Share your college knowlege?

[mpjh]

overall six-year completion rates for those who begin at a community college are very low, much lower than the unimpressive 58 percent six-year completion rate for those who begin their postsecondary careers at four-year colleges. Clearly, those who begin on the full-time track do a little better than their peers, but only one-fifth of these students who started at a community college full time in the hopes of completing a bachelor’s degree had done so within six years.

[mpjh]

Community College = Adult High School Extension

[spaceghst44]

my suggestion and this is truthfuly honest.

You should go to community college for the first two years. This is not a joke. IT is MUCH cheaper. Then you can transfer to a 4 year school.

best way to go, especially when money is tight.

also.

FASFA. go to their web site, fill it out the form.

This will give you lots of money.

Good advice on FASFA, in fact the only way to go. Bad advice on Community College. Please do the research and find out how many ENTERING community college end up GRADUATING from four-year school. The stats are abysmal.

my point on community college is:

1. If Juan is serious about getting an education, then those numbers should not affect him.
2. Community College (if you can live and home with your parents and continue to mooch off of them) is around 75% cheaper, if not it is still close to 40%, which is a lot of money.
3. Depending on if the Community College is affiliated with a 4 year school, a lot of times if you get a certain GPA and graduate from the CC, then the 4 year school is required to accept you, which means you can get into a school that you might not be able to et into at this point.

[mpjh]

my suggestion and this is truthfuly honest.

You should go to community college for the first two years. This is not a joke. IT is MUCH cheaper. Then you can transfer to a 4 year school.

best way to go, especially when money is tight.

also.

FASFA. go to their web site, fill it out the form.

This will give you lots of money.

Good advice on FASFA, in fact the only way to go. Bad advice on Community College. Please do the research and find out how many ENTERING community college end up GRADUATING from four-year school. The stats are abysmal.

my point on community college is:

1. If Juan is serious about getting an education, then those numbers should not affect him.
2. Community College (if you can live and home with your parents and continue to mooch off of them) is around 75% cheaper, if not it is still close to 40%, which is a lot of money.
3. Depending on if the Community College is affiliated with a 4 year school, a lot of times if you get a certain GPA and graduate from the CC, then the 4 year school is required to accept you, which means you can get into a school that you might not be able to et into at this point.

Only 20% of those entering Community College and intending to eventually get a college degree go on to graduate and get one. There are many factors, so you need to do the research. My personal opinion is that the atmosphere at Community College is not conducive to success.

If you go to a state college, dump the car, get independent status by getting off your mommy's tax return, and live in a dorm or shared living facility, you can get the expense down. You may need your parents help with 1 initial parent Plus loan, then, with part time work, you are on your own.

[spaceghst44]

my suggestion and this is truthfuly honest.

You should go to community college for the first two years. This is not a joke. IT is MUCH cheaper. Then you can transfer to a 4 year school.

best way to go, especially when money is tight.

also.

FASFA. go to their web site, fill it out the form.

This will give you lots of money.

Good advice on FASFA, in fact the only way to go. Bad advice on Community College. Please do the research and find out how many ENTERING community college end up GRADUATING from four-year school. The stats are abysmal.

my point on community college is:

1. If Juan is serious about getting an education, then those numbers should not affect him.
2. Community College (if you can live and home with your parents and continue to mooch off of them) is around 75% cheaper, if not it is still close to 40%, which is a lot of money.
3. Depending on if the Community College is affiliated with a 4 year school, a lot of times if you get a certain GPA and graduate from the CC, then the 4 year school is required to accept you, which means you can get into a school that you might not be able to et into at this point.

Only 20% of those entering Community College and intending to eventually get a college degree go on to graduate and get one. There are many factors, so you need to do the research. My personal opinion is that the atmosphere at Community College is not conducive to success.

If you go to a state college, dump the car, get independent status by getting off your mommy's tax return, and live in a dorm or shared living facility, you can get the expense down. You may need your parents help with 1 initial parent Plus loan, then, with part time work, you are on your own.

Back to what I originally said, if Juan is serious about his education, those numbers won't matter to him.

The numbers you listed are for graduating in 6 years, which it should only take 4. people who are serious about their education it will only take them 4 years, and I bet if you look at community college graduates who get a degree in 4 years and 4 year students who get a degree in 4 years, I bet the numbers are a lot closer.

If you look at the people who enter community college, they are relatively not as smart or financially able as those who enter 4 year schools. People who are not as smart or do not have the ability to pay for their education of course do not have as high of a graduation rate. By your logic, Juan needs to go to Harvard where graduation rates are over 90%, good luck getting in by the way.

It is more expensive to live in a dorm that on your own. Average cost of living in a dorm is on average for a 4 year public school is $6500 not including books, supplies, or any other extra activates.

[mpjh]

The numbers don't bear that out. The research shows that even those "serious" about going on don't make it from community college to a degree. It is a hustle, a shuffle to avoid having to deal with the failing high school system and the class advantage inherent in four year colleges. This is why I keep saying to Juan, "Do the research."

But even more importantly, I thnk an early striking out for independence is critical for working class kids to make it in college. You have to work without the net and get that tingling feeling in your toes when you step into the college arena. I don't know exactly what it is, but the declaration of independence and the passion for an education are correlated somehow.

[got tonkaed]

Id have to go back through some old stuff to find the exact article, but ive come across something before which gives fairly mixed reviews about community colleges.

As a whole, I would say if you have the oppertunity to get into a 4 year school, you probably put yourself in a better position off the start. Community colleges certainly have their positives and i do agree with spaceghst in a lot of what he said. It will give you the oppertunity to save money, and the intangible benefits of independence are hard to quantify as an argument for not staying in the community college setting. If as part of your own personal growth you need the chance to be away from home, thats something you have to be able to identify in yourself. If this is not a serious concern, its a positive for a community college in terms of money. You will in all likelyhood limit some of the federal funding you can recieve (though the best advice in the thread recently has been just to look at everything FAFSA will tell you) but this is of course offset by the lower costs.

I will say you may run the risk of spinning your wheels which is one of the biggest detriments to the community college route. If you arent fairly solid on what you want to use your education toward, the money saving style of community college can become money burnt if your credits dont roll over that well. This is not a problem if you know what you want to go into, as you can get the requirements and the equvialents much easier, but not everyone is that far ahead when they start. Also, if you dont have a lot of access to funding and money becomes fairly tight, community college students (much like their university counterparts - though perhaps less so do to housing requirements) often fall into the trap of work a semester/take classes for a semester. While this is a necessity for some, it does make probability for success go down by a sizeable amount if i remember correctly.

Very few students these days qualify as traditional and end up staying at one school. The norm is changing as the composition of students changes and more people have the oppertunity to go to school, go back to school and do different things. However as spaceghst says the numbers only matter to a point. You cant predict everything that might happen in the next 4+ years but if you have the right mindset you can beat even the more negative numbers. I will maintain that if you have the oppertunity to attend a university seriously ask yourself the questions about whether or not it makes sense. I do think those who get into a university and can stay there improve their chances the most. It isnt the only way for certain, but its often the easiest.

[mpjh]

Well said. I guess I always err on the side of independence.

[Juan_Bottom]

Ok, I feel really F-ed right now.

I asked my mother for her social security and tax information for my FAFSA. I'm certain I will also need it for other things. She said "Your independant, you shouldn't need it." I said "I know that, but untill I'm 26 they still need your parents info for the FAFSA. I'm pretty sure FAFSA is the only thing though." THEN
She literaly said that she is not going to help me with any of this. She told me I'll never get to school, that it's a pipedream, and said some other unbelievable things...
I'm not kidding. I can't believe what the hell just happened. I can't even say the good parts over the web cause I don't know you. Strangers.

Anyway, what do I do now? About aid please, not killing myself. My mother is the only family that I know. So???
I'm not gonna let her stop me. I can always steal her SS number and tax info. Or make it up, since I worked at the same place she did and I was an accountant there.... so I already know about what she made....
I've been working on this stuff all morning. I can call a couple of the colleges for advice but I have to wait until Monday. Until then anyone know what to do?

[got tonkaed]

have you looked at the FAFSA page? From what im looking at right now, if you are an independent student, which it appears you would qualify as, you are not required to get the income tax form from your mom last year. Im not entirely sure, but i think for an independent you really shouldnt need anything from a parent.

Also if you were born before jan 1st 1985, you should be an independent.

[Juan_Bottom]

I'm stuck on the page asking about my parent. I can't fill anything else out until I have that info.
I filled it out last year, and actually called to see if I didn't need my parent. I owned my own home, lived alone and everything. But they still made me get the info.
Anyway, I was denied because of my "open felony."
But now that that is done with...
I'm not sure if you're looking at something specific?

[mpjh]

Don't steal anything.

First contact FASFA using the contact information on the web site and ask them what to do.

If they give you any specific suggestions, follow them.

More likely, they will tell you that you need to get her tax information or a court order declaring you an emacipated minor.

Go to the college of your choice and set up an interview with the registrar. Your objective is to get some college official to explain to your mother that you have a shot at college and that FASFA needs the information if you are to get financial aid. Someone needs to explain to her that putting this information on the FASFA forms does not obligate her to anything. It is simply used to determine what aid for which you are eligible.

[got tonkaed]

go to the dependency status worksheet tab on the first bar. After you fill that out, it should be straight forward as to whether or not you need her signatures.

What mpjh says is more or less your next step if you qualify as a dependent and your mom wont budge. Once you have a school that you are going to you can go to the registrar or the FA department and get things rolling from there.

[mpjh]

You can put in last year's information and tell them you will update it when you get current information.

[OnlyAmbrose]

I wouldn't count on getting much aid unless you're dirt poor, or your parents died, or you're missing a leg, or something.

I qualified for about $2k in low-interest loans, which I'm not complaining about, but I'm lower-middle class so I'm just sayin' don't expect much more than that from the feds.

[mpjh]

Problem is that the college will not process the application unless FASFA is completed and there is a SAR on record.

[got tonkaed]

Problem is that the college will not process the application unless FASFA is completed and there is a SAR on record.

I dont remember having my FAFSA finished the first go round before i had apps processed. Either way though, i think you could do some type of consulting with schools to see what your options were, at the very least shooting an email or something to different departments for informations sake my not be a bad move, if he isnt going to qualify as independent.

[mpjh]

I agree with that, no matter the status of FASFA.

[pimpdave]

Before there was an Internet there was always Brother Theodore.