Anyone have kids in college or going to be this Fall??? Sry long RANT

[cthrash1]

How does it work? My daughter got a small swim scholarship to a college, plus other state funded grants, scholarships. Well, it only paid for half of the tuition so now we must come up with 12000.00 more. OMG it really hurts being middle income because we make too much for a good financial aid help(only got 1250.00), and for her to get a pell grant. I have a small settlement that was supposed to come in June 5500-6500 that I was going to use to pay part of it. Then since we have a chapter 13 on our credit(long story, DH is disabled from Lightning strike) we will probably not be able to get a parent plus loan, but on a lighter note our DD will be able to get a 4000.00 loan on her own because of it. This leaves us with about 1200.00 which we can come up with that. BUT...My settlement hasn't come in and they haven't returned my call yet, and it's getting so close til college starts(one month). I am getting so stressed out over this because I don't want it to come time to move in and my DD not get to because tuition isn't paid. She would literally be crushed as she has hopes of majoring in science with predental, she is planning on becoming an orthodontist. And this was the only college from what we looked at that had a swim team AND offered her a scholarship. We even make too much to be accepted at the free college in our state which was her second choice but no swim team there. Grades were not a problem (A-B student), just a lot of competition for the scholarships she applied for. She even had three teachers from HS and her college swim coach recommend her for the schools academic program, but they said they were only able to give 10 out of the normal 15 this year. So that was a no go. How in the world do people do it? Are there secret tricks we haven't heard/learned about?

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

Oh boy do I hear ya...I can't even afford to send my DD to college. She just graduated HS and we did not qualify for any grants or scholarships. It's just the two of us; I work full time and she works part time. She doesn't want to go to the local community college because she wants to work with horses, and is not the slightest bit interested in taking any pre-req courses. She was accepted to Averett U in Virginia, but at $30+K a year, there's no way. I just don't know how people do it.

 

[cthrash1]

It's awful...My DD said there should be special grants available for middle income...Since you can't qualify for aid but can't afford the tuition.

ETA: If my DH wasn't drawing his LT disability we'd qualify on just his SSDI, but then we couldn't afford to live. Crazy huh, like they want to keep you poor and dependent on the gov. or they want to make you poor so you would have to depend on them.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

I agree. And what kills me is I have been preaching (ie nagging LOL) to her all throughout her years of school about how important it is to get good grades and always try your hardest so you can get into the schools you want with some scholarships. She didn't listen and didn't apply herself. Her GPA was too low to qualify for our state schools and they suggested 2 years of community college then try again. She has this idea that comm colleges are crap (which obviously I know they aren't!) so she is refusing to go.

Add to that fact that she has some minor health issues and if she doesn't go full time, then she will be kicked off my health insurance. She doesn't seem fazed by that because she has no idea how much it costs to go to the doctor. Now I'm between a rock and a hard place because if I MAKE her go to school when she doesn't want to, I'll be wasting money that I don't even have. But knowing how important it is to get anywhere in this world now, I just don't know what to do. She needs to "step out of the barn" and into reality. Very frustrating.

 

[cthrash1]

Quote:
Berea college is the free college here in Ky but you can't make more than 52000.00 adjusted gross(which I think is a good cap). I don't know your income or if they take out of state students(I guess they do, most colleges do), but maybe she can look into it. Or a trade school, they don't require the pre-req courses do they?

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

Nope...wouldn't qualify unfortunately. We've checked into tech programs/trade schools, but she wants to be an equine masseotherapist and they just don't have those kinds of programs (that we can find) here in Ohio. Probably loaded with them in KY with all the horses you have there, but not here.

 

[cthrash1]

There are some scholarships that pay for kids with health issues...Like my DD has sport induced asthma and there is a scholarship for kids with asthma...Of course she didn't try for it on time. That is what our problem has been, getting her off her toosh to apply to the scholarships I would mark for her(I bought the Kaplan book of scholarships(huge)).

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

She was diagnosed with migraines and abdominal migraines/cyclic vomiting syndrome. It's been ugly...but I checked into scholarships as well as SSI and she doesn't qualify. Apparently it's a "subjective" disease.

 

[cthrash1]

Don't you just hate that? When the ins/ssi/ssdi can't find something on their precious lists of diseases then you aren't covered. Took my DH almost 5 yrs to get SSDI...And they won't even look at my son who is ADHD and no they don't grow out of true ADHD as the med field used to state and SSA has tried to convince me...True ADHD is with them their whole lives, they just learn how to cope and a bunch still have problems holding jobs, paying bills, etc...which in turn can lead to problems with self abuse aka drinking, drugs etc...But he will be eligible for scholarships and grants because of it if he wants to go to college(only 10y.o. right now). My DD asked me in her Jr year to have her evaluated for ADD...I thought she was joking because she always had good grades, but then her sr yr she was still telling me she has a hard time staying focussed on the teachers when they are talking, her thoughts wander. Should have done it I guess...May have paid off this Fall

j/k
I was an average to low grade student for not applying myself too but once I got into college it was much easier than high school, except some essays because you have more time to do the work. Tell your daughter it should be easy for her to fly through the prereqs, and everyone has to go through them unless you are straight A. My daughter still has to go through most of hers too and she got a 26 on her ACT and aced the language on it. Kind of like a college right of passage to take the prereqs.

 

[pdsavage]

Well hate to say it but my kids have to pay thier own way into collage.
I love them dearly but no one would pay mine or my husbands,we didnt even ask.
There is a collage in Missouri that you work your way through can't remember the name of it though.My Step-son was thinking about that one,then he joined the Army to pay his way.My oldest son is going to MU in Columbia Missouri.But he has 2 years to get everything done finace and scolarships ect ect.
As for the last 2 i dont know what they want to do with there life they have few more years to decied.The only one who wont go to collage is my oldest.