Hi, I’m thinking about applying to a 4 year college but I don’t have a traditional school environment?
I left home after junior year and Ive been staying with a friend so im not sure how to apply for financial aid or how it would work for me? How do I file for it independently as I can’t contribute anything for college as I’m low income. I won’t be 18 until may
Do 4 year colleges even accept GEDs or could I just be “homeschooled” and take APs and Honors classes through online to boost my chances?
Do I have to involve my guardians in the college process? I know I have to fill out like forms that prove I’m low income and independent and stuff but I don’t know how to without involving my parents
Before I left I had a 4.3 GPA and a 33 ACT score if that means anything. My parents have degrees but I no longer stay with them so would I consider myself a first generation or what?
Im interested in schools that will give me a 100% full ride hopefully.
Hi @reesemv,
You have led an interesting life so far and I'm sorry for your circumstances and hope that you have a chance in your life to gain some closure or some reunification with your family.
There are laws in place for minors who are in your circumstances.
First of all, you are not seen as independent from your parents unless you are legally emancipated from them. This requires legal documents you must file in court, in which the court either grants you your emancipation or not. I do not know the legal process but it's something permanent and costs money to file. I would imagine you would have to meet some threshold of criteria for the judge to weigh in and grant you something like this. I think the most common reasons are verbal, mental physical, and sexual abuse backed up by some psych evaluations or hospital reports, or police reports.
Most states hold parents on the hook for being responsible for your higher education until you reach the age of 21 years. So if you apply for financial aid at any college or university, you will be required to submit both a FAFSA and CSS Profile and your parents, estranged or not will be required to fill them out by law. You will not receive either Federal or State grants or Institutional financial aid like grants, loans, and work-study without those forms filled out in conjunction with your common app. No one will give you financial aid to attend their institution unless your parents divulge their income, assets, and other financial instruments they hold like trusts.
Your parents are your parents so if they have college educations and degrees, you are definitely NOT first-generation regardless of whether you left their household or not. And furthermore, when you are "home" schooled, your parents are homeschooling you so they are the ones who have to establish your curriculum and course rigor and grades for your quizzes, tests, papers, and projects. So if you do not live with your parents you can't be legally homeschooled unless you have legally emancipated yourself from them and have established that another adult like a grandparent, aunt or uncle is a designated legal guardian who has jurisdiction over your welfare until you reach an adult age of 18.
This gap in your timeline from when you had a 4.30 GPA and a 33 ACT up until now where I'm not sure you are in school or not, is seriously problematic. So the pressing question is how long has it been since you were registered as a student in HS and what have you done in that time since?
If you are fully committed to dropping out of high school and never returning, well you can work on completing your GED requirements. But the downside to dropping out from a traditional high school is the following:
1. Lack of course rigor like APs or IBs or honors classes. And while you can self-study for APs, attending the classes themselves are far more important than getting an AP score to submit.
2. Lack of having a College Counselor to help you with the college admissions process.
3. Lack of having key teachers write out your recommendations.
4. Lack of ECs, like Student leadership positions, Varsity Sports, Affinity clubs, and other clubs like Debate Team, Deca, Band, Orchestra, Model UN, etc. Which are ECs that are useful in helping you get into better colleges
5. Lack of connections that are useful to help you get community service positions or volunteering opportunities.
6. Lack of resources if your school augments your ability to log in to services like Navaiance.com, and any other proprietary portals that offer assistance.
7. And since I didn't know where you went to school, perhaps you have other benefits like having a school psychologist, peer counseling, or having a teacher who was a reliable mentor that you could talk to.
Unless you pro-actively change your legal status as an emancipated minor and find another legal guardian until you turn 18, I don't think you will be very successful in applying to colleges.
I think the path of least resistance would be to get your GED and attend community college until there is some continuity with your academic narrative. Why? Because depending on where you live, CC seems to be the least expensive way to continue with your higher education.
Alternatively, if you can find some way to reconcile with your parents at least until properly graduate from HS and gain acceptance and matriculate into college, perhaps you both can tolerate one another.
Good luck.
Hi! I'm going into senior year and separated from my parents. If you don't live with your parents and have no contact with them I have been told by college advisors that you can apply to be independent. Since you don't live with your parents and aren't on the lease where you live, you are technically homeless and qualify to be independent. If you are independent you don't need your parent's information. I'm not sure how because I haven't been through the process yet but I believe if you google "how to apply independent on FAFSA" it will walk you through the process.
To keep this community safe and supportive:
Thank you for replying. 4 year colleges for me are somewhat of a reach with my situation, so I am considering going to community college after I get my GED. I might go to school to be some kind of radiology/nuclear medicine tech. However, once I turn 21, is it possible for me to transfer to a 4 year college even if I’ve long graduated from CC? And is there a chance that I’d be able to get into a relatively decent school? Like a T100?