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HELP! Financial aid concerns

IAmTheWalrus

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 18, 2005
Messages
241
Okay, so I'm in alot of debt already and I'm not sure what to do. Fair warning, this will probably be a long post.

So I moved from Illinois to Florida to attend school. I do not have Florida residency and do not seem to be able to get it, despite my intent on living here for a long, long time because I'm still considered a dependent and my mother is an Illinois resident. Another huge issue is my dependency status. I do to talk to my mother, do not accept money from her, and do not even know where she is right now. We are completely estraned and I have heard that she is in rehab right now after losing her house. I don't know.

But because of those two things, it is very hard to complete a FAFSA correctly. Because I cannot complete it correctly, I have to deal with the financial aid administrators of each college I attend (2 so far, more on that later). My financial aid ia always fucked up, and I end up having to take out loans when I feel like I should be eligible for grants. (Yes, I am also working on scholarships, but so far have only been awarded 1 worth $1000)

I went to a very good private university (Stetson) for my first semester of college and then did a very dumb thing and transferred to a community college where my boyfriend at the time was living. I was having problems with the financial ai department and thought it might be wiser to try a community college for a while. It wasn't because I still don't know what I want to do and I have taken heaps of useless, but still very expensive because of out of state tuition, classes.

Now I have broken up with the bf and have no reason to be in this shithole town. I have family in the southern part of the state and am considering New College. It seems like a good liberal arts school with a unique curriculum, emphasis on art, individuality, etc.

But the financial aid situation is still not looking very good. I just cannot see the sense in arriving at this school with no money and no idea how to pay for tuition like I did at the other two. I am half tempted to quit altogether, but when you drop below half time status you have to start paying back loans and I can barely afford to eat, let alone spend a bunch of money on loans. If I could, I would. I am trying to figure out a place to start as far as dealing with financial aid at New College. I guess I will start by applying for as many scholarships as possible, and trying to sift through the dependency and residency issues first.

I just do not know what to do. I guess I would just like to know if anyone has been in a situation like this. I know there are lots of people with no money, but how are these people going to school?????? I just have the feeling that there is a much better way of going about this, a way to get less screwed lol.

By the way, I don't know if this is relevant or not, but I plan on doing a psychology major with a minor in Spanish and maybe trying to incorporate some art into that (art therapy). There is not much money in this field, but I'm really not very interested in anything else. Also, I am probably about $11,000 in debt right now and I have just ended my third semester of college.

Any help would be much appreciated-Thanks!!!
 
How are most people going to school? loans. Chances are, since you're still a dependent, you are going to have to take out money in loans. While education should be a right, it's still a privilege.

Have you tried speaking to your financial aid department about claiming independency from your mother? It's a lot of paperwork, and it seldom goes through, but you might have a delicate enough situation to where they will let you do this.
 
I have just started communicating with the financial aid department at New College and surprisingly enough, the lady said all that was needed was a letter from me and two family members describing the estranged relationship between my mother and I. Even though her financial situation would probably be beneficial to me in receiving aid, I just cannot obtain the necessary documentation from her, so I'd rather have nothing to do with her.

I didn't mean to come off sounding as I expected to not have to take out any loans, but I'd really just like to not take out more than I need to. It seems like I know so many people who are going to college and are somehow making it without doing that.

Oh well. I'm off to work on scholarship essays now. Thanks.
 
I had the exact same situation as you when I first started as a freshman last year. I had absolutely no contact with either my mother or father. I was living with my grandparents who hadn't officially adopted me so they were only my 'guardians'. I had to get some letters describing my situation and they did a 'dependency override'. I had an EFC of 0 on the FAFSA because of this which really helped me out as far as grants
 
A Dependency override huh? I Never heard of it, If I knew about this it would of saved me a butt load of work trying to get my moms tax papers as I don't live with her and hardly ever talk to her ... hmmm... ima try to get one of these, i'll be able to get bigger stafford loans too i suppose.
 
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