PonyIsland

I'm in college now, and I have to take out loans. My problem is that I don't get an financial aid, because the FAFSA, which determines how much you're expected to contribute, seems to only be taking into account that my dad makes good money. Except he's supporting a six person family on this one income, and my sister will be going to college the year after next. >.<

But yeah, loans. My parents are paying the interest now every month, and then once I graduate, I plan to move back home for a while, to earn money to pay off the loans.

Universities and colleges and such things usually have a financial aid officer whose job it is to find money ferreted away to help students who want to go to school. I would call the school, or look them up online to see if you can find who this person is at your Art Institute.

They really want you to go, and have lot of alumni and other interested parties who donate to special funds just to help people like you!

Ask, and see what it takes to tap into those resources!

Also, talk to your high school guidance counselor! There are lots of people around whose job it is to get you to college, the trick is just tracking them down.

I really have no idea. There's no way my family can afford 6 years of university for me - and I'm headed there next fall.

I'm applying for OSAP - an Ontario government loan program. Plus all the bursaries and scholarships that I qualify for, though they tend not to give many out to students applying to something as useless as a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies . . .

With OSAP, I'll be in huge debt after university, so I may be paying it off until I'm 30 . . . but I'd say it's worth it, and huge debt is really my only option. OSAP, or a bank loan plan, either way they'll be money to pay back later.

Wow - I am so glad that I'm not the only one that FAFSA has completely screwed over! Yea, loans - lots and lots of loans... plus working.

For me, my mom had "college accounts" for us since we were babies. It's some system where it would gain money each year, depending on how certain stocks were, but we would never lose money. So the worst that could happen is that it would stay the same for a year. 1/4th of the money is released to us each year, now that I have just begun college - this way we'll get all of it over four years. It covers about half of my total college payment (tuition, boarding, fees, etc).

The other half is almost completely covered by government financial aid, called FAFSA. We applied for it a few months before I graduated high school, and it's a combination of grants (don't pay back) and loans (paid back monthly, but not until after we graduate). The amount of aid an individual gets is based on many factors, like household income, number of kids in the house, level of education of the parents ,if I'm working, cost of my school, and many others. I was lucky enough that I got enough aid to almost completely cover everything that the college account didn't.

After using my aid and college account, we ended up being only about $1,000 short this year. To pay for that, we set up a monthly payment plan with my school to make those payments smaller and easier on my family. So for now I'm mostly covered, and when I graduate I won't have terrible amounts of loans. I'll be in debt, but not as badly as my sister (who's school is twice as expensive as mine, and sher grants are the same as mine, so her loans are way bigger).

I don't know how it works up in Canada, but maybe this will help

My best general advice?

- If your country has some sort of student aid, apply! The worst that'll happen is you'll be denied!
-scholarships! Usually free to apply for, some don't even require essays, and every little bit counts! Even little $100 scholarships can at least cover a textbook or two, or some art supplies. (I'm a graphic design major, I understand how expensive being an artist can be! XD)
-Start saving now! Ask your parents if they have money to help with! I didn't know about my college account until I started applying for colleges! If they don't, maybe you can all start setting money aside. In two years, that could add up to quite a bit

i pay using pell grants from the government and subsidized/ unsubsidized loans

the loans are the only thing i am having to pay back.

My fist two years i toke at a community college, which was a total of $11,000 (5,500 per year)
My next 5 year are at a state university, which will cost around $50,000 ($10,000 per year)

but i am also living in a rental home with my boyfriend so my cost are a lot less then if i lived on campus

Scholarships and my parents. It's about half and half.

My parents are dead-set determined on putting both of their children through college and grad school and have the money to do so, so... yeah. I'm no help.

My soul...

Meaning Loans. I get financial aid. Right now I'm already owing 14k? Yup that's sounds about right. *Sigh* And that's for a community college. >.< And only two sesmeters. Including books.

I sold my soul to the devil in exchange for him paying my tuition and textbooks.




















No but really, I've just been working my butt off since I was 17 to pay for it. No loans, no nothing.

My parents.
But seeing as going to university is -way- cheaper in Switzerland, it's not exactly the same situation (at least, I assume it's cheaper... if Canada is anything like the US with this...)
Tuition fees are 700 CHF (Swiss Francs) per semester and I'm at the -best- university in Switzerland.

My brother's planning to go to the MI next year, though, so we're trying to figure out the best way to pay for everything.
If I could get a job, that probably would help.

ETA:
Realized this sounds like bragging.
What I wanted to say is that the university I go to is one of the most renowned in Switzerland, but seeing as all universities are public, with no entrance exams or high fees, it's pure choice where you go to^^

I got a scholarship and don't have to pay.

That's what I was thinking There are lots of art institutes.... And they're all real schools which means you can get OSAP (if you're in ON) or whatever your province's student aid program is. You'll get more or less, essentially depending on your parents' income. Most people don't have a college fund, you know. You're in no crappier a situation than anyone else.

So you'll get through it the same way every student in Canada who isn't privileged to have a college fund has to, and has had to in the past, and will continue to have to until education becomes more accessible. You'll apply for everything you can and work a crappy minimum wage job and eat ramen for a few years.

At this point, there's not a lot you can do about it, so you should just worry about being able to qualify. Work on researching the requirements for the program you want and fill them. The rest will follow. I know when I applied to uni I got to file 3 applications for a flat fee, and there was a fee for everything else after that. But it wasn't high and it probably still isn't.

This is actually driving me crazy... What art school do you think is the sole one of its kind in the country? I can only find one postsecondary program that exists at only one institution, and that's a BA in Portuguese Studies at York.

Tronline search engines. I must have applied to dozens of scholarships. Haven'y gotten any yet, but the only results I've gotten were for major scholarships, like the Coca-Cola, which I didn't think I'd get anyway

My boyfriend took out loans for all four years of his college, with no scholarships. That seems awful to me. I apply for scholarships, and my parents help out. I will probably have almost 15k in loans though by the end of it.