The Transition From High School to College.

[astuarlen]

It's true that it could work against you, but they really go by your parents income anyway if you're under 24. The best thing to do if you want to maximize your aid is to claim a relative who is older and/or disabled as your guardian. Granted you have to have their 1040s so make sure you okay it with them first.

I am not your (Tess, Levi, etc) financial aid advisor but (you should ask someone at your prospective college(s)!)...

If you are claimed as a dependent by your parent(s), the assumption is that your parent(s) will be helping you pay, hence the close attention to parental finances. Of course this is not always true (wasn't in my case) for a variety of reasons, but it's a damn big system so "best fit models" apply.

Financial aid is there to help people who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford a college education. Yes, it can be a hardship even for middle class families. But misrepresenting your situation by claiming to live with someone else whose income is limited? Please. It's not about maxing your stats.

[Shadowpawn]

Speak for yourself, to me it's all about maxing your stats and gaining as much aid as you can. You said it yourself that your parents didn't help you pay for college, mine's didn't either. So why would you hinder yourself by listing people with higher earning brackets on your FAFSA?

[CelestialBlade]

I can see both sides of that. I can't argue against doing everything you can for yourself to get by, but at the same time, it does irk me how the people with more money tend to get more scholarships somehow, and the people in the middle usually get royally screwed. It's like, the side of me interested in overall fairness and justice would be against dishonesty there, but I'm not sure I could really fully resist my practical side saying "hey, it's an opportunity and it's yours, take it." It's a difficult situation.

[amtalx]

Ethics?

[Outrider]

Ethics?

Shush!

You'll scare the children.

[EphekZ]

Like someone said earlier, the first 2 years of college is your general ED requirements, which is basically just 2 more years of High school, and yes even in Private colleges you have to take your G.Es(that's why no one pays attention to undergrads) If money is an issue I suggest going to a Community College for the two years. I dont know what state you live in, but in California you can do your G.E. in Community College and transfer to finish off your degree rather easily.

My plan is to do 2 years of CC then transfer into a U.C. College and pursue my major which, btw, I also have no idea what it is. 2 Years is a long time, you'll know what you want to do by then, don't trip.

I suggest doing the Fafsa ASAP. I dont know the deadline for where you live, but here it's March 2nd. You should probably check that out.

But really, why pay all the extra money for an Associates Degree, which in today's business world doesn't really mean anything anymore. Take the Cost effective road =]

edit: By the way, unless you're superhumanly motivated, don't take a year off of schooling. Hell, it takes long enough after a summer to get back into the groove of school. Imagine a year of no school. Your school work ethic will be shit.

[Tetsaru]

Making the transition from high school to college is a big change, but I can tell you right now that college is a lot more fun. You have SO much more freedom... but at the same time, a lot more responsibility.

From my own personal experience, I can tell you right now - make sure you know what you want to do with your life before you decide on a major to go into. Choose something that would best reflect your main interests and hobbies. If you're not totally into what you want to do, I can promise you that you won't enjoy your classes later on, and then you'll end up wanting to switch majors or something. This happened to me twice actually, and I ended up losing a lot of scholarship money and got into a big depression rut because I felt frustrated and unsure of myself. Trust me, you don't want that to happen. @_@

If I were you, I'd start thinking about what type of activities you love doing most, and try to apply that to an environment where you can earn money doing that sort of thing and be able to sustain yourself and/or your family later on. Most importantly though, MAKE SURE THAT YOU'LL BE HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU DO. If you need to, take a while off after you graduate from high school to give yourself some time to think. Talk it over with your relatives and your friends - usually they're the ones that can tell you what you're good at. Also, try finding a local job to work at in the meantime so you can set aside some money for your college fees, and do as much research as you can to see if you'd be eligible for any scholarships, grants, or financial aid. Or, if you want to, you can even join the military and let them pay for it, but I'm not too keen on that idea.

Just be sure that you're happy with what you're going to be doing with your life, because no one can decide except you.

[Leviathan]

I do like the idea of getting scholarships, even though they are hard to come by.
Joining the Air Force might actually be a good idea, they have been sending me copious amounts of mail. >,>

I think for now I'll just go the community college route, until I find what I should do.
I am taking some classes out of my regular [Media Technology] classes. [Advertising Design] which was something I had been thinking about in the back of my mind for awhile.

But this thread really helped me a lot.

[Rasputin]

It's true that it could work against you, but they really go by your parents income anyway if you're under 24. The best thing to do if you want to maximize your aid is to claim a relative who is older and/or disabled as your guardian. Granted you have to have their 1040s so make sure you okay it with them first.

If you get married you're counted as an independent. You could also marry another college-bound student so that you both be independents and get nice financial aid.

[SStrikerR]

I'd go with your first choice. Your 3rd choice sounds interesting, but do you think you'd go far enough to make good money from a job that would come from that? If you do, go for it. If not, Political Science and Journalism. *brainwashes*



But honestly, don't even listen to what I say. I don't know shit when it comes to this >_>;