I am so seriously pissed right now! Seriously pissed! So I will attempt to mind my words so as not to offend anyone. Be a great student who graduates 7th in a class of 200 in high school still managing a 3.8 cumulative GPA in sophomore year at a University and come from middle class parents, step-dad and mom with a disability who still manages to work and not sit on my ass and claim disability and apply for a student loan because parents can no longer pay for college? IMPOSSIBILITY! And if anyone, I mean anyone has the f-ing balls to tell me that there are ways, I will personally find you and kick your ass! The only way to get a Federal LOAN for a college student is to have parents not f-ing working, collect aid from the government, are dead or certainly not middle class. This is a student loan, folks, not a f-ing hand out! A LOAN! Private loans, probably not a problem, but put up an almost payed for house for collateral on a ridiculous interest rate. Something is seriously WRONG with this! Seriously! So the Feds are basically telling me that if the kid had a child out of wed-lock or was a fuck-up or came from a different demographic it wouldn't be a problem. WTF? Why is there no help for the folks caught in the middle, who actually get off there ass and work for a living, including a stellar student. Pay their mortgage, feed their family and animals, contribute to society instead of sucking off it. PAY F-ING TAXES and boy do we pay taxes! A LOAN, not free, a f-ing LOAN! We just applied for a Federal student loan and it shot back a quick, "what your parents should contribute" It was the entire annual cost! Are you kidding? How the F*ck to kids get through college? I wonder, I really do. Do their parents lie about income? Or do they all get stuck with private student loans? That must be it. To come out of University with a loan to pay back that matches a F-ing mortgage is CRIMINAL! Man, I'm pissed! I have worked full-time since I could as a teenager. Never, collected a dime from this government, payed my taxes, raised a child, all the time working full time, until now, which has given me part-time hours with full time benefits because although it's only 24 hours a week, it's every single Friday and Saturday 12 hour nights. Her step-Dad is a resident alien, according to the government and has been paying taxes in this country since the day we got married and still hasn't been issued a green card! This is f-ing disturbing to say the least. Our next step is only to negociate with the University. A lot of their funding depends on the students and their grades they turn out! We will sit with a financial aid expert at the school. Of course that will cost us the money for an 8 hour f-ing drive, a hotel room, a sitter for the animals. Yep, What a hardy kick in the ass for people who actually work! I'm Done!
29 comments:
Gosh Callie...I've never read you like this, girlfriend. You are seriously pissed! lol!
No really. Rant away. You have every right. How frustrating!
I worry about college expenses, too. We are still at least 8 years away from college, but have a lot of concerns.
By the way, not sure if it will be of any help, but I did find a website that might be useful:
Scholarships.com
((HUGS))
~Lisa
LOL, Thanks, Lisa, prepare now for sure! Been there done that, "scholarships.com". Scolarships are avialable for kids who don't have working parents.Or have shildren themselves, working mothers who want to go back to school. She received initial scholarship money from the highschool and tht went towards her forst semester. She still receives "out of state" scholarship money from the Uni, but $4,000 dollars a year against nearly $30,000, doesn't really amount to much. We earn too much and yet not enough. Wrong demographic, sorry to say that.
I hear you.
The cost of college isn't getting any cheaper, either. It's scary. Even scarier can be how lightly some (emphasis on some, and if you're daughter's maintaining a 3.8, she's not one of them!) students take the whole process. There are times when I seriously question the value of trying to send EVERY kid to college right out of high school. Some of them need some growing up space. But that's a whole 'nother issue.
The whole financial aid process sucks. Can you talk to the financial aid people at her college again - make it clear that there needs to be something done, or she may leave. Enrollments are shrinking all over, and their JOB is to help people find the money.
Good luck!
Hugs, Callie...
Geek Boy applied for a student loan. That's the only way he could make it happen. It really bites, doesn't it?
She just applied through SallieMae/ Stafford. She doesn't qualify because of our income, which truthfully isn't rich, wealthy or close to it. It's middle class, period. Private student loans, we'll still have to co-sign and those are out there to rip off the middle class. My God, we just payed out nearly 60,000 dollars the past two years for her education. Doesn't that account for anything? It blows my mind! All we want for her is a low interest federal loan, not even a hand out. Thanks, for the {{HUGS}} all!
I'd be ranting too if I were in your position. Thank god all my kids are out of college now and have jobs. This really sucks, I hope you find a way to get the loan for her education. It just doesn't seem to be a fair way of doing things does it. Good luck with this, I hope it works out for everyone. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
make that appointment with the financial aid people. Tell them you want the big boss of the dept, not some peon student worker that fills in a few hours/week on work study program.
I went to a private college, and they tried to say the same thing. It was to the point I had to leave, because I had NO money for my tuition. I cried my eyes out in the student aid office, telling them my family had NO money to help, and that I didn't want to quit.
They made me wait and then put me in with the head of the dept. She made some calls, found some private donors to the college, and suddenly my tuition was covered for the quarter.
Guess what? The same scenario was repeated the entire 2 years I was doing my prereq's. Each quarter, I'd go crying to the financial aid office because they had sent me a letter saying what my family had to contribute. And family had NOTHING. And each time, they'd put me in with the boss and she'd make some calls again. They found every possible loan program for me, and put a sticker on my file that I could only see Cassie, the boss. I bet they were sick of my tears by the end of my 2 years there.
When I headed to University for my last 2 years, they were much better about working out financial aid packets for me. So at least I didn't have the ulcers for all 4 years, but I certainly did for the 1st two. It sucked, but I did get to stay.
So while it will cost you time and money to go see the financial aid people, it's to your advantage. Play the "crying" card, and don't show any hostility or anger at all towards them. Get your daughter to go too, and make sure she sheds some serious tears about having to leave. I kid you not... they WILL find money for her if you play your cards right. Don't tick them off by being rude in any way, shape, or form (not that you would, I"m just saying.... no F words... LOL).
Somehow they find a heart when a good student shows some emotion about having to leave school due to finances. It's not the students fault their parents are in the bracket they are in. Get her to cry. Mine were real tears, but even if hers are not, make her fake it big time. They won't dare send her packing.
Hang in there. It's stressful. But every worthwhile thing is worth fighting for.
Oh, and if I lived nearby, I'd certainly volunteer to care for your animals. Find a friend who will take cookies as payment, or something equally yummy. That would be a win/win for both of you.
Sorry you're going thru this. Hang in there. Be sweet to them, and kiss butt. Play the tears. You'll get the help you need!!
Are you still claiming her as a dependant? If so and you have not filed your taxes...take her off and let her file taxes herself this year. Then she will qualify for the federal loans. At least that is what worked for me-my mom still had to co-sign the first year, but I got the Federal loan rate.
Unless this would F* up any medical benefits you all can provide for her??
Of course there is the option of her being able to qualify for state medical benefits, since she would be low income.
I don't know if this helps or are options you have looked into. And I hate to say...no actually I don't hate to say, because I worked a lot of jobs that did not have medical benefits and my daughter's biological-who was supposed to carry medical insurance on her never did...but anyway, I have put my daughter on state insurance before and had it myself when I went back to college. I figured that is what it was for! To help out people who NEED it.
I feel for you guys...this is the perfect time for kids to go directly to college, because the job market sucks.
Your 'rant' sounds like one of mine! I'm afraid that what you say is now the norm in our country. Decent people are shat on - all in the name of equality!!!!! Clearly, equality for just some!
Don't lose heart.
I read this post last night and it gave me nightmares. We have been worried that we won't get a student loan next year, and now my daughter's university has to cut some staff, give mandatory leave without pay to those who remain, jack up tuition, and possibly close down a campus.
Coming into this world is like Russian Roulette. Just based upon the year you were born, you can end up being a member of a fortunate generation or a very unfortunate generation. My daughter has been working toward this college education since preschool, she's maintained a 4.0 or higher, volunteers for everything, works for money to help us pay for her college education, tried to get in on a softball scholarship by practicing pitching a freakin' ball for an hour a day over the past four years, and just has been generally kind toward everyone she meets. These kids deserve a college education, and a bunch of rich money mongers who ruined our economy are taking it all away.
I'm afraid that our only option is going into the aid office with her and Steve will do the talking, because clearly I get pissed.LOL, You are right Mikey. And most likely a private loan. I'm claiming her so that she can be health insured as long as I can keep it for her. The Federal "LOANS" do require the parents income to be attached, whether she is independant or not. You see that is the problem. She works while in school as well and because she makes so little we are required to pay taxes on her income as well. There's all kinds of things available if you go back to school at a later date, have had a child, etc. Unless you are piss poor and I mean make under 30,000 a year maybe she could get that. Unfortunately Steve and I make too much money between us, but we have spent 60,000 dollars in cash on her first two years and simply just cannot do that anymore. Just want her to be able to get a low interest loan for the rest. ANd because she'll need further ed, not just a bachelors in order to get out there in the job market, she'll need the help for probably four more years.What was a degree 20 yrs ago gets a person a lot further than what is the same degree these days. I have to agree with you NUZMUZ. YOu have to be really poor or really rich, not in the middle.
It's the "rottenest" of deals. You have every reason to be angry. I have issues with the system, as well. So i know where you are coming from.
Don't blame you one bit!!!! We have three boys, two of which went to college. YES we had to get so called "STUDENT" loans, and the sad part was, It was in OUR NAMES! The Parents! SO when the child is out of work, (such as one now), WE the PARENTS have to pay for it! We are working middle class. We can support our life, but no added frills, so sending a child to college was not something we could afford, without selling everything we owned, and then that would of only supported one year of schooling.
Yes you have every right to be pissed! It is NOT FAIR! There is something terribly wrong with the system!
By the way, Stop by my blog, as I've got a goodie for you :)
~Lisa
There are grants out there, student grants, but it takes a lot of research. But there is money out there.
But I hear your rant; sounds all too familiar....
If you had spent less on horses
dinning out, cars ect and saved
for the last 18 years maybe
this would have been do able.
It is all ways someone elses fault
right, not yours.
Give me a break. !!!!
The me generation , their chickens
coming home to roost.
OK, Miss Kaylee, Who doesn't have balls enough to show her fucking blog! First, I am a Baby Boomer,Not a "ME" generation. You know nothing of my life, only what I have said on this blog. Who pays your bills, bitch!? I pay mine! I didn't get my first horse until I was 37yrs old! I also had a CD put away for this kid's college, but life happens and in a 50/50 state, even when your first marriage is to a drunk, in order to keep a roof over my child's head, I had to pay out to her Biological father, hence college fund gone. Her stepfather and I saved hard and as long as we could to get what we did and as far as we have. I think that's pretty fucking good! I also never collected a dime from her father for support, bitch! Why? Because he didn't keep a job and I thought I would spare her the humilation of multiple court hearings to try to collect. Afterall, I supported her , her entire life on my own until Steve and I got married and then he contributed along with taking care of his two children.I bought this house on my own fucking accord. My retirement fund of which I'm still putting into has gone down the shitter because of this economy. Don't open your little fucking mouth unless you know what the fuck you are talking about. You dare call me greedy, bitch! You fucking dare! I worked my way through college, I worked my way through buying this house and the vehicles I have and may I say that none of them brand new. This child has always come first, Miss Kaylee and how dare you say of nothing you fucking know! Nothing!!!!!!!!!!!! Steve and I still manage to help our children, even as young adults! SO FUCK YOU!
Perhaps if Ms. Kaylee learned to write a complete sentence, one could decipher her nonintelligible dribble? Good grief! The girl should go back to third grade.
LOL, Deserthorses, I have a feeling Miss Kaylee, just hasn't experienced life yet and I am now over my anger and have to laugh. She must be quite young, can tell partially by her given name, if that is what it really is and what she has written. Clearly someone who has no life experience. It's ok, I'm good now, said my "f" words. Managed to restrain myself on the "C" word, LOL.
Thanks to Miss MiKael I had to come see what the fuss was about. I feel your rant intensely and hope a solution is on the horizon.
As far as silly Kaylee goes, maybe when she gets off work at her little minimum wage job someday she will consider getting a higher education and then feel your pain. Quite obviously she has not been to more than elementry school.
I came from MiKaels blog....
Callie I am so sorry for this upset. I have 3 in college, all due to graduate this summer (thank God). They all have HUGE outstanding loans taken out by themselves. I plan on helping them to pay them off, if I can. The two that have come to live with me have less debt because of my income but my daughter that has chosen to continue to live with her father qualified for NO student aid last year or this year due to his income.
I too am somewhat bitter. I work long hours at a job I feel lucky to have but it has not helped the kids or myself much financially. I'm still more fortunate than many but it's not a matter of just choosing not to spend money on this or that.
and as for Kaylee....you need to grow up dear....insert raised eyebrow and condescending voice. You know not of what you speak, college tuition is horrendously expensive and unless the parents are independently wealthy it is NOT a matter of saving money and not owning horses.
Hugs to you Callie.
Miss Kaylee is a baby! don't let her ignorance bother you! she truly should have no power to anger you, when her words are those of a fool!
and she cant harm you. Just laugh at her.
Visiting from MiKaels blog...
I just wanted to pop in and comment since I experienced something rather similar. The only loan I was approved for was one where I had to pay the accumulating interest monthly. The interest was enough that if I was able to pay that, I wouldn't have needed the damn loan.
Luckily I was only attending a community college, and the small school had a payment plan. It wasn't easy, and all of the monies had to be paid up before semester...but we managed. I had to live on my own, and work full time to afford fees and books while my folks covered the actual tuition cost.
My mom and step-dad did the best they could and I am forever indebted for that. I know they had to give up a lot of things in order to get me through school.
Keep your chin up, I'm sure you'll find a way to make things work. Horses have nothing to do with it, my folks had a couple of them the whole time they were helping with my schooling.
As for the trolls...you can't stop ignorance.
My middle class parents also made "too much" for me to get grants and loans. I graduated college with a ton of debt to my name from student loans. I'm over 30 and just now paid them off.
My children are now 5 and 2 and from the day they were born I have been putting $50 a month into a collge 529 plan. There is no way it will pay ALL of their costs and they will be expected to work, but I refuse to have them graduate with the kind of bills I did. I STRUGGLE to save that $50 but it is important to me that both my kids have a college education so I do it.
I agree with Kaylee. My parents worked hard but they did NOT make saving for college tuition a priority. Even when I was working through high school they never made it a point to talk to me about saving for college...so I didn't. I understand your frustration, but take some responsibility for not saving anything for her the last 18 years...
Excuse me, Anon, But do either of you read? My ex-husband took her college fund as part of the divorce settlement! That's the only way I could keep a roof, her roof over her head! My new husband and I managed to come up with the first two years of her out of state tuition equal to 60,000 dollars in fucking cash! Not bad for being married for 6 years I'd say. The college fund I have contrubuted to the past 10 years at my current employment(TIA-CREF) is mostly gone to Wall Street. What is it you do not get? I hope your $50 a month goes far and you do not lose any of it to wall street. Good fucking luck with that and shame on you for blaming your parents. I certainly did not blame mine. And to imply that I have not saved for her college fund is idiotic and you obviously did not read a thing written.
And Anon, How much were your college fees and what type of college did you choose? Ten years makes a difference , you know. And she has been working through full time college.
Callie,
I went to Oklahoma Christian University (Oklahoma City, OK), graduated with a Bachelors Degree. I did the work-study program to pay part of the tuition on top of student loans. It was over $10,000 per semester for tuition and dorm fees.
You are absolutely right, any investment savings is going down the toilet right now and that truly sucks. My $50 may not go far fo rmy kids.
I know you want the best for your daughter and it is sad you had money saved that you lost in divorce. I apologize if I projected onto you the frustration I feel toward my own parents for indulging in their hobbies and then expecting me to pay thousands of dollars of debt right out of school. I only found out later that they used the money saved by my grandma for college to buy a timeshare in Florida. So divorce or timeshare - either way the hard working student with good grades and a desire for higher education gets screwed. It sucks you can't get a loan, I've been there.
To Anon, We're cool, We have a plan that I'm hoping works, We will get a loan, but not a fed low interest loan, that what is what sucks. Tuition and room and board where she goes is 15,000 dollars a semester, this is a state university. Funny enough, if I had her at a private one, it would have cost me less because of her good grades, however Mizzou is where she chose and we'll deal the best we can. I do not want her coming out owing a mortgage. Like I say good luck.
I am not sure if the US is the same as Canada but here if you take a year off from school and work full time then your eligibility for a student loan is based on your income alone and not your parents -- that is the only way myself and any of my siblings qualified -- not that our parents made a lot of money but they supposedly had too many assets -- my children as well as when you farm full time you have no money but land and machinery sure do add up as assets
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