I have absolutely no money for college. how much will federal aid help?

Question

my parents don't make a lot of money at all. and unfortunately we haven't saved up anything for college. i get pretty good grades, but i'm not top notch- i have a B+ unweighted average, but i took accelerated, honors, and AP courses throughout my high school career. my extracurriculars include volunteering at church and interning at an investment firm (i know, its not much at all compared to most people, but i moved soph year and it took me a long time to get adjusted so i never really joined anything). i was in the spanish honor society last year

(junior year) and i made it into my school's chapter of the national honor society. my sat score was 1860 the first time i took it without any preparation (i'm going to retake in october with prep, so hopefully it will increase). how much federal aid do you think i will get? my parents make only about $50,000 a year combined, but our assets include our house i guess, which is worth about 400,000. does anyone have experience with FAFSA?

Answer 1

OMG, are you trying to go to college this fall? If you are, fill that FAFSA out right this second! You may need your parenhts to help you because it asks questions about them.

I think you should get the full pell grants and you will be eligble for loans - so unless you go to a really pricey college, you shouldn't have a problem paying for it.

Also, look into scholarships. You can get lots more money for school that way. Ask the college or high school what you're eligble for.

Answer 2

Have you try to get a scholarship? Each provider has different rules. Maybe you can go to

http://all-about-scholarship.com

it's about scholarships/grants information.

Good luck

Answer 3

when i started off going to college in 2004, i got relatively no money to pay for college. i think i got like $1000 per quarter which doesn't even cover a third of my tuition and my parents made about the same as yours.

i'm not sure how it is to apply for financial aid now but with budget cuts, it's tough. my last year of college, i got barely anything.

but don't get your hopes down as different colleges have their own financial aid system and there are different qualifications depending on what school you go to and you could always petition for them to look over your financials and plead your case.

you should start to apply for scholarships now and look into loans. Also there are good federal loan programs that i used to pay for college.

as a last resort, you could go to community college to take your general edu. classes to save some money.

g'luck w/ college and finances!

Answer 4

I dont know what state you are in but sounds like it might be fully paid or close to it. In South Carolina if you maintain a good grade average and your parents make less than 60,000 a year you get close to full paid, considering other factors as well, they will look at how many siblings you have, they will also look into if you are working. Your extra activities usually dont have anything to do with your financial aide unless you are trying to get a special grant. Good Luck!!

Oh yeah when I went to college I was making 32,000, I didn't have parents around, but even so due to my income they wouldn't have counted them, and mine was fully paid. There was actually a couple hundred left over every semester.