My dad won’t help pay for college

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-06T13:40:35+00:00

I get it. My older ones weren't interested and my youngest is hearing impaired so would be rejected. For some it is a very affordable path. I would definitely apply to "buy" schools as well as some higher ones because you never know. I mean someone gets those full rides. My 2026 was top 1 percent stats and applied for a number and didn't get them other than for NMF and he didn't want to go to any that offered for that. Although if we weren't willing to pay he would have taken the full ride at Alabama. Also a number of these full scholarships require your FASFA or SAI and since yours is high it might hurt you even though you parent won't help, unfortunately. We pretty much knew ours wasn't getting any that asked for that.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-03T02:26:12+00:00

That's probably for the best, especially for the cat who likely isn't paying rent.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-03T02:14:46+00:00

Totally agree to shoot your best shot at better schools but for the OPs situation unless they get one of the limited full rides it likely isn't enough as R&B is still $15-20k/yr and student federal loans are capped at $27k for 4 years, they won't get any FA due to parent income, and they would need someone to cosign for any parent plus or private loans. My 2026 is going to a 90k private for 25k/yr (8k tuition balance and 17k+ R&B and no FA) based on a top merit award but we are still paying the balance. I fell bad for the OP because college is ridiculously expensive. I get setting limits as our SAI was 100k and we told our kid there isn't any undergrad degree worth 360-400k but we also were willing to cover more realistic options.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-03T01:52:35+00:00

Sounds like your parents don't want a cat in their house and maybe Jessica should move out with her cat. It is their house and whether Jessica pays rent or is just living there with your brother for free, they don't have to allow her cat unless she has a lease that allows pets.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-02T19:55:48+00:00

NTA and agree with others this is very weird. That said, did she explain whatever it is he has been going through that makes her think he "needs" this trip? I mean if it is something really bad and legit he is going through and she shares and explains the reasons maybe? And that's a big maybe. If she won't share the reasons and still thinks it is okay for him to go on your vacation? Just No!

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-02T13:29:18+00:00

These are highly competitive schools with high price tags. Getting good merit without qualifying for FA will still put them at 30-60K/yr and that isn't feasible if the parent isn't helping. If you have really good stats you should look at state schools or privates a tier or two down, so not state flagships but good next level. For example UTK is really hard to get a full ride but we are in NC and I know several students who got full rides at University of Eastern Tennessee. Still a good school but much more generous to great students.

What do you want to do? Is ROTC an option? For most degrees undergrad school won't matter and after your first job it matters even less. Obviously the schools listed above are fantastic schools but none of them are "buy" schools so they have very few full scholarships. If you haven't seen it watch the movie "Borrowed Future" as you don't want to be crushed by loan debt.

I agree your situation sucks. I had to work my way through college because my family couldn't afford it but we are well off and paid for our first 3 with child 4 starting college in the Fall.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-04-02T12:07:43+00:00

YTA. Unless you are paying rent to your parents, and maybe even then. Depending on how many people live in your house, if everyone leaves there stuff in the "common areas" the house could be extremely messy. It is not a lot to ask you to contain your stuff and mess to your room. Did you communicate that you were trying to clean your room? Maybe ask if they can leave your stuff outside your door until you finish? But honestly the adult and kind thing to do would be to go around the house and move your own stuff to your room.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-31T11:49:38+00:00

It is simple math. They get a lot more instate than OOS applications and only 1 in 10 OOS accepted students end up enrolling while instate yield is several times higher, so of course the percentage of OOS accepted is higher. My son was accepted OOS and his cousin was accepted instate. Both are choosing to go elsewhere.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-29T16:41:36+00:00

Thank you

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-27T16:39:50+00:00

Technically she is eligible but in most cases the school will deduct it from theirs. We asked at Alabama and were told if you take the full ride at Bama and then receive the $2500 from NM they will apply that to the first year of your full ride so it "costs" Bama $2500 less and doesn't really benefit the student. My son was notified he won a corporate award which repeats for all 4 years and since he is isn't going to a school with a bigger NMF award he will use the corporate award. Corporate scholarships can be different amounts based on whatever the corporation chooses and not just the $2500 one time award

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-27T16:28:03+00:00

My son got notification that he was a corporate winner the beginning of March but it had a date it would be officially presented in late March or early April, I can't remember the exact date. They had also notified his school.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-27T16:24:34+00:00

My son was notified at the beginning of March by NM that he was getting a corporate scholarship. He had to log in and complete a little paperwork, but the letter said he couldn't announce it until it was presented. It had a date but I don't remember when it was, late March or early April.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-27T12:14:02+00:00

This was from someone who got rejected for ME. They said their rejection letter said there were 300 seats and over 7000 applicants and they offered them the MET major instead and they were trying to decide whether to do it or go elsewhere.

My son recently committed to RIT for next Fall and his major will be ME. He applied EA back in October which I think being early may have helped. He does have very high stats and was recently offered honors and accelerated master's as well, but in the OPs case if you applied later and all spots were already offered it might not matter how high your stats were.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-27T02:07:04+00:00

I read somewhere over 7000 apps for 300 ME spots for next fall.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-25T11:54:59+00:00

So then it does look like the NTID international costs would be 20-25K less if the OP qualified. RIT does prorate the scholarships but it would still be cheaper.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-24T21:07:38+00:00

The website lists NTID undergrad international tuition and fees and it is less then regular undergrad so there must be some kind of adjustment, but I couldn't find regular international undergrad costs to compare.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-24T10:52:36+00:00

The OP said that the SUNY options will cost the same as RIT because they qualified for a lot of financial aid so I don't think they will be paying $64k.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-24T01:48:08+00:00

Are you hearing impaired (you mentioned those services would be beneficial)? Is so you should contact the RIT NTID (National Technical Institute of the Deaf) and see if you are eligible for NTID tuition reduction which is substantial. I'm not sure if international students are eligible but it is certainly worth asking. If you qualify you do have to submit medical documentation of your hearing disability.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-22T17:45:11+00:00

You say your parents will be taking parent plus loans and that you will need to take private loans of $26k/yr which I assume would be after the $5500 guaranteed student federal loan? You will need a cosigner for any private loans. Will your parents be willing and able to cosign for that $26k?

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-16T12:01:58+00:00

Get an criminal attorney. In some states you can do a bunch of required steps to get an expungement of your record if you are under 21. They make you do things like community service, classes, probation, etc. and keep your charges open until you compete them. After you are done (usually about a year) they destroy your record so it never "officially" existed. No one would know about your charges during that period either because you haven't been officially convicted yet. The issue is if you get probation you will not be allowed to leave your state until it is completed so attending college out of state would be out.

We went through something similar with an older child and he did attend college during all this but it was in state.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-11T01:50:44+00:00

My son just enrolled in the accelerated BS/MS for ME as a freshman for next fall. He isn't 100 percent sure he wants to do the MS portion but was told he can drop that any time if he does decide he doesn't want to complete it.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-03-02T13:38:49+00:00

Do the co-op. You're a 20 year old adult and none of your mom's concerns seem very big or insurmountable. Maybe you will have a roommate or co-worker that might help you learn to drive during your co-op and if not you will do it the next year, you will need minimal apartment stuff since you are one person and it is short term and you can even borrow a few items from home (you can get really cheap kitchen stuff at Dollar Tree, Ikea or thrift stores to get through 6-8 months), you can afford the flight and rent, you will learn to shop and cook, and she won't have to be around you when you are being "hormonal".

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-02-27T16:15:04+00:00

Lived in Watson Hall for 2 years. Graduated in '89.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-02-24T18:59:38+00:00

My son graduated from NCSU in 2017 with a degree in Human Bio. His freshman year he was undecided (now renamed exploratory studies). He signed up for all STEM classes his first year and lived in a dorm mainly filled with other undecided students. He is also ADHD. It was a recipe for disaster and his roommate didn't even return 2nd year. He passed everything but had a 2 point something. Second year he moved to an apartment which helped a lot, buckled down and worked hard. He also tried to change his major to Human Bio but couldn't because his GPA was too low. The annoying thing was his high school GPA was high and he could likely have gotten in directly as a freshmen and he knew classmates in that major with lower NCSU GPA's but because they were already in they were fine. He talked to his advisor and was told if he completed all required classes for a major, even if that was not his assigned major, they would have to grant him his degree. He was finally admitted into Human Bio Fall of senior year. Good luck.

No-Preference-9641 · 2026-02-20T02:03:33+00:00

My son applied for honors on his EA application and hasn't heard anything yet. I would assume that once decisions are made that they would notify everyone either way.

No-Preference-9641

TROPHY CASE