Money and college(how to work it out)

[InfinatyBPS]

Ok, I'm only a sophomore in high school, but I have been hearing alot about college and such, my mom says she dosen't want to talk about it because its going to give her a heart attack or stroke from worrying because we have no money, so she isn't a very good person for advice on this. I want to goto the college and don't want to have to do it when I'm 30 years old. I have pretty much no savings, and cannot get a job until I'm out of high school(no I CAN NOT!!!!pm if u wonna know why) I have no idea if I should even apply for colleges, because there is no way to pay for it, I have NO(none whatsoever) money saved for college. I need to know what can I do to get to college? Should I bother applying and how are you going to/ did you pay for college? And also how did you have money left over for rent(about $1000 minimum over here) food, clothes, car(car itself, insurance, gas, registration...) I don't realy know who I can turn to to ask all this stuff, so I came here so please help me out...

[zbody]

Get into a state school where you are a resident and take out as much financial aid as possible. Then get a job while you are in college. Else go to a community college and live at home. Nothing to worry about as long as you want it bad enough.

[ICOM]

Don't worry about the money right away. You can pay for all that after your done with it. Talk to people who went to college and they can tell you about that.

[AllAmericanMag]

Military....

[InfinatyBPS]

Military isn't realy an option, I have asthma and flat feet and I'm not the most physicaly fit person(thats a huge understatment)

[nippinout]

Do what I do.

I get loans.

I have student loans and parent loans. The government pays for my student loan interest, err something like that. And my parents pay for the paretn loan. All they do is pay the interest.

I have to pay the loans back once I graduate. A co-worker of mine wasn't able to afford his tuition after he graduated law school. He reconsolidated all of his loans for a lower monthly payment.

My older sister was also on loans and had something like $100/month to pay after she graduated.

If your grades are fairly good, there are numerous opporunities for scolarships. You just have to look for them. My older sister got a scholarship for just being asian. I got a scholarship writing an essay about cookies and desserts.

A few friends of mine didn't want to pay so much money for their first year of college. What they did was go to a community college to get rid of their general classes and pre-requisite classes. General classes are just the same at community college and costs very little when compared to a university tuition.

Take your generals at a community college if you want to save money. Then apply to a university and get those scholoarships!

Good luck!

My father always gave me this advice and still does, "Be smart."

I always give this advice, a twist on my dad's, "Don't be stupid." Smart people can still be stupid. :)

[Miscue]

Well... I have paid for my tuition by working. The university I go to (UNLV) has a very low tuition... compared to others. Costs me about $1200-1400 a semester + books, if I remember correctly.

What I've done is... take many of my core classes at the community college, which is a lot cheaper. Then I transfer the credits to my university.

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/Students/apply.html

Fill out the application as soon as you can, regardless of whether or not you will use some form of financial aid. You MUST do this before accepting federal aid... and a variety of other sources of aid... scholarships, grants, various loans, etc...

Apply for grants and scholarships... Look into a less expensive university. Work during high school and save everything. Work during college. Consider student loans.

[Spray Painter]

You could go the SRJC(santa rosa junior collage) it's kind of close to where you live. i heard someone say it was 3rd best junior collage in the US.

[Restola]

Im currently about half way paying for a $55k state education.

Loans. grants. and soon the military.

If your parents are worried about paying for school, maybe they actually cant afford it. I pay over $4,000/year in taxes. I get about $3,000 back in grants. So the government still wins!

Anyways talk to a financial advisor at your university. They know whats going on. Also talk to them about 3 months into the semester. Sometimes they have "extra" money, and when you are paying for $6k worth of flight fees in one stinking semester sometimes they will give you extra. All you have to do is ask.

Thats the key. Ask for money. Loans, grants, scholarships.

And get a job to pay for alcohol. I'm going to go drink some more.

Goodnight.

[joeyjoe367]

If you can, see if there's a program in your state that will let you go to a community college and get HS credit at the same time.

Here in washington state, we call it "Running-Start". I've heard that it's available in a few other states also.

The state payed my Community/Junior college fees for 2 years. try $600 x 6 Quarters. That's $3600 that I saved my parents. Considering they'll transfer to the University of Washington here, where the Tuition is approx $1400 a quarter, try over $7000 in savings.

I highly recommend going to a community college for core classes. Paying University prices for a class like English 101 is just redicuous. Not to mention the Huge class sizes that a lot of larger universities get.

Staying In-state for school and living at home will also save you a butt-load of money.

Get a job, try to get scholarships, don't squander your time, and you should be fine. I believe that anyone in this country who REALLY wants a college degree can get one.

[darklord]

Why haven't you sold your PB stuff yet? I figured that'd be a start. It would at least take care of the application fees. My advice is, take out student loans, try your hardest at school, and apply for scholarships. If worse comes to worse, you can go to a community college, and take out some loans.

[Restola]

joeyjoe we have that program here also, by a different name.

I took 4 college classes my senior year in HS. Got 4 boring, stupid, LERs out of the way.