Parents have $0 saved for college, won't qualify for financial aid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Suck it up and go to community college. Live at home, work part-time, and don’t waste your time applying to schools you can’t afford. This path gives you the best shot at affording two years at an in-state university while minimizing debt. Plus, you can skip standardized tests, essays, and endless applications, freeing up time to take dual enrollment courses that could shorten your stay at community college and help you transfer faster.

Is this your dream? Probably not. But it’s likely your reality, and you should accept it. You can fantasize about a full ride to your dream school, but for most people, that’s not going to happen.

With all the CC recs I'm starting to seriously consider it but now I'm wondering about how if I took that pathway I might not be allowed to live at home. I honestly think that if I, the academic pride of the family who gets bragged about to everyone they know, ended up at CC, they'd be infuriated that they wasted time + money on my academic pursuits/ECs for nothing, or talk about how even though they came from low income backgrounds they still managed to pay their way at a 4 year college talked about frequently on this forum (and we used to live in-state for that college, which I would have a great shot of getting into with my stats + double legacy, but then we moved)

OP, you might be able to get your parents to chip in at the last minute precisely because of that feeling of embarrassment.

Definitely do both applying to the CC route and applying to whatever you want.

Then tell them...I think I'm going to go to Community College next year instead of Michigan or Cornell or William & Mary because even one year is $90K more of debt that I can't afford on my own. Then see what they do.

It may be that you're trapped in an emotional contest but you haven't realized you have leverage, too. I've known parents who tried to be hardasses with their kids but then caved at critical points.

Give yourself multiple options.

What everyone is trying to tell you is that you shouldn't take out loans for tens of thousands of dollars purely for the social fun of being a freshman at a better than baseline school.

CC is really the smart fallback bet these days.

My kid knows someone at his Top 30 school who is choosing to drop out of ROTC, and because of that is transferring after freshman year from former OOS dream school back to home state flagship.

I transferred from one flagship to another after freshman year because the first was too much of a party school. Didn't see that coming. A kid from my high school was there with me and as a sophomore, he transferred from state flagship to Yale undergrad.

Life has a lot of twists and turns. Be open-minded and financially prudent.

There is a world of difference between home state flagship and CC.

Also OP, have you considered BSMD programs as a way to not "waste" your academic profile? E.g. UTusla (same latitude as north Carolina) has a BSMD program and a full tuition scholarship, so does VCU.

You can find more here: https://moonprep.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Automatic-Scholarships-For-BSMD-Students-2.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Suck it up and go to community college. Live at home, work part-time, and don’t waste your time applying to schools you can’t afford. This path gives you the best shot at affording two years at an in-state university while minimizing debt. Plus, you can skip standardized tests, essays, and endless applications, freeing up time to take dual enrollment courses that could shorten your stay at community college and help you transfer faster.

Is this your dream? Probably not. But it’s likely your reality, and you should accept it. You can fantasize about a full ride to your dream school, but for most people, that’s not going to happen.

With all the CC recs I'm starting to seriously consider it but now I'm wondering about how if I took that pathway I might not be allowed to live at home. I honestly think that if I, the academic pride of the family who gets bragged about to everyone they know, ended up at CC, they'd be infuriated that they wasted time + money on my academic pursuits/ECs for nothing, or talk about how even though they came from low income backgrounds they still managed to pay their way at a 4 year college talked about frequently on this forum (and we used to live in-state for that college, which I would have a great shot of getting into with my stats + double legacy, but then we moved)

OP, you might be able to get your parents to chip in at the last minute precisely because of that feeling of embarrassment.

Definitely do both applying to the CC route and applying to whatever you want.

Then tell them...I think I'm going to go to Community College next year instead of Michigan or Cornell or William & Mary because even one year is $90K more of debt that I can't afford on my own. Then see what they do.

It may be that you're trapped in an emotional contest but you haven't realized you have leverage, too. I've known parents who tried to be hardasses with their kids but then caved at critical points.

Give yourself multiple options.

What everyone is trying to tell you is that you shouldn't take out loans for tens of thousands of dollars purely for the social fun of being a freshman at a better than baseline school.

CC is really the smart fallback bet these days.

My kid knows someone at his Top 30 school who is choosing to drop out of ROTC, and because of that is transferring after freshman year from former OOS dream school back to home state flagship.

I transferred from one flagship to another after freshman year because the first was too much of a party school. Didn't see that coming. A kid from my high school was there with me and as a sophomore, he transferred from state flagship to Yale undergrad.

Life has a lot of twists and turns. Be open-minded and financially prudent.

There is a world of difference between home state flagship and CC.

Also OP, have you considered BSMD programs as a way to not "waste" your academic profile? E.g. UTusla (same latitude as north Carolina) has a BSMD program and a full tuition scholarship, so does VCU.

You can find more here: https://moonprep.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Automatic-Scholarships-For-BSMD-Students-2.pdf

Also OP, if you apply to these, don't mention the BSMD programs, just the scholarships. That will make them seem more scary to your parents who might then be more willing to pay for a better college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, what race?

I'm mixed white/black but I look more white than black and I don't have much I could talk about in one of those "lived experience" essays

You should also be able to get a full ride or close at Howard, which is a top university for recruiting.

https://admission.howard.edu/resources/bsmd-brochure

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at the Catholic schools - My son, with average stats but a sport, was offered lots and lots of financial aid.

OP's family is too rich for financial aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd look for NE OOS flagships for a full ride:
U-Vermont
U-Mass Amherst
U-NH
U-Maine

Many of them are throwing around money to get high achieving students.

I don't think any of these give full rides - they have more than enough qualified in state students, so they only need oos students for money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why the eyeroll for "southern schools?"

I was just going to post this same question. Op, please explain.

Dp. Everyone has preferences. Would you question a person from the South not wanting to go to school in the northetn states?

DP. If it was a full tuition scholarship in the north vs full pay in the south or CC in the south, yes I would.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am stunned so many people believe the OP is a teenager. Do you all know any teenagers?

Yes, they tend to be stuck on prestige and tend to stereotype that which is out of their personal experience. Do you know any high-achieving teenagers? They write like OP or better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look into VCU’s guaranteed undergraduate to medical school option. Ask your school’s counselor if there are scholarships for undergraduate as well as med school.

https://honors.vcu.edu/admissions/guaranteed-admission/medicine/details/

I wouldn't worry about scholarships for medical school - even taking everything out on loans is fine given the salaries that attendings make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You rolled your eyes, but there is nothing wrong with a free ride to Alabama. Lots of out of state kids and a very nice place to spend four years.

I have a million complaints about the state of Alabama and I lived there for a while, so I’m very familiar with its issues. However, we are very likely about to experience a major recession and you do not want to start your young adult life with a ton of debt over an undergrad degree. ESPECIALLY since you are pre-med. And on that note, Alabama does a great job at preparing kids for med school.

Why would Univ of Alabama give her a free ride? Especially with a high income household not contributing anything?

Full ride for the first year and full tuition for three more years + $8000 in goodies for a 36/1600 + 4.0 weighted or above.

[Anonymous]

https://afford.ua.edu/scholarships/out-of-state-freshman/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Suck it up and go to community college. Live at home, work part-time, and don’t waste your time applying to schools you can’t afford. This path gives you the best shot at affording two years at an in-state university while minimizing debt. Plus, you can skip standardized tests, essays, and endless applications, freeing up time to take dual enrollment courses that could shorten your stay at community college and help you transfer faster.

Is this your dream? Probably not. But it’s likely your reality, and you should accept it. You can fantasize about a full ride to your dream school, but for most people, that’s not going to happen.

With all the CC recs I'm starting to seriously consider it but now I'm wondering about how if I took that pathway I might not be allowed to live at home. I honestly think that if I, the academic pride of the family who gets bragged about to everyone they know, ended up at CC, they'd be infuriated that they wasted time + money on my academic pursuits/ECs for nothing, or talk about how even though they came from low income backgrounds they still managed to pay their way at a 4 year college talked about frequently on this forum (and we used to live in-state for that college, which I would have a great shot of getting into with my stats + double legacy, but then we moved)

- I hate your parents with all of my heart. What creeps.

- I don’t think community college is necessarily a great deal for a high-stats student. If you can’t get full-tuition merit aid from a community college, then I think you’d be better off focusing on schools ranked below about 50 with full-ride scholarships: https://blog.prepscholar.com/colleges-with-full-ride-scholarships

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, your parents are being jerks. Doesn't mean they don't love you. Doesn't mean they are not great parents. But all of us are jerks sometimes. And that's what your parents are here. Forgive them for it down the road and don't do the same to your kids.
...

The parents don’t love the OP in a meaningful way. They don’t seem to be paying anything at all for college.

The OP should hate those parents. They’re terrible.

[Anonymous]

Case Western gives a lot of merit scholarship.

[Anonymous]

I’m sorry you are in this position. I would apply broadly to a lot of schools, including William and Mary, but also other schools (University of Vt?) where you might get merit aide. Then make informed choice from there. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are being solution-oriented which is the best way forward, but I do want to say that I think it's crummy that your parents didn't save any college money for you.

They may have been paying their own loans back.
People on DCUM have their heads in the sand about the world