College, Fin-aid, Scholarships..

[breeziebabyyy]

For those of you that went to college, how did you pay for your schooling? I am fixing to start school and I am trying to avoid loans at all costs. My mom makes 50k a year. They won't go off of my yearly gross because their saying i'm a "dependent" i filed my insurance separate from my mom it's confusing lol. How did you get your scholarships and grants and how did your fafsa go.. what kind of grants did you get? Does anyone know how much your parents have to make to receive grants and stuff like that? thanks in advance for those that reply!

[Leung]

oh i'm going to keep any eye on this thread because i was just talking to my mother, telling her that i might decide to take a night course or few.

[ChIoVnIdCa]

For those of you that went to college, how did you pay for your schooling? I am fixing to start school and I am trying to avoid loans at all costs. My mom makes 50k a year. They won't go off of my yearly gross because their saying i'm a "dependent" i filed my insurance separate from my mom it's confusing lol. How did you get your scholarships and grants and how did your fafsa go.. what kind of grants did you get? Does anyone know how much your parents have to make to receive grants and stuff like that? thanks in advance for those that reply!

I think the age is 24 beofre you can be considered independent in most cases.... With your mother making 50k a year you should get a healthy amount of aid.

Does anyone know how much your parents have to make to receive grants and stuff like that?

My parent made well over double that and I get nothing although im paying a mortage, bills etc because of my age.

[19dabeast85]

My first few years, I got what's called the "Life" scholarship here in SC. It provided $5000 per year. Requirements were a good SAT(mine was 1140) and then in college a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 .

I also got the Federal Pell Grant, which is based off of parents income. It gave me ~$4000 per year my first four years but then their income got too high. Since you're a dependent and your mom makes 50k, you'll be limited what you get with that but may get some.

Just file the FAFSA and see what they offer you, everything else will have to be balanced with loans unfortunately, I've currently got about 40k in student loans even after the scholarships/grants. It really sucks, hoping my accounting degree will pay off!! One other thing is that I'm a white male (not being sexist/racist here...) and it's a fact that females/african americans/hispanics/latinos/native americans have many more scholarship opportunities out there. So if you're not white male, you'll prolly find more support than I was able to get.

[slick]

1 how old are you?

2 your going to have to do loans thats a must

3 if your under 24, not married, or have a child your have to be under your parents income. which sucks cuz i couldn't go to school this year cuz my mom made 44k and i made 22k last year but i was 21 and i have been own my own since 18.

4 my wife has to do loans and she is in school actually just started. but its not as bad as it really seems. she had to pay 100 up front and then she has 6 months to pay the 240 for the interest that her loan collects while she is in school. she got 2 kind of loans secured and unsecured. the unsecured one is the one thats the most and she has to pay interest on. and they give you 6 months after school to start paying and you have 6 years to do it

[19dabeast85]

I think the age is 24 beofre you can be considered independent in most cases.... With your mother making 50k a year you should get a healthy amount of aid.

My parent make well over double that and I get nothing.

I've claimed tax independence for the past 3-4 years, BUT for FAFSA purposes, they look at your parents until you are either, married or 24-25, not sure which age.

What sucks is my Dad made ~75K last year so I didn't get any Pell Grant, BUT my Dad pays absolutely nothing towards my college because he can barely afford to live and pay the house mortgage, he's got 7 dependents including my mom, FAFSA doesn't consider your parent's number of dependents and it's screwed me over well, idiots.

[breeziebabyyy]

1 how old are you?

2 your going to have to do loans thats a must

3 if your under 24, not married, or have a child your have to be under your parents income. which sucks cuz i couldn't go to school this year cuz my mom made 44k and i made 22k last year but i was 21 and i have been own my own since 18.

4 my wife has to do loans and she is in school actually just started. but its not as bad as it really seems. she had to pay 100 up front and then she has 6 months to pay the 240 for the interest that her loan collects while she is in school. she got 2 kind of loans secured and unsecured. the unsecured one is the one thats the most and she has to pay interest on. and they give you 6 months after school to start paying and you have 6 years to do it

I'm 21, i will be 22 at the end of this month, I made about 4k last year because I was in college still and I only had a part time job

[Leung]

well crappy, i'm 26

[slick]

I'm 21, i will be 22 at the end of this month, I made about 4k last year because I was in college still and I only had a part time job

yea you wont get too much if anything cuz your age and your moms income which sucks

well crappy, i'm 26

how does that suck? your over the age i guess you didnt make alot or too much

[lokuputha]

student loans...I am paying off $50,000 worth right now. about $700/month.

[slick]

student loans...I am paying off $50,000 worth right now. about $700/month.

so much for modding you car huh. i know my wife payments are only going to be like 180 a month but here loans only equal to about 8000

[breeziebabyyy]

student loans...I am paying off $50,000 worth right now. about $700/month.

DAYUM, if i get up to that much in loans man I'll quit lmao

[The G-Man]

I've claimed tax independence for the past 3-4 years, BUT for FAFSA purposes, they look at your parents until you are either, married or 24-25, not sure which age.

What sucks is my Dad made ~75K last year so I didn't get any Pell Grant, BUT my Dad pays absolutely nothing towards my college because he can barely afford to live and pay the house mortgage, he's got 7 dependents including my mom, FAFSA doesn't consider your parent's number of dependents and it's screwed me over well, idiots.

Mine too. It is BS. My EFC for this year was like $8k, so since my tuition for a year is well under that, I got no federal grants. They did offer loans though.

[Tnwagn]

Coming from a fellow Tennessean who's been the process recently, I'll give you my take on it all.

1) Fill out your FAFSA before you even think about anything else.

It is your lifeline to pretty much every scholarship you could possibly receive. No FAFSA, no Scholarships.

2) Figure out exactly who you are, what you are worth, who your parents are, and what your parents are worth.

In order to figure out what scholarships you could possibly receive you need to find out these things. If you are a crippled, blind, jewish, single mother then odds are you are going to get some money. I know you're not, just saying figure out anything that sets you apart from others. It sounds shady, but anyone can get a scholarship for just being different than the guy next to you.

3) Figure out if you are eligible to get the HOPE Scholarship

The HOPE Scholarship is what most people refer to as the "Lottery Scholarship". It is funded by money earned through the Tennessee Lottery and there are boo-koos of scholarships they give out each year. I don't remember all the details, but it's a great scholarship given the requirements to earn it. I'm not sure if you will be eligible given the fact you've already been in classes, but it won't hurt to double check.

http://www.collegepaystn.com/mon_col...pe_scholar.htm

Good luck with the search. Scholarships are wonderful but taking out loans isn't a bad thing either. Just know that if you do have to take out loans then you need to really plan and stick to it in order to pay them off in a reasonable amount of time or else they will haunt you for years and years.

Right out of High school I filed all the forms and was fortunate enough to be offered enough scholarships to cover everything at UT. Although you can get money by being different than the guy next to you, grades play absolutely the most important part in getting competitive scholarships.

[Gemini]

I have about $15k in loans to pay off, currently just requested my 2nd forbearance because I dont want to spend a extra $200 a month on student loans when I have a new baby girl. They will get payed soon enough tho.