Did these kids ever hear of financial aid?

[Justafan1]

Originally Posted by bebewood

the thing is that you shouldnt be feeding off the government unless you truly and desperately needed. feel lucky that the government even helps anyone at all when it comes to college.college is a luxury, not a necessity.

So the family which,as I said before, lives very frugaly and saves money should be feeling LUCKY?

Isn't this the choice which everyone makes in life by choosing the priorities which important to them?

Such family is NOT feeding of the government in any shape or form. In this case why their children should be PUNISHED by not getting any financial aid?

What kind of morals we are teaching our children? What's the point trying to save money if your neighbour makes a decision to waiste all his money and his kid gets a full ride to college?

How can I teach my kid to save money if he sees that,as a very middle class family, we are hit with a huge college bill. Just because we saved some money by sacrifsing a lot?

I sincerely hope that you understand that a middle class family can NOT afford college even if they saved some money but they expected somehow to pay.

[Google]

 

[emeraldsong]

Even scholarships don't always help much. I was a top student and the youngest of five. When I started college, I had two siblings in college and so I got quite a nice financial aid package. Then both siblings graduated and I went from having to find a couple of thousand outside of financial aid to having a couple of thousand in financial aid and having to pay the rest.
I could NOT take a student loan out for the rest of the money, nor could my parents get a PLUS loan for the remaining amount. They were able to work out a payment plan with the college -- but then the college almost refused to release my transcript because of the unpaid amount on my bill. I also came under great pressure (from my college) to use my work-study job paycheck to pay the college bill (that was the money that bought my books and food and other life neccesities).

FAF stands for Financial Aid Farce!

[museumguy]

I have read that the average student on financial aid at a private school ends up with between $10,000 and 80,000 in student loans....thats not a free ride ..not even close....

[emeraldsong]

Originally Posted by museumguy

I have read that the average student on financial aid at a private school ends up with between $10,000 and 80,000 in student loans....thats not a free ride ..not even close....

Yup and then add to that fact that you may not even be allowed to get student loans for the amount you need.

Undergrads can only get subsidized student loans -- which means if you don't qualify income-wise you don't get them. This happened to me my junior and senior years of undergrad.

Grad students can get a ridiculous amount of money in unsubsidized student loans -- but those loans accrue interest while you are in school (you just don't have to start paying until you are finished). I'm in a grad program and working full time. I make over 35 thousand and my husband and I have over 20 thousand in savings. I still could pay for almost all of my classes with unsubsidized student loans.

[speedbump]

Originally Posted by emeraldsong

Undergrads can only get subsidized student loans -- which means if you don't qualify income-wise you don't get them. This happened to me my junior and senior years of undergrad.

I got sub and unsub when I went to undergrad. I paid my own way. Not sure if the state you're a resident of has anything to do with it.

[rozzie]

The biggest laffer was filling out the FAFSA form and discovering that out of a $18,000 tuition bill, TPTB expected that the parents should be able to shell out about $16,000.

I know the feeling. When we looked at our first EFC (expected family contribution) on our FAFSA, it said something like 18K. Where di anyone expect us to come up with a spare 18k/year? That was in '99 when my oldest was getting ready to attend what was a 32k/year small, selective liberal arts school in the Northeast (which now is upwards of 40k/year). As it turns out, this college like many similar schools promise to meet the student demonstrated need 100%. Over the four years there, he received grants which totaled about 1/3 of the entire cost. The other 2/3 were covered by both us and loans my son took out.

In a college or university that promises to meet the demonstrated need 100%, the poorer you are, the better off you'll be. There are many schools like this including the ivy's and many other selective colleges. These schools tend to give only "need-based" aid rather than "merit-based".

If the kids on the "Scholar" are bright enough to gain admission to a school like this (and they appear to be) and their financial situations are as bad as they claim, they should do pretty well with "need based" institutional grants.

Now another way to do pretty well with institutional financial aid is to attend a school for which you are somewhat over-qualified for. My daughter is a senior at a quite expensive university in the Boston area. She was top 10% of her HS class with SAT's over 1300. She was offered pretty hefty scholarship from this school which brought the cost of attending this private institution to the cost of a state university as long as she keeps her GPA at a high level. She has done quite well.

My youngest will be attending a state university in the fall. He was a middle-of-the-pack high school student but bacause he scored high on the state standardized tests in grade 10, he has a 4 year tuition only scholarship guaranteed.

[bebewood]

Glitter, it's really not a necessity. You can easily survive on a low income. If you want to be rich, then yes it might be a necessity, but no one NEEDS to go to college. Yes the value of a college degree has dropped, but even people who never graduated highschool are able to get jobs and fend for themselves.

Justafan, I understand college is expensive, but you shouldnt be expecting the government to pay for your kid's education. If your kid really desperately wants to go he can always join the army or navy or something and get his education fully paid. We are lucky that programs like this even exist.

[Lucy van Pelt]

Originally Posted by bebewood

Glitter, it's really not a necessity. You can easily survive on a low income. If you want to be rich, then yes it might be a necessity, but no one NEEDS to go to college. Yes the value of a college degree has dropped, but even people who never graduated highschool are able to get jobs and fend for themselves.

Justafan, I understand college is expensive, but you shouldnt be expecting the government to pay for your kid's education. If your kid really desperately wants to go he can always join the army or navy or something and get his education fully paid. We are lucky that programs like this even exist.

Wow! You really believe all that? Have you ever tried to live on minimum wage, which is about what you can expect to earn if you never finish high school? In fact, there aren't a lot of opportunities much above minimum wage for those without a college degree or at least tech or junior college degrees.

It's too late for you to see the first episode of the new show 30 Days, but I suggest you at least read the thread about it and see how "getting by" on minimum wage goes: 30 Days Premiere: Frugal Is As Frugal Does

I don't think you're living in a reality-based world if you think a college education is unnecessary to living above the poverty level. There are always exceptions, but for the majority, it just isn't possible to get ahead at minimum wage. If you're still not convinced, why not try it yourself for 30 days, see how it goes? Or just try going out to get a job with a resume that doesn't include any post high school education that you have. Post the results, I'm sure we'd all like to read them.

On edit: Who do you think is paying for the education of those people who joined the service? The government. How is that not expecting the government to pay for eductation?

[bebewood]

lucy, yes i have. my parents live on it. Neither of my parents graduated highschool. My mom had a business but it went to [mod edit] so now instead of getting money from it, we are losing money trying to fix it. My dad started on minimum wage and now he makes more not because he has a degree but because he has been working in the same place for years. Regardless we still have a nice apartment and we live comfortably. We never go without food, if i need new clothes we can afford to buy it. Of course I dont buy the same things other kids do, but i'm fine with shirts under 10 bucks.

The government DOES do a lot to pay for kids education, but it doesnt have to. Way back when didnt the money have to come out of pocket?

[Grimjack]

I'm a bit confused.

Here you seem to imply that you go to college

Originally Posted by bebewood

Here is info about it from my school and I'm sure that if you go to any other school's site and search for "scholarship" you will find similar things. http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/...ps.html#trustee.

But here you state that college is not necessary:

Originally Posted by bebewood

the thing is that you shouldnt be feeding off the
government unless you truly and desperately needed. feel lucky that the government even helps anyone at all when it comes to college.college is a luxury, not a necessity.

I'm confused as to why you bother to go. Also, how can you afford it with your situation?

Originally Posted by bebewood

Neither of my parents graduated highschool. My mom had a business but it went to [mod edit] so now instead of getting money from it, we are losing money trying to fix it. My dad started on minimum wage and now he makes more not because he has a degree but because he has been working in the same place for years.

Very respectfully I wonder what your parents opinion of college would be.

I know what mine is. I threw away my chance at an early college education by partying and not taking it seriously. The only thing that has given me a leg up is my knack for computers. Now, I'm 36 and have a fledgling family of my own. I've capped out what I can earn in my company without going to management but I am repeatedly passed up because of my lack of education. At this point in my life it would be useless to go to an "Ivy-League" but it seems essential to at least obtain a college degree.

P.S. I don't want to be rich, but I never want to be dependant on my children if I make it to my waning years.