I lived with my mom for the first 14 years of my life. (I’m 19). My mom has 4 kids total, including me. I moved to live with my dad when I was 14, and have lived with him since. My oldest sibling (17) also moved here with me. My dad makes $100K, but he isn’t helping pay for college AT ALL. Not even books. I’m finishing up my general ed stuff at a CC before transferring to a 4-year school right now, so I’ve been able to pay for my books out of pocket with the money I earn from my job, and i’ve been getting $1000/semester in grant money, and pulling out loans to cover the rest.
I’m planning on transferring to Shenandoah University, which is in my hometown of Winchester, VA. The total cost is $44,000/year. I am completely open to going ANYWHERE else reputable, as long as I can complete the program 100% online from home. (I’m looking to major in Environmental Studies or Sustainability, or something along those lines.) My GPA after graduating with an A.S in General Studies from my CC will be around 3.8, Summa Cum Laude, and Dean’s List. I never took the SAT but my PSAT score was 1880 and I’d be willing to take it if it would help my chances of getting academic-based aid.
The thing is that my mom and stepdad together only make $53K. They live in a low-income apartment in a different city in the same state, and their rent is government subsidized. Technically I am listed as living in the apartment, and so is my sister, for a total of 6 residents. I stay with her a couple of weeks out of the year, and this is why I am allowed to be listed as a resident of the apartment. I know that if I used my mom as my parent on my FAFSA instead of my dad, I would get more aid money. But is it illegal/wrong for me to list my mom instead of my dad as my “Parent 1”? I don’t remember seeing anything that specified which parent to list, but I could be totally wrong.
For the FAFSA, you must use the financial information of the parent you live with the most. So, in order to use your mom and stepdad, you would have to move in with them, and live with them until you have spent more time with them than with your dad.
Why do you have to study either at Shenandoah or online? There may be other options that are more affordable for you that would require you to move.
Talk with the Transfer Advisor at your CC, and find out some good places to go to for your major.
And Shenandoah does not guarantee to meet full need. Even living with your mom and using her on your fafsa will not guarantee you sufficient funds to attend this school.
I would urge you to discuss options with the transfer advisor at your community college. Ask her if there are options that will be more affordable
Thanks everybody! My reasoning for needing to study online is that my boyfriend and I can’t really just up and move, we’re 19 and we have 19 year old jobs (pizza delivery boy and a checkout girl at a grocery store). We don’t have the money to afford to move out yet and I doubt we’d be able to get jobs that paid any better.
We’ve been together for 4 years and are very soon to be engaged, I’m not making any plans to move away without him. My family owns a large and pretty successful Virginia vineyard and winery business, and he wants to learn to work the farm and handle the spraying and harvesting. He doesn’t plan on going to college. I am eventually going to be involved with this farm. My grandparents run the entire business by themselves right now. When it gets passed down things are going to stay that way. I figure a degree that includes environmental policy, business, and environmental safety will be useful for this. Agribusiness would be another degree that would fit. Ive spent a lot of time on the farm, so I’m very knowledgable about the wine itself and about the production process. I’m very excited to be involved, and theyve asked me to work for them pouring for tastings as a job to work through college ( but that would mean moving to Loudon County where rent is sky-high). They’ve actually been the only ones to help out with college - they paid for half of my first semester. In the meantime, I’m not quite sure. My dream would be to become a park ranger or nature educator, but I know I’d be stuck making close to nothing in terms of a salary ):
“I am eventually going to be involved with this farm.”
Then what you will need to have eventually is as solid background in Viticulture and Ag Management. Start by investigating what is available for you at Virginia Tech, Virginia State U, and Ferrum. If nothing would work for you at any of those, that would be the time to look at out-of-state options.