I just applied to WWU, CWU, and EWU (Washington St. Colleges) but incase I can’t get in I was wondering if it’s possible to get enough financial aid/student loans to go to school full time at a community college and not have to worry about working.
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Yes you can. Go to a community college first because their classes are usually cheaper than a university. Also look into a roommate type of living, and a good but cheap rental I might add. If you qualify for the maximum amount for pell grant and student loan then you certainly can live a good but froogle life without having to work, ofcourse while you go to school. Community colleges and universities calculate what they call a Cost of attendance budget, which is basically the prevailing average cost of renting an apartment, fuel costs, food, transportation, and so forth. And they use those calculations to determine how much total aid and loans you can qualify up to.
So if let’s say your college says your total cost of attendance budget will be $15,000. That means you can get a dispursement of each semester of $7,500 (Fall and Spring).
Now let’s add some numbers and see if we can stretch that amount for Fall semester which is 5 months (at a community college).
ESTIMATE COSTS
Full time tuition ($70 p/credit)(3 credit p/course)(12credits total) = $840
Books = $400
Lab and other fees = $80
Apartment/Roomate ($400 p/month, includes utilities) = $2,000
Groceries/Personal Care ($150 p/month) = $1,000
Transportation (Bus fare) = $350
Cellular ($75 p/month) = $375
TOTAL COST comes up to $4995.00
AND THE REST OF THE MONEY is paid to you in a check for your personal use, which I would recommend you stash it away and save it.
Now these amounts are estimates, and may vary depending on your specific situation so you can open up an excel sheet and do your own calculations.
But basically my answer again, is you can live off of pell grants and student loans, as long as you maintain your good grades, eligibility, and a froogle life. I hope this helped. Thanks
Well that would depend on how much you need to live. If you are living with your parents and don’t really have any bills except maybe a cell phone or something then I’d say yes.
If you live by yourself and have rent and a car payment and cable and “have a life” I like to say… then likely not.
It also depends on what you qualify for. Some folks get grants, and some don’t. Some aren’t comfortable taking out student loans and some are.
The good news is… regardless of income, you CAN get fin aid in the form of federal Stafford loans. The max amount you can borrow as a dependent freshman is 5,500 a year in Stafford loans. (You can borrow up to 7500 a year if you are an independent freshman).
So, if you don’t have any scholarships and don’t have any money saved and don’t get any free grants. Then this is what you have to work with. Your money is dispursed twice a year generally.
So, if your tuition and books are 1,500 a semester and you only qualify for the Stafford loan then you would get…5,500 / 2 = 2,750 a semester. If your tuition and books are 1,500 then you’d get (2,750 – 1,500) = 1,250 a semester (usually 4 months) to live off of.
Can you live off of (1250 / 4) = 312.50 per month? (of course these figures are all estimates, but this gives you a good guide on how to calculate things for your situation).
Oh, and remember, most people don’t get the full “Cost of Attendance” in financial aid because of the max loan amounts in place. Usually the only time that is maxed out is when a dependent student is lucky enough to have a parent take out a federal PLUS loan for them.
Good luck.
You can get info about such college scholarships and grants online here – education.mypressonline.com
Yes. You can go to school and actually make money just by attending. Here are two short articles that explain how to do this.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5298407_go-college-make-money-going.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_5288611_cheapfree-books-college.html