Eyes on Final Fantasy Forums > Reference > Study Hall > OMFG COLLEGE. @_@

[Dynast-Kid]

Okay, so, i'm only 14, but i'm FREAKING OUT about college!

I'll be going into the 10th grade, and I know that before long i'll be having to make some major decisions concerning my future. I've been told Junior Year is when you start applying for college. ;___;

My main concern is tuition and fees and such. College is alot more expensive than it used to be! My mom keeps reminding me that scholarships would be a great thing, so i'm trying to keep my grades as high as I can. I really want to steer clear of loans as much as I can. xD

I want to go to school to study fashion design, and there are 2 schools i'm very interested in. A school up in New York (the Pratt Institute), and one way off in California (the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandise). They're both appealing to me, especially the 2nd one, and I know it'd be a good experience to get out away from home for a while (haha, i'm in Tennessee!).

But yeah...Prices scare me! What are some things I should start doing now to save up for college? What are some things I might want to look into? Any advice is very much appreciated!

[RubyLapiz]

Make sure you take the PSAT! If you don't, then you won't have a chance at all to get the national merit scholarships! (you can only take it your tenth grade year I think). Every $750 a year helps. Talk to your counselor if they haven't said anything about it by late september

Take a look at your chosen school's ap credit lists and try to take the classes that will eliminate as many core required classes that they like to dump on freshmen (this is usually calculus or english) every successful $80 ap test is $200 or so saved on a course taken! and a semester saved timewise. (if your school pays for your ap tests like mine did, even better)

You don't have to worry about the FASFA until your senior year, and I'm sure people will go nuts about it then. So I guess just find a steady job if you're worried about not being able to find scholarships. You really won't have to worry about anything besides the PSAT until your junior year.

[Hsu]

Check with the financial aid and scholarship offices at the schools. See what their requirements are for various scholarships/fellowships and what you need to do to meet them, then work really hard to make sure your GPA and test scores allow you to be eligible.

Also, make sure you do your FASFA before you go to school (your senior year). You'll hear more about this as it comes up, but no matter what, make sure you do it.

As you get closer (senior year mostly) to going to college, check with your high school advisor about local scholarships and apply for them.

You can find lots of scholarships online, but be warned: As easy as it was for you to find it, everyone else had just an easy time - you have a huge applicant pool to compete with, so generally scholarships advertised online are not that likely to get you anything. Still, it doesn't hurt to apply.

If you can't get scholarships to pay for stuff, you'll have to look into student loans. Generally these are 10 year loans that are deferred until six months after you graduate. To keep the amount that you pay out of school down you can take care of the interest during school. You never want to have too much loan debt (from any kind of loan) but this can be a necessity to pay for college. Just don't think of student loans as a catch-all and excuse to not apply for scholarships; college is very expensive and sooner or later you'll have to pay them off.

There's not much reason to worry about scholarships, loans and federal aid until you're a senior, though, to be honest. The best you can do right now about them is to keep your grades high, take advanced and challenging classes, and make plans to take either the SAT, ACT or both.

You could also get a job and funnel the money into a savings account to help pay for some of your college, or also talk to your parents about them putting aside a certain amount of their paycheck into a fund to help pay (if they have the money to spare). Forward thinking about saving money never hurts.

[Jessweeee♪]

Brraaaaains ;_;

[Kes]

Keep your money out of a bank account under your name. They assume a percentage of that will go to college and they take that out of your financial need. If you can trust your parents, make them have a special account under their name.

And when your looking, don't go "Oh, that's too expensive." Pricey colleges give more money so there's a good chance it will amount to the same price.

[qwertyxsora]

Also you should take out a student loan even if you can pay for college yourself. It will be a great way to start building up your credit score.

[Dynast-Kid]

Thanks everybody!

Originally Posted by rubah ^

Make sure you take the PSAT! If you don't, then you won't have a chance at all to get the national merit scholarships! (you can only take it your tenth grade year I think). Every $750 a year helps. Talk to your counselor if they haven't said anything about it by late september

Take a look at your chosen school's ap credit lists and try to take the classes that will eliminate as many core required classes that they like to dump on freshmen (this is usually calculus or english) every successful $80 ap test is $200 or so saved on a course taken! and a semester saved timewise. (if your school pays for your ap tests like mine did, even better)

You don't have to worry about the FASFA until your senior year, and I'm sure people will go nuts about it then. So I guess just find a steady job if you're worried about not being able to find scholarships. You really won't have to worry about anything besides the PSAT until your junior year.

Thank you! And the PSAT is the only way to apply!? =0

I thought it was just a dumb practice test. xD A bunch of sophmores last year were talking about how "dumb and gay" it was, and how they were "lucky" they didn't take it. Sucks for them!

Hmm, i'm taking a few Honors classes, and I will definitely take a look at that AP credit list. I hear the first year of college is just math, history, english and all that other basic junk. ;__;

Originally Posted by Hsu ^

Check with the financial aid and scholarship offices at the schools. See what their requirements are for various scholarships/fellowships and what you need to do to meet them, then work really hard to make sure your GPA and test scores allow you to be eligible.

Also, make sure you do your FASFA before you go to school (your senior year). You'll hear more about this as it comes up, but no matter what, make sure you do it.

As you get closer (senior year mostly) to going to college, check with your high school advisor about local scholarships and apply for them.

You can find lots of scholarships online, but be warned: As easy as it was for you to find it, everyone else had just an easy time - you have a huge applicant pool to compete with, so generally scholarships advertised online are not that likely to get you anything. Still, it doesn't hurt to apply.

If you can't get scholarships to pay for stuff, you'll have to look into student loans. Generally these are 10 year loans that are deferred until six months after you graduate. To keep the amount that you pay out of school down you can take care of the interest during school. You never want to have too much loan debt (from any kind of loan) but this can be a necessity to pay for college. Just don't think of student loans as a catch-all and excuse to not apply for scholarships; college is very expensive and sooner or later you'll have to pay them off.

There's not much reason to worry about scholarships, loans and federal aid until you're a senior, though, to be honest. The best you can do right now about them is to keep your grades high, take advanced and challenging classes, and make plans to take either the SAT, ACT or both.

You could also get a job and funnel the money into a savings account to help pay for some of your college, or also talk to your parents about them putting aside a certain amount of their paycheck into a fund to help pay (if they have the money to spare). Forward thinking about saving money never hurts.

Thanks! I'll try not to worry too much about this. I asked my older sisters about some stuff, and they say i'm freaking out too much. xP

I'm definitey going to look into scholarships and grants and stuff too. I think i'll be eligible for our state's Hope Scholarship as long as I keep my grades and GPA (currently 3.6) up. Too bad the United Negro College Fund doesn't support any of the school's i'm interested in! xD

I want to go to college out-of-state, so i've also gotta make sure the aid i'm looking for works out in other states.

Originally Posted by Jessweeee♪ ^

Brraaaaains ;_;

I'm tryyyyyying. ;___;

Originally Posted by Kes ^

Keep your money out of a bank account under your name. They assume a percentage of that will go to college and they take that out of your financial need. If you can trust your parents, make them have a special account under their name.

And when your looking, don't go "Oh, that's too expensive." Pricey colleges give more money so there's a good chance it will amount to the same price.

Whoa, thanks! The more expensive a college, the more aid you get? Good, 'cause I was thinking you'd have to work alot harder to pay back that money...

I trust my mom. I'll see how she feels about me having my own account. I just wish I had a job! But thanks to child labor laws, I can't get one 'til August! xD

Originally Posted by qwertyxsora ^

Also you should take out a student loan even if you can pay for college yourself. It will be a great way to start building up your credit score.

Thanks! And loans help your credit?? Hmm, I didn't know that. I just thought of them as parasitic burdens. xP

[Aerith's Knight]

Go study in the netherlands.

It's all free and you get $3000 dollars a year because you study. And free public transportation.