How do people afford to live during College?

[Rodimus Prime]

As somebody entering senior year next year, how do you guys get full scholarships?

Well for me my school makes it really easy to apply for a lot of scholarships at one time. Any of them that run threw the school or register with the school we can fill out one application then just click on the ones we want to apply for. I think I applyed to like 20+ scholarships and only got 1. Plus I got grants to cover the other 1/2 of my expenses but my FASFA is based on the fact I had a negative income last year and savings is below the protected ammount so that helped out quite a bit.

 

[likemyorbs]

Just read through 4 pages of this thread and I'm surprised at some of the responses. How old are you people? To the person who said you don't NEED a cellphone, what world do you live in? Of course you need a cell phone, it's a necessity in 2011, a cell phone is NOT a luxury. And to the people who said you don't need a laptop, what century did you go to school in? Try to get through college in this day and age without a personal computer, good luck with that. A car depends on the situation, i can't get by without a car where i live, we have no public transportation.

Now to answer the OP's question. How do i pay? I don't . Im currently in community college which my parents fully pay for. They also bought me a car, insurance, they pay my phone bill (family plan). I work part time as a lifeguard in a health club and live at home. The money i make pretty much pays for my gas and credit card. Gas is a bit costly because i drive a bmw with AWD, i had no choice in the matter. Luckily they just built a costco gas station near my house that has gas 30 cents cheaper than everyone else. I'm transferring to a university after next semester is over, and will need to get some loans for that. I saved a lot of money by going to community college for the first 2 years. I realize that my parents are extremely generous, but there are some things you can't go without these days.

 

[andrewlgm]

I currenly attend school full time and work close to 50 hours weekly. It can be done.

 

[benhollberg]

Work.

 

[hulugu]

There are two things that make college very expensive for students:

• A sense of entitlement
• An automobile

If you can forego these two, you will make it through college without breaking the bank (or your parents' bank).

Or, do what I did and buy an old car, preferably one you can fix, that's cheap to insure, and was made for a long period so parts are plentiful and inexpensive.
I took a CJ-7 to college and that worked great.

As somebody entering senior year next year, how do you guys get full scholarships?

I'm a graduate student, but make sure to go to financial aid office as soon as you know which college you're attending.

There are hundreds of scholarships out there and if you do it quickly, you can complete applications and write essays before school starts.

Additionally, your school may have funds available or point you to jobs at the school that can help cover tuition.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Just read through 4 pages of this thread and I'm surprised at some of the responses. How old are you people? To the person who said you don't NEED a cellphone, what world do you live in? Of course you need a cell phone, it's a necessity in 2011, a cell phone is NOT a luxury. And to the people who said you don't need a laptop, what century did you go to school in? Try to get through college in this day and age without a personal computer, good luck with that. A car depends on the situation, i can't get by without a car where i live, we have no public transportation.

Well to be fair you can easily get threw college on a desktop. A computer is important but desktop or laptop is not as big of a deal and even now on my current degree I find myself using my laptop in desktop mode more than laptop mode and by that I mean I have it sitting on my desk hooked up to an external monitor and keyboard. Now I do take it to school with me but in terms of doing work on it I know I would be fairly ok using must school computers and a desktop.

Now I agree with you on people who think a cell phone is a luxury item. In 2001-2ish it was a must have item and every year I watch it get more and more imported. People become used to having cell phones. Cell phone in college requirement now also needs to be able to send and receive txt message. That is something that changed a lot in the past few years. Used to be it was just make and receive phone calls but now it is txt messaging like crazy.
A smart phone is not needed yet but I could easily see in the next 5 years it being a requirement.

 

[hulugu]

Well to be fair you can easily get threw college on a desktop. ...

A smart phone is not needed yet but I could easily see in the next 5 years it being a requirement.

I think it depends on the degree, but many require laptops (some are even shifting to iPads) and a smartphone is such a useful tool that being without it would be detrimental.

For me, it's essential.

If I had to make a choice, I'd go with smartphone + data-plan over home internet. And, a laptop is far more useful than a desktop and the cost differential isn't all that meaningful.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I think it depends on the degree, but many require laptops (some are even shifting to iPads) and a smartphone is such a useful tool that being without it would be detrimental.

For me, it's essential.

If I had to make a choice, I'd go with smartphone + data-plan over home internet. And, a laptop is far more useful than a desktop and the cost differential isn't all that meaningful.

Most degrees you could get by just fine with a desktop. That being said I still would say a laptop is a better choice because it is damn nice when you want to take it up to school but I would not call it a requirement. The biggest difference I find between the two is the desktop is much more comfortable to use because better keyboard/mouse, larger monitor and better speakers and if you wanted to correct those short comings of a laptop it do add a lot to the cost. Now if I was going to choose only one heck yeah would I go laptop and I would deal with the short comings and I did choose laptop only for my first few years of college. Then I built a desktop and laptop for well laptop jobs,taking notes and for when I needed a computer on the go other wise I used my more powerful desktop. Now on my 2nd degree I have all the equipment to turn my laptop into a desktop so I do not suffer that draw back.
Just was pointing out that a laptop is not a must and you could get by easily on a desktop.

As for a smart phone yeah like you I agree it is very useful tool but far from being on the list of requirement. Think about it for class related stuff how often do you really need the info instantly. Of all the time I have been in school only once did it effect anything but that was because the proof sent out an email at 5 pm that the 7pm class was canceled. Not that it would of matter because they put a sign up at the door telling us that as well. All the other time getting the email like that not a big deal.
Also you making the choice of not having home internet over a smart phone. I call you crazy because home internet is by far more important than a smart phone data plan.

 

[fireshot91]

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Grades and SAT score...don't bog down with extracurricular activities. Colleges don't really care. It's a business and they need to pump their numbers for the rankings. Be top 10% in your class and get a 2200 or higher on the SAT. If you can't get that, try as best you can. Just stay focused.

Right, but do the organizations that give out scholarships approach the student? How would they figure out what their GPA/SAT scores are?

My GPA is around a 4.0, and SAT score of around a 1900.

 

[imahawki]

No... they don't approach you. If you want their money you ask for it. There are more people who more than qualify than the amount of money they have. You have to earn it.

 

[anjinha]

Just read through 4 pages of this thread and I'm surprised at some of the responses. How old are you people? To the person who said you don't NEED a cellphone, what world do you live in? Of course you need a cell phone, it's a necessity in 2011, a cell phone is NOT a luxury. And to the people who said you don't need a laptop, what century did you go to school in? Try to get through college in this day and age without a personal computer, good luck with that. A car depends on the situation, i can't get by without a car where i live, we have no public transportation.

I don't think you NEED a smartphone (although it can be very useful and it was for me) but I certainly needed a cell phone. I didn't have a landline where I was living so I needed a cell phone to talk to my parents, make plans with my classmates... In addition to that between classes, group projects, work and extra curricular activities I was rarely ever home so a landline wouldn't be very useful anyway.

 

[_Matt]

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Grades and SAT score...don't bog down with extracurricular activities. Colleges don't really care. It's a business and they need to pump their numbers for the rankings. Be top 10% in your class and get a 2200 or higher on the SAT. If you can't get that, try as best you can. Just stay focused.

Right, but do the organizations that give out scholarships approach the student? How would they figure out what their GPA/SAT scores are?

My GPA is around a 4.0, and SAT score of around a 1900.

You have to search out outside scholarship opportunities. And they occasionally ask for GPA and SAT. The actual college will probably draft a financial aid package which can increase in grants and scholarships over your time there due to good grades. I just got my scholarship through my university, so I'm not the best at answering outside scholarship questions. I'm sure others will have better answers for you.

 

[steve2112]

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You have to search out outside scholarship opportunities. And they occasionally ask for GPA and SAT. The actual college will probably draft a financial aid package which can increase in grants and scholarships over your time there due to good grades. I just got my scholarship through my university, so I'm not the best at answering outside scholarship questions. I'm sure others will have better answers for you.

Yeah, you can get scholarships from tons of places. You can get them from civic organizations, because you live in a certain county, from where you work, and tons of other places. A lot of the private ones don't look at grades and SAT scores. Google is your friend.