4 ms·

There used to be a tax status that allowed independent status for a student, opening up the benefits for which they told you to wait until you were 24. http://

There used to be a tax status that allowed independent status for a student, opening up the benefits for which they told you to wait until you were 24. http://collegeapps.about.com/od/payingforcollege/f/independent-status-financial-aid.htm http://collegeapps.about.com/od/payingforcollege/f/independe... I guess too many people tried gaming it and they've locked it down. It was a good law exactly for the reason you describe, it sucks that it was abused into a state requiring shuttering. I sympathize with being shut out by your parents, but I'm despondent over the very rapid change in the apparent expectation that parents are the only way to pay for college. Especially for a brilliant kid, going to college was not an impossible task. My parents' contribution to my college was ~5k in a savings account and a beater after my first year so I could come home time to time. I worked 30-40 hrs/wk to offset the loans I needed with a full-time course load. And it was a good school outside my home state, where I got in-state tuition but didn't qualify for a single other grant / scholarship. For context, this was 2003-2008, I'm not talking about decades ago. I'm sure the private / federal loan programs have shored up some because of the crisis, but I would be quite surprised if funding and education was really so impossible, or that it was impossible to work for a few years then go when you were 20.

Crake 13y ago
Funding and education really IS that impossible. I think you underestimate just how expensive college has become, especially in states that don't value educating smart people. I graduated into a recession, and even finding enough work to pay rent was incredibly difficult, because I was competing for minimum wage jobs against people with college degrees. The area was and is incredibly economically depressed. I also had health problems that went untreated as a kid that made it hard to work. No college also meant no healthcare. Of course, I had to work anyway because I'd be homeless if I didn't. It's hard to pay $20,000/year for college when you can't find more than $7,000/year in work. $7,000 is barely enough to keep you fed and housed as it is. (Even at age 24, you don't start getting pell grant money until you make under about $10,000, incidentally.)
- thaumasiotes 13y ago
  My view of the college funding situation is colored by the fact that after taking the PSAT I received monthly mail from the university of Tulsa offering free tuition, free board, and a stipend if only I would agree to attend their school. (In retrospect, I think that would have been a good idea... ah, hindsight.) I'm pretty sure there are other scholarships around that require more than the absolutely zero effort that took.
  - Crake 13y ago
    I would have killed to have someone offer me that. :( You were lucky to have so many options available to you; I applied for 40+ scholarships at the time and placed as runner up for one and was awarded one other. It wasn't enough to meet even in state coa, sadly. 6 years later I got a full tuition science scholarship at a community college, but that took a ridiiiiiiculously huge effort and it only lasted for a year since I wasn't an 18 year old anymore (meh). I'm still incredibly grateful to my chemistry professor who helped me get it, though.
    - pmiller2 13y ago
      I've upvoted every one of your posts in this thread because (other than the gay part), this sounds exactly like my experience.
      - Crake 13y ago
        Thank you. I hate having to explain myself over and over again, especially when so many people just call me lazy, stupid, etc...but it's a serious problem, and if someone with my academic chops has trouble, then that really says a lot about how awful the system is for everyone else. I think a lot of it is that people don't want to accept that their own college degree was more a factor of luck and money than anything else. Passing classes isn't hard at all, paying for them is.
- triplesec 13y ago
  The system sounds broken. ugh. Could you (have) move(d) to another state for a couple of years and then apply?

Crake 13y ago

Funding and education really IS that impossible. I think you underestimate just how expensive college has become, especially in states that don't value educating smart people. I graduated into a recession, and even finding enough work to pay rent was incredibly difficult, because I was competing for minimum wage jobs against people with college degrees. The area was and is incredibly economically depressed. I also had health problems that went untreated as a kid that made it hard to work. No college also meant no healthcare. Of course, I had to work anyway because I'd be homeless if I didn't. It's hard to pay $20,000/year for college when you can't find more than $7,000/year in work. $7,000 is barely enough to keep you fed and housed as it is. (Even at age 24, you don't start getting pell grant money until you make under about $10,000, incidentally.)

thaumasiotes 13y ago
My view of the college funding situation is colored by the fact that after taking the PSAT I received monthly mail from the university of Tulsa offering free tuition, free board, and a stipend if only I would agree to attend their school. (In retrospect, I think that would have been a good idea... ah, hindsight.) I'm pretty sure there are other scholarships around that require more than the absolutely zero effort that took.
- Crake 13y ago
  I would have killed to have someone offer me that. :( You were lucky to have so many options available to you; I applied for 40+ scholarships at the time and placed as runner up for one and was awarded one other. It wasn't enough to meet even in state coa, sadly. 6 years later I got a full tuition science scholarship at a community college, but that took a ridiiiiiiculously huge effort and it only lasted for a year since I wasn't an 18 year old anymore (meh). I'm still incredibly grateful to my chemistry professor who helped me get it, though.
  - pmiller2 13y ago
    I've upvoted every one of your posts in this thread because (other than the gay part), this sounds exactly like my experience.
    - Crake 13y ago
      Thank you. I hate having to explain myself over and over again, especially when so many people just call me lazy, stupid, etc...but it's a serious problem, and if someone with my academic chops has trouble, then that really says a lot about how awful the system is for everyone else. I think a lot of it is that people don't want to accept that their own college degree was more a factor of luck and money than anything else. Passing classes isn't hard at all, paying for them is.
triplesec 13y ago
The system sounds broken. ugh. Could you (have) move(d) to another state for a couple of years and then apply?