FAFSA...community college vs state/university?
That is absolutely untrue. Period. In fact, it is a smart idea to get your lower-division general education done at a community college where the cost is much cheaper than a university, then transfer to the university for courses that cannot be completed at a community college. You could save so much money this way! Each year you file a FAFSA, your eligibility for federal aid is determined based on the information on your FAFSA and your academic progress. My guess is that your uncle may have been denied aid based on his lack of academic progress, which has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he transferred from a CC to a university. So long as you maintain your eligibility for federal aid (maintain satisfactory academic progress, do not go into repayment of aid received by dropping out, etc.) then your eligiblity will continue through until you obtain your Bachelor's degree. Please, do not be discouraged by hearsay from uninformed family members--I work in financial aid and hear about students getting wrong information from friends and family all the time! If you have any further questions regarding financial aid, please speak with a financial aid counselor at your college to ensure you are getting the correct information. Good luck!
FAFSA for community college at age 25?
my bf is 29.... been in school for 18 months now.... he filled out FAFSA why would you not fill out FAFSA at age 25? why would you not fill out FAFSA for community college? ask your school about additional resources (or additional applications) you might find out that your state has an additional application and/or your school has an additional application
FAFSA/pell grant/community college?
Now that you have completed the FAFSA you need to contact the community college that you plan to attend. The community college will let you know of the next step (every school is different). You may need to give them your tax papers and SAR (the SAR is printed from the FAFSA site). The community college will let you know. You will NOT receive less of a pell grant for attending a community college. A University will offer you more different types of grants and more loan money but NOT more pell grant money. Good Luck and I commend you on furthering you education, it is not easy especially with a child.
FAFSA COMMUNITY COLLEGE ?
The amount that is estimated on your FASFA is just that--an estimate. That estimate assumes that you will be a full time student for the entire year and that there are no errors on your FAFSA that would affect the amount. At most schools, full time means that you are taking at least 12 credits. If you are taking less than that, the amount that is listed on the FAFSA will be adjusted to match the percentage of full time that you are enrolled for. For example, at 5 credits you are considered to be at Less Than 1/2 Time status. That means that you will only receive about 1/4 of the full award, or $1411. Pell grants have to be paid out in at least 2 disbursements, usually one for each semester. So, for this semester you can expect about $700. If you take more credits next semester, then you can expect to receive a higher amount based on whether you are full time, 3/4 time, or 1/2 time for that semester. Although the Student Aid Report you receive from FAFSA gives you an estimate of your eligibility, the actual awarding is done by the school, so you won't know what you will actually receive until the school analyzes your FAFSA to make sure it's correct and then makes the award based on your enrollment status.
How much does FAFSA pay for your college tuition?
There is no set percentage FAFSA gives out regardless of what you've heard. What FAFSA does count is how much money the school is giving so let's say that your school gives out $5,000 to you in financial aid and scholarships. The FAFSA will review that and then award you aid depending on your family's income. Suppose you are a dependent (majority of college students are) and your parents are only able to afford to pay $6,000 per year, the FAFSA will give you the remaining money in form of Unsubsidized and Subsidized Stafford Loans and Pell Grants and many other (SMART or TEACH or SEG) for which the information is available on their website. My tuition for freshman year was $30,000 and first year I got $11,000 in scholarships and $9,000 in federal money (subsidized, unsubsidized loans, grants, etc) and my mom had to take a $10,000 loan (FPLUS). This year it went up to $32,000 and I got $11,000 in scholarships, $15,000 in government aid and had to pay $6,000 out of my pocket (which we took out another loan for) so I am guessing the more financially troubled your family is, the more they pay. Not to say you should act like you are in trouble to get more money because one of my friends registered as an independent and got 100% tuition to pay for college and fed. gov. found out he was still a dependent and ordered him to pay ALL the money back!! Ouch! He never thought it could happen. He still doesn't have a clue how they found out!! No lie, I'll give you his name and you can google it because it was a top story at that time!
Are there any benefits to paying your way through community college (or above) instead of using FAFSA? Is this actually achievable, starting from scratch and how (or would the cost of college courses outweigh your earnings at your job, for example)? Which other options do you have?
Why?Low income students can get Pell Grants. Free money. No repayment. And a Pell Grant is enough to pay full tuition at most community colleges. If you are an US citizen or permanent resident, it is Foolish not to fill out the FAFSA. Remember the first F in FAFSA stands for Free.......Of course, there are a number of reasons that you won't be able to fully complete a FAFSA application, and for that I am sorry and all the best.
Community college cost without financial aid?
It actually sounds about right. My daughter attends a local community college here in Northern California and the tuition is $36 per unit was $26 but they hiked it up for the Fall 2011 semester . Her chemistry class is 4 units so that would be $144 for the one class. Currently she is at 16 units so at $36 per unit her spring semester tuition is $576. This does not include any additional fees that may be required for the class (for example an additional $55 for tapes to be used in athletic training, etc.), does not include books or other supplies or parking this is strictly the tuition cost. Why pay all that money out for tuition taking general education when you can pay less at a community college and that is more economical, just as good and you get an excellent education. Oh and don't forget you can rent books online which is more economical than buying from the bookstore, even used when used. And some of the online book rental places even sell used and new books. Check out: cheggs.com bookrenter.com ecampus.com campusbookrental.com And if you want to put in the ISBN and do a comparison from other sites along with those listed above go to booksprice.com. And don't forget to check amazon.com. Good luck! Good luck!