So before I start really digging in to finding new ways to pay for school, I thought I would share my story of the struggles I'm facing in my attempt to continue my education. I'm hoping to hear that I'm not the only one with these same issues and maybe someone has some more ideas!
First of all, I'll give you a little bit of background on what my education is! I was homeschooled from 4th grade all the way through high school. My parents felt that this was the best option for our family, and while I agree there were some benefits from it, it also caused me to miss out on many extracurricular activities that may have led to scholarships.
After high school I enrolled in a community college to get some of my general courses out of the way through their online program. I did this also because the cost was much less than going to a 4 year college and I was able to pay for this out of pocket with the money I had saved.
After I received 30 credits from the community college, I transferred those credits to Liberty University's online program where I am majoring in Psychology. Up until this point I have paid my tuition to Liberty with private loans with my father as my co-signer. However this has changed and all this leads up to my current situation.
Now I'm sure most of you that have gone through the college tuition process are familiar with FAFSA, a form that must be filled out to determine your eligibility for federal financial aid. Even if you are completely independent, living on your own, paying your own bills etc. (as I am) and your parents refuse to take any part in covering the expenses (as is my case) unless you have certain other factors (marriage, children, military etc) they still consider your parents income until you are over the age of 24. My dad is a very hard worker and has a good, well paying job, so even though he has no part in my college education, the government has decided that he SHOULD play a part, and can cover my whole education and therefore will not give me any assistance for my education.
This has always been the case as far as federal aid is concerned for me. So I have used private loans to pay for my education so far. However, in order to get a private loan you have to have 3 years of credit history... I can't say I know many college students that have that! So in order to get the loan I need a co-signer. In the past my dad has been my co-signer, by because of some bad decisions on my part, my father and I have developed a very distance and strained relationship, and he is no longer willing to be my co-signer. Which closes the door on that option.
A final option that many people use are scholarships, from the school or other places. Now my school does not offer many scholarships for online students, and even fewer for online transfer students. I have spent countless hours searching for outside scholarship and applied to literally hundreds of them, and have received no response on that front.
While it's looking fairly hopeless for me right now, I am not giving up. I have put far too much time and effort into overcoming the struggles I have faced so far, and I will continue to search and dig until I find a solution. And when I find the solution, I am determined to make it easier and more accessible to others like myself in the future!
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