Financial Aide (FASFA) for college.. a complete joke?

Crap, I'm sorry to all of you guys with these horror stories about FASFA and whatnot. I guess I don't really realize how lucky I am, but I'm full paid here at the University of Arkansas, plus get a $1,250 stipend a semester...just have to keep a 3.25 average GPA (which is honestly a joke...). Seriously, I feel like some naive little boy whose been living under a rock or something. This might sound really stupid, but don't you guys have access to some easier scholarships from the state? I know here we have the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship...which gets you ~12,000 dollars for college. All you needed for that thing was a 3.5 GPA, taken the "core" classes, and had gotten a 27 or higher on the ACT. Pretty sure if you met those, you 100% for sure got it. I kinda figured every state had those types of scholarships, am I wrong?
 
[quote name='Megaten'] I know here we have the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship...which gets you ~12,000 dollars for college. All you needed for that thing was a 3.5 GPA, taken the "core" classes, and had gotten a 27 or higher on the ACT. Pretty sure if you met those, you 100% for sure got it. I kinda figured every state had those types of scholarships, am I wrong?[/QUOTE]

Yes.

Though I got a damn good, probably better scholarship from University of Rhode Island for full tuition with a ~3.61 GPA and a 1360 SAT, and I know people who got the same scholarship as me with less credentials. The only qualifications were good grades and good SAT scores, I think, though I think a minority with really crappy credentials got it too at my hs. Problem is, URI sucks because probably over half of my idiotic high school went there for college if they went on to college. Plus, it's in the middle of nowhere.
 
[quote name='chosen1s']Clinton didn't do anything for my College career. College is a PRIVILEGE. Scholarships are a PRIVILEGE. If you want to complain about other people getting grants/scholarships who were less qualified than you, fine. But don't complain that MY taxes weren't spent on you just because you stood there with your hand out.

I perceive Republicans as believing people should have the right to EARN things.

I perceive Democrats as believing people DESERVE to have things handed to them.

This is why I get so worked up about statements like the one above. We work HARD for the taxes that go to the government. I don't even mind that there are students out there with their hands out hoping for a helping hand. That's fine. But when you start talking about it like you have some kind of birthright to that money just because you want to go to school - how ungrateful can you be?[/QUOTE]


QFT
 
I guess me and my sister are the lucky ones. We've never had problems with FAFSA, and we've been receiving full tuition (to my UC and to her Cal State) completely plus about $5000 to $6000 of stipend per school year. I'm claimed as independent, and my sister as depend to my parents (whom make about ~$50,000). So I'm not sure what went wrong w/ some of you who are getting gypped out of college money (hopefully not because of me... hehe). As others have mentioned, there are plenty of scholarship opportunities if you look and take action. My friend got $2400 just for applying to a chemistry scholarship, and he only had to get 2 recommendation letters and no essay. Only 7 ppl total applied, and everyone got a piece of the $20000 prize. My friend isnt even chem major. So dig deep on the scholarships, you'll find lots of gold evenetually.
 
FASFA is indeed a complete joke. Luckily, the state of Florida offers the bright futures scholarship, which is offered by the florida lottery. I get 75% of my school paid.
 
[quote name='GameDude']I wish the government and the state would stop paying for college completely.[/QUOTE]

So basically, keep those at the bottom at the bottom and secure the positions of those at the top. This is exactly what our society needs.
 
[quote name='vietgurl']So basically, keep those at the bottom at the bottom and secure the positions of those at the top. This is exactly what our society needs.[/QUOTE]

Just ignore him. He's a known troll.
 
Wow this thread made me realize I'm really lucky.

I got a 8k scholarship for my grades, a 2k one for going to a catholic high school and another 2k one because my mom went to the same college. After grants and loans, I go to college for pretty cheap.

I'm surprized FASFA is giving you guys this much trouble.
 
Yeah, I got out of college with around 18k in debt...lots of loans and very few grants. My mom is a single mom who makes less than 20k a year (and I have 2 other siblings). Kind of sad to see my awesome grants from my freshman year (2000) slowly go away as I progressed.

Thankfully I earned a decent job that is going to pay for a grad degree (kind of sucks they wont pay for the undergrad....guess I cant blame them for not paying for something that I recieved while I wasnt with the company...oh well).

Good luck with FAFSA...that stuff is a bitch these days.
 
20k in loans and debt for me, but now I'm actually using the degree and paying that off.

I didn't get a single grant or scholarship, working full time during classes, and two jobs out of classes.

But my degree got me a good job, a bright future, and was(is) worth every penny.

Don't complain that the state doesn't pay enough, or blame it on Bush. Nobody deserves grants by virtue of how good their grades are. My grades were subpar by virtue of how hard I worked during school. I missed classes to work shifts occasionally, even worked two part time jobs at one point.

College isn't cheap for a variety of reasons, but like car insurance, it is something that you can't afford not to do.
 
[quote name='Quillion']20k in loans and debt for me, but now I'm actually using the degree and paying that off.

I didn't get a single grant or scholarship, working full time during classes, and two jobs out of classes.

But my degree got me a good job, a bright future, and was(is) worth every penny.

Don't complain that the state doesn't pay enough, or blame it on Bush. Nobody deserves grants by virtue of how good their grades are. My grades were subpar by virtue of how hard I worked during school. I missed classes to work shifts occasionally, even worked two part time jobs at one point.

College isn't cheap for a variety of reasons, but like car insurance, it is something that you can't afford not to do.[/QUOTE]

You have a point. However, it sucks that working full time while going to school and still getting straight A's and an almost perfect ACT score isn't enough to get a lot of scholarships because you didn't have time to volunteer. It's even dumber when the rich kids end up getting the scholarships because they didn't have to work to put food on the table.

Okay, I'm going to stop complaining now and go back to studying, hehe.
 
I haven't read the entire thread, but I too am fed up with FAFSA. I am currently finishing my Sophomore year in college, and I have applied every possible time for FAFSA. I do not work during the school year. I'm disabled. (Though I don't think that affects FAFSA.) My father is retired and doesn't get much. My mother has always been a homemaker and doesn't earn a paycheck. I've worked minimum wage jobs every summer (and through high school) since I was 15. We barely make anything, but I've never been offered anything. And I don't understand how friends of mine receive grants and such, when they clearly make more money than my family does.

It is very frustrating. Hell, up until this semester I didn't even qualify for a fucking loan! (Don't they just hand those damn things out?!?) Luckily for me, my parents have really helped me out big time. I haven't had to take out a loan for school yet, and I think my senior will be the only time I will have to.

Phew. Sorry for such a long post, but the topic really hits home for me, and from the posts I've read, I'm not the only one that feels this way.
 
FAFSA is a joke. Both my brother and I were in college at the same time, my mother was an underpaid nurse and my father was unemployed with terminal cancer. All I got was the option to take loans, which I did, otherwise, I would have been sitting at home doing nothing.

When I got done with school (with a degree in mechanical engineering), I had about $40,000 in loans. They are paid now, but it was a big hit every month. Of course, I would never make anywhere near what I do now if I hadn't got the degree. All of that money was well spent in my opinion. You can't easily make a good living without a degree. The sad part is that too many people don't make a good living once they get a degree.

TBW
 
Another dumb thing about Fasfa is its based off your parents income even if you don't live with them. I've heard stories of people not getting along with their parents (who make a lot of money) so they dont live with them. Their parents refuse to help them out with college and even though the student doesnt live with them or even talk to them their EFC is STILL based on their parents if they are under 25. Very dumb.
 
Yeah, FAFSA is crap. I went to MIT, applied through FAFSA and was offered ~2500 in loans per year. I said fuck it and got private loans that I could defer til I was out of school. Now that I'm out, I owe $150k. Yeah... like that's just gonna get paid off no problem :roll: . The other thing that sucks is since I have private loans, I can't get them deferred to go back to school and the government wont reconsolidate them :bomb: . College financing sucks, but unfortunately it's pretty much a part of life. Getting good grades doesnt always help. I applied for about 200 different schoarships and got 1 (for $500 for my 1st year only). I had a 3.9 GPA graduating from high school, was captain of 3 different sports teams, and did volunteer work on weekends, so it isn't like I wasn't well rounded. Oh yeah, and I'm hispanic as well... fucktard scholarship and government programs! Oh well, I've gotten a job, I'm working and I'm slowly paying off my debt (I pay approx. 10k per year on my debt).
 
I don't use FAFSA anymore. With my father's employee tuition break, it costs about $600 to attend my local university (A semester is about $1600). So I just run with that.
 
I'll be graduating in December with around $15k in student loan debt. I've never gotten any grants, either (although my younger brother did this semester...go figure), but I do get about $1000 a year in scholarships. Considering I'll easily be able to land a job starting at $40k+, I'm not worried about it. I'm glad I went to a cheap school.
 
I only read the OP, so someone may have addressed it, but is part of the problem that you were misinformed? i.e. your teachers were full of shit and didn't know what they were talking about?
 
Well luckily I applied to two colleges. I only got $600 at Wright State but Ohio University offered me close to $6000 in scholarships and grants. I don't know as many people there but the college is better than Wright State anyway. I was going to live off campus in an apartment at WSU but since I'll be new to OU I think I'd be best to live in the dorms. I'll be a junior but I still think things will be fine living on campus, it'd be a good chance to meet some new people. I guess things have a way to work out sometimes.
 
Sucks being a white male, doesn't it? In college, two of my roommates were like 1/8th indian (feather) and had all kinds of schoolarships. My other roommate was black. So he got money too.

[quote name='Staind204']Is it just me or is college financial aide from the government a joke? In high school they always say oh if your parents dont make much money the government will give you grants and scholarships for college. Well I had a 3.8 in High School GPA and I'm going into my 3rd year of college in the fall with a 3.82 GPA and guess how much financial aide and scholarships I'm receiving for next fall... $0! I filled out all the necessary scholarships and the Fasfa and still didn't receive anything but loans. My whole family income is >$20,000 so I dont see how I dont get ANY grants. Also I would think a 3.82 gpa after 2 years of college should amount to some sort of scholarships but I guess not. Anyone else find that financial aide is a joke? If I wanted loans I can go to the bank and get one for college and save the hours it takes to fill out the Fasfa form.[/quote]
 
I got like 1100 dollars or something like that a while ago from FAFSA but I don't think I used half of it on school. Lucky for me my grandparents are fairly well off(Not so much rich, but you get the idea) so I don't have to worry about much. Once I transfer to a University I think I'm going to ask my uncle who is easily a millionaire to help me so I don't have to go for loans.
 
[quote name='Kayden']Sucks being a white male, doesn't it? In college, two of my roommates were like 1/8th indian (feather) and had all kinds of schoolarships. My other roommate was black. So he got money too.[/quote]

Well that is what happens when your race single handedly destroys the culture of 20 other races killing millions in the process. Revenge is a bitch isnt it?


I am just kidding........or am I


MUAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAH!!!
 
[quote name='Kayden']Sucks being a white male, doesn't it? In college, two of my roommates were like 1/8th indian (feather) and had all kinds of schoolarships. My other roommate was black. So he got money too.[/QUOTE]


I have a few full-blooded Cherokee members in my family (Like Greatgrandparents), but I don't even know where to find scholarships/info about that.
 
Honestly, I've never applied for FAFSA. Then again, I didn't go to college after high school. I had a nice job paying me 9.50/hr (top dollar for a dumbass high school kid), and decided to see where that would take me. I ended up getting fired almost a year after graduating (graduated in June 01, got fired in March 02). To be totally honest, I wish I had never taken that job at all. Hell, I was going for an Advanced Studies diploma at my school, I had to change it to a general because of that fucking job.

And here I am at 23, with nothing to show for it. I've been toying with the idea of looking into ECPI and their game development courses. My only fear is that I'll fail the tests for them to even think about letting me in. Before I graduated, I tested for their IT degrees. I aced their language and Enligsh or whatever parts, but I failed the math portion. I went back a week or so later and tested on a logic test to place for their web development, and almost past it. So, yeah, I have a fear that I won't even be considered to be able to attend...
 
I've never had problems with FAFSA. My parents make less than 40k a year and with the grants FAFSA gives me each year...I am able to pay all of tuition and most of my apartment rent.

I'm getting more money in my 5th year of college (changed majors) than in any other year which I find kind of funny.
 
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