You're a poor college student...but you make too much money for financial aid...

[4chs]

Basically those are the words I got today.

 

Last week I filled out the FAFSA online in hopes of getting some financial aid for my junior year of college. Today I got a nice letter in the mail stating that my family's EFC (estimated family contribution) is too high for them to give me any aid.

 

Now, I have not lived with my parents for three years. Nor have they paid any of my tuition in those 3 years. I made between $8,000 and $9,000 last year working part time jobs, etc.

 

It costs me $9,000 a year in tuition alone, so how in the world can they say I don't need any financial aid? This is ridiculous!

 

So, now I have to try and find a new student loan company (the old one I had went under and has stopped giving student loans because the economy is so bad) and hope that I'm still not paying these things off when I'm 45. I'm already $25,000+ in debt due to student loans!

 

I thought college was supposed to make you smarter, help you get a better, high-paying job...not bankrupt your for the next 25 years.

 

This is pathetic and seriously makes me want to just drop out and get into something steady with health insurance and try to work my way up and pay off what I already owe before it gets any bigger.

 

Talk to someone in the financial aid office and explain your situation and see if they can suggest something to help you out. I have discovered that when dealing with financial aid that the state schools do not seem to have as much flexibility as the non-state colleges, who seem to be able to help more.

[leatherneck]

It is an option, but it is not an option that some people want to take. I have many family members in the military, but that doesn't mean I want to be in the military as well.

 

Well get used to having to do things that you don't want to do, because that's real world. Join the military and faithfully serve your country if that's what it takes for you to afford your college, whether you want to be in the military or not. Or take a full time job and go to school part time. Sure it will take you longer to get your degree, but so what. Life isn't easy and it shouldn't be.

 

My parents couldn't afford to do much to help my Centre tuition but they did what they could. By the time I finished my education, I was up to my wazoo in debt. It was still a good investment. So you can't afford that shiny sports car or the big screen TV, or you can't afford to go clubbing but once a month for years after you graduate until you pay off your education loans. So what. Again, that's life. You don't always, heck usually, get what you want. Not now and probably not later in life. Heck, I'm considerable to be a successful partner in a large law firm and there are plenty of things I want to own or do that I haven't owned or done and probably never will. I don't expect someone else to just give me money so I can buy the things I want or do the things that I want.

 

Nobody owes you financial aid; nobody owes you anything.

[malachicrunch]

Well get used to having to do things that you don't want to do, because that's real world. Join the military and faithfully serve your country if that's what it takes for you to afford your college, whether you want to be in the military or not. Or take a full time job and go to school part time. Sure it will take you longer to get your degree, but so what. Life isn't easy and it shouldn't be.

 

My parents couldn't afford to do much to help my Centre tuition but they did what they could. By the time I finished my education, I was up to my wazoo in debt. It was still a good investment. So you can't afford that shiny sports car or the big screen TV, or you can't afford to go clubbing but once a month for years after you graduate until you pay off your education loans. So what. Again, that's life. You don't always, heck usually, get what you want. Not now and probably not later in life. Heck, I'm considerable to be a successful partner in a large law firm and there are plenty of things I want to own or do that I haven't owned or done and probably never will. I don't expect someone else to just give me money so I can buy the things I want or do the things that I want.

 

Nobody owes you financial aid; nobody owes you anything.

 

Amen:thumb:

[STRIKE3]

Keep in mind, that FAFSA is a very complicated process. There are several determining factors, regarding receiving assistance.

 

Are you listed as a dependent, on your parents tax returns. Have you received previous FAFSA or financial assistance, earlier in school. How many times, you have completed the application and if done so correctly, can affect the process.

[Clyde]

From what FAFSA says, they should be able to give me over $10,000, but in reality they cannot, and have not for 3 years now.

 

BTW, there are two of us kids in college, and that didn't help on the FAFSA either.

 

FAFSA's calculation to detemine EFC is not based in reality. When my first child was getting ready to go to college, they determined my EFC to be $32k PER YEAR. I make pretty good money but not THAT MUCH. Also, its not just income they take into consideration. They also look at equity in the home plus any form of savings.

 

I do understand their rule that says that you are not independent even though they do not claim you on their taxes.

[PurpleHaze]

Finacial Aid sucks! That is all there is to it. I ended up working one full time job, part time job, internship, married and kids....I was taking more than a full load at Western. I still made time for my family and spent all of Sunday's with the kids. PH and I got our alone time when the kids went to bed...I went to bed about the same time because I was so tired. PH would come to bed and get me caught up on everything, which was my bedtime story because I would fall asleep when he was talking.

The way I see it, if you want something bad enough, you will do what it takes to get it. PH would get so worried about me because I insisted on a 4.0 at Western. He would tell me that I found a way to burn the candle at three ends.

At the end of every semester, we would go out to eat as a family. Then grandma would keep the kids overnight and it would be PH and my turn together...then, a couple of days later, when the kids school let out for break, we would head up to Memphis. Knowing that this would come at the end of every semester was what kept me going!

[Rebel]

Last week I filled out the FAFSA online in hopes of getting some financial aid for my junior year of college.

 

I was told that the later you sign up the less your chance of getting any help. I had to do my income taxes in January and filled out the FASA in February or that the money would be gone.

[GO CATS]

Like my son doesn't have to go to class too?

One job will do it, a lot of them pay 80% of the tuition or more plus your hourly wage, so I really don't get what you're arguing about.

 

What kind of job does he have that covers both tution and living expenses and still allows him time to study and attend class?

[GO CATS]

I was told that the later you sign up the less your chance of getting any help. I had to do my income taxes in January and filled out the FASA in February or that the money would be gone.

 

:thumb:

[Birdsfan]

Well get used to having to do things that you don't want to do, because that's real world. Join the military and faithfully serve your country if that's what it takes for you to afford your college, whether you want to be in the military or not. Or take a full time job and go to school part time. Sure it will take you longer to get your degree, but so what. Life isn't easy and it shouldn't be.

 

My parents couldn't afford to do much to help my Centre tuition but they did what they could. By the time I finished my education, I was up to my wazoo in debt. It was still a good investment. So you can't afford that shiny sports car or the big screen TV, or you can't afford to go clubbing but once a month for years after you graduate until you pay off your education loans. So what. Again, that's life. You don't always, heck usually, get what you want. Not now and probably not later in life. Heck, I'm considerable to be a successful partner in a large law firm and there are plenty of things I want to own or do that I haven't owned or done and probably never will. I don't expect someone else to just give me money so I can buy the things I want or do the things that I want.

 

Nobody owes you financial aid; nobody owes you anything.

Best post of the thread! :thumb:

[NobizLikeShowbiz]

Well get used to having to do things that you don't want to do, because that's real world. Join the military and faithfully serve your country if that's what it takes for you to afford your college, whether you want to be in the military or not. Or take a full time job and go to school part time. Sure it will take you longer to get your degree, but so what. Life isn't easy and it shouldn't be.

 

My parents couldn't afford to do much to help my Centre tuition but they did what they could. By the time I finished my education, I was up to my wazoo in debt. It was still a good investment. So you can't afford that shiny sports car or the big screen TV, or you can't afford to go clubbing but once a month for years after you graduate until you pay off your education loans. So what. Again, that's life. You don't always, heck usually, get what you want. Not now and probably not later in life. Heck, I'm considerable to be a successful partner in a large law firm and there are plenty of things I want to own or do that I haven't owned or done and probably never will. I don't expect someone else to just give me money so I can buy the things I want or do the things that I want.

 

Nobody owes you financial aid; nobody owes you anything.

 

 

But my tax dollars go to people that aren't working and living on welfare? :confused:

[NobizLikeShowbiz]

Where is it written that your parents or the gov't should provide a college education for the young adults? I was provided with a place to live while I was in school. I would have loved to have gone away to school, but guess what, I couldn't afford to. So I stayed home, and went to school at the local college, took on loans, and worked. A couple of my friends in the same situation as myself, went into the military to pay for their college.

 

Times are a little different now then they were back then, though.

[Birdsfan]

Times are a little different now then they were back then, though.

How? Lazier, with greater sense of entitlement?

[woodsrider]

How much extra is living in a dorm?

[SvFan4life]

Well get used to having to do things that you don't want to do, because that's real world. Join the military and faithfully serve your country if that's what it takes for you to afford your college, whether you want to be in the military or not. Or take a full time job and go to school part time. Sure it will take you longer to get your degree, but so what. Life isn't easy and it shouldn't be.

 

My parents couldn't afford to do much to help my Centre tuition but they did what they could. By the time I finished my education, I was up to my wazoo in debt. It was still a good investment. So you can't afford that shiny sports car or the big screen TV, or you can't afford to go clubbing but once a month for years after you graduate until you pay off your education loans. So what. Again, that's life. You don't always, heck usually, get what you want. Not now and probably not later in life. Heck, I'm considerable to be a successful partner in a large law firm and there are plenty of things I want to own or do that I haven't owned or done and probably never will. I don't expect someone else to just give me money so I can buy the things I want or do the things that I want.

 

Nobody owes you financial aid; nobody owes you anything.

 

Remember that next time you want to get a ticket thrown away or want a break from someone else.

 

College kids deserve a break. How does the government expect us to pay all of this money? We deserve and are owed financial aid for the simple fact that we pay taxes and should get something for it. We pay a lot of taxes for a bunch of ridiculous stuff and dumb programs so I don't understand how you can say that we are not owed anything.

 

I would like to see you come to school and get no financial aid, have to pay 3,000+ to the school per semester plus around 500+ for books, then still have to have money for gas, living expenses, and food. So before you sit there and say no one owes us any financial aid or help you might want to try being a college student now (with the constant yearly raises in tuition).