>

<p>If your EFC is too high then you won’t get Pell. You will probably get offered loans. </p>

<p>It looks like your EFC will be about $6,000 since you’re an independent student. So, that’s too high for Pell.</p>

5

<p>Will be commuting to LSU in Baton Rouge…</p>

<p>my fiancee’ and I have been contemplating marriage for several years, she is a grad student …would this benefit us to be married instead of single?</p>

6

<p>Probably not…it looks like married students share the same $7780 income protection allowance that independent single students have. Unless you have a child, that is! It may be helpful to work through the actual EFC formula:</p>

<p><a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111609EFCFormulaGuide20102011.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/111609EFCFormulaGuide20102011.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>The 0 EFC sounds like it is a mistake. If you were a dependent student whose parent’s income was $20k then you ight be eligible for the auto ) EFC. But an independent student without dependents other than a spouse is not eligible for the auto 0 EFC. S the 6,000 to 7,000 EFC sounds about right. </p>

<p>As sk8rmom said, you have a certain amount of protected income ($7780). Over that 50% goes to the EFC. If you are married and your spouse is also in school your income protection does not increase.</p>