Tell her to wiat two years, quit claiming her on your income tax, have her live at home, work and save, and in two years she can apply as her own broke, penniless entity. At least that was how it was twenty years ago.
Anyone have kids in college or going to be this Fall??? Sry long RANT
- Thread starter cthrash1
- Start date
I'll check into that but I think it's changed. My stepdaughter started college last fall. She lives on her own and has for a couple years now, and she had to fill out form after form and send copies of her tax forms to prove she lived on her own. I think as long as they still live at home it doesn't count, but I will definitely check into it.
Best of luck. I just finished my four years. Went to pubic school, U of Washington, so that tuition was affordable. Got a scholarship to a private school, but the difference to be paid was still too big. So what if I got 12k in tuition help... if tuition was 30k a year? I went ahead and did the 8k tuition at public school. Don't regret it a bit either. It was much bigger and had LOTS of different opportunities.
The biggest thing that helped with tuition the first year was that during my junior and senior years of HS, I applied for tons of scholarships. Only got a few but it did help out for the first 3 quarters. Most were need based, so I only ended up getting merit based ones. Finished HS with a 3.96GPA, volunteered, was a tutor and blah blah blah... so I was pretty competitive. It's not too late to apply for scholarships either. Might not apply for this year, but sure can help with next year and so on. I'd go check out the student center of the school or ask if there is a career center where they post up the scholarships available. There are even scholarships out there for students who earn between a 3.0-3.5 GPA only. Just got to look hard.
The long term thing that helped with tuition was interning as a Undergraduate researcher in the University labs. Got a stipend worth half of tuition each quarter in trade for 20hrs in the lab during the school year and 40 hours in the summer. Had to do a different program each year as funds from each program were only applicable for one academic year. It was a win win situation as I got my degree in Bioengineering and we were all required to do a mini thesis research project for at least 1 year. It set me up really well for the PhD program in Molecular and Cellular Biology that I am pursuing now too. I could imagine that isn't going to be possible if your daughter is into the sports thing. I don't know what I did other than study, do my training/work in lab, study more, go to classes, study more and study more and more and more for the 4 years I was at school. Never once went to the athletic center or watched a school game.
Right now though, perhaps the only thing you can do is try to talk with a financial aid advisor at the school. Perhaps you could get a short term loan somewhere or get a temp waiver. I had to pay tuition within 10 days of the first day of the quarter, but students on financial aid had like 20 or 30 days to get it in. And if you "missed" a tuition payment, they didn't kick you out, they just put a hold on your registration for the next quarter and charged you a $250 fee. As long as you paid before you registered for the next quarter (Usually 6-8 weeks into the 12 week quarter), you were fine.
Best of luck. Hope you can get it figured out. College is lots of work but great in the end!
Oh, cthrash1, straight A's gotta take all the pre req's too
The biggest thing that helped with tuition the first year was that during my junior and senior years of HS, I applied for tons of scholarships. Only got a few but it did help out for the first 3 quarters. Most were need based, so I only ended up getting merit based ones. Finished HS with a 3.96GPA, volunteered, was a tutor and blah blah blah... so I was pretty competitive. It's not too late to apply for scholarships either. Might not apply for this year, but sure can help with next year and so on. I'd go check out the student center of the school or ask if there is a career center where they post up the scholarships available. There are even scholarships out there for students who earn between a 3.0-3.5 GPA only. Just got to look hard.
The long term thing that helped with tuition was interning as a Undergraduate researcher in the University labs. Got a stipend worth half of tuition each quarter in trade for 20hrs in the lab during the school year and 40 hours in the summer. Had to do a different program each year as funds from each program were only applicable for one academic year. It was a win win situation as I got my degree in Bioengineering and we were all required to do a mini thesis research project for at least 1 year. It set me up really well for the PhD program in Molecular and Cellular Biology that I am pursuing now too. I could imagine that isn't going to be possible if your daughter is into the sports thing. I don't know what I did other than study, do my training/work in lab, study more, go to classes, study more and study more and more and more for the 4 years I was at school. Never once went to the athletic center or watched a school game.
Right now though, perhaps the only thing you can do is try to talk with a financial aid advisor at the school. Perhaps you could get a short term loan somewhere or get a temp waiver. I had to pay tuition within 10 days of the first day of the quarter, but students on financial aid had like 20 or 30 days to get it in. And if you "missed" a tuition payment, they didn't kick you out, they just put a hold on your registration for the next quarter and charged you a $250 fee. As long as you paid before you registered for the next quarter (Usually 6-8 weeks into the 12 week quarter), you were fine.
Best of luck. Hope you can get it figured out. College is lots of work but great in the end!
Oh, cthrash1, straight A's gotta take all the pre req's too
maybe you can trade kids with someone else from her class in the same boat. like exchange students, but they don't go to Denmark.
Quote:
Yeah, if you're on your own for 2 years, not claimed as a dependent, parent income doesn't play a role in financial aid here at least. However, if your parent income is enough... tax breaks for being a dependent, being on the family health/auto insurance plans, not having to pay for a separate residence, may outweigh the benefits in some cases. Especially since rent in Seattle for a studio can be easily 1300 a month... if you live at home, that 15K in rent alone per year doesn't have to be paid and is put towards tuition instead.
Yeah, if you're on your own for 2 years, not claimed as a dependent, parent income doesn't play a role in financial aid here at least. However, if your parent income is enough... tax breaks for being a dependent, being on the family health/auto insurance plans, not having to pay for a separate residence, may outweigh the benefits in some cases. Especially since rent in Seattle for a studio can be easily 1300 a month... if you live at home, that 15K in rent alone per year doesn't have to be paid and is put towards tuition instead.
- Thread starter
- #16
There are on campus jobs available but they go to the financial needy students. There is a program that she will need to apply for that lets you pay the tuition in 10 months during the school year with no interest and we can do that(don't know if it goes by credit score though). If she gets the 4000.00 loan and I don't get my settlement in time then it will be about 800.00 per month...We'll just have to be careful with our excess spending (DH and his watch collecting and me and the chickens) and that's if she is able to go that way. She is doing the best she can to earn money to help with college...Right now she is working 5 days a week with a double shift on Sat.s as a lifeguard at the local waterpark, and was also working the same job at the YMCA but they were only working her one day a week because the ones that will be staying on when school starts get top priority on hours/shifts. She quit there because one day a week wasn't even paying for gas. I don't know if all states are the same but here, the kids are counted as dependents four the first two years they're in college so this means the schools or FAFSA goes by our income for eligibility and not hers alone. I don't think it's right but that's how it is. She can't apply for FAFSA without our income so she's hitting a brick wall because of it. We are considered liable for part of her education.
Doesn't matter what your income is to apply for FAFSA. Just is a waste of time. I say do it though, because even some "non income" related scholarships require the info.
- Thread starter
- #18
Quote:
I write so slow you guys had these up before I got mine out..
She's afraid she'll get caught up with life and not go back like what happened to me after my first year.
I write so slow you guys had these up before I got mine out..
She's afraid she'll get caught up with life and not go back like what happened to me after my first year.
Quote:
That's what happened to me too
That's what happened to me too
Here's my suggestion since this is what I did. Go to do gen eds in an associate college/ community college. That takes care of 2 years at a very small cost. Then go to a 4 year state college. This will need to be done as a financial aid loan. My parents also made more than what was allowed for financial aid and I had a TON of loans. We ended up rolling it up into our house payment. Truth be told, she'd probably save more money on going to state schools than with her scholarships. Also she can get into an RA track.
If she's going to be an orthodontist... don't worry too much about her being able to pay back loans have you seen their bills?
ETA: double and triple check the age you can be considered independent. I was still under my parents income at 21 (well until i got married at 21)
If she's going to be an orthodontist... don't worry too much about her being able to pay back loans have you seen their bills?
ETA: double and triple check the age you can be considered independent. I was still under my parents income at 21 (well until i got married at 21)
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