Moving to Chicago (Homeless) (loans, how much, schools)

[C. Maurio]

I agree. If you are really going to do this, at least wait until April. The job market should be better by then too.

[dfoush21]

Originally Posted by ChiGuy2.5

I remember when I was a teenager everything seemed so much more powerful than it really was. My emotions were swinging from happy to sad in a days time and a little fight or a simple kiss was like hell or heaven on earth. Your going through a stage in your life where you feel helpless at home and you are desperate for change. You feel like doing something crazy and hoping for a different outcome. I understand that. As others mentioned though, the coming winter and the lack of ANY plans kind of scares me from an adult perspective. I would recommend you check out student loans and try going to college. It sounds like you should be able to take out enough in loans to live off of them and go to school full time. Maybe you can find a job while you go to school. That is my advice to you, from a clear headed adult who understands what your going through.

Could you tell me how to go about doing this, my mom is saying I can't get a student loan from the bank because I have no collateral.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by dfoush21

Could you tell me how to go about doing this, my mom is saying I can't get a student loan from the bank because I have no collateral.

You don't need a collateral for a student loan. That's called a Secure Student Loan. It's basically what happens when your parents make too much and you can't qualify for a regular student loan when you go to a bank for it, or if you don't have enough credit history to back it up (I did this. My parents made too much and I didn't qualify for a loan my senior year, so I had to go to the bank and use my savings as collateral). Here:

Federal Perkins Loan Program

Also:

Federal Stafford Loans | StaffordLoan.com

[rrah]

Your mom is wrong. You don't need to go to a bank. You do need to fill out a FAFSA. Go to this site: Home - FAFSA on the Web-Federal Student Aid
It is free. You don't need to pay to fill out the form. There are a few websites that "look" like the correct site and will charge you to file it. Don't use them.
This site explains financial aid: Home | Federal Student Aid

This link explains federal student loans: Loans | Federal Student Aid

I'm sure the poster above intended to help, but the Stafford site is a commercial site. Don't fill out the application there. You can't get a Stafford loan through that site.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by rrah

I'm sure the poster above intended to help, but the Stafford site is a commercial site. Don't fill out the application there. You can't get a Stafford loan through that site.

Yeah, it was informational. The first link is better. Perkins Student Loans help out students who are more in need.

IN any case, the OP should be accepted to a college first too somewhere.

[krelithous]

wait till spring you'll freeze to death if you can't get shelter and the job market will be back up wheres in winter jobs slow down.

[Chicago60614]

These shelters aren't just minimal places to crash while you shop around for a job and an apartment. If you HAVE other options like parents, etc - then you probably aren't going to be welcomed into a shelter. It's a place for people who are totally out of options and more than likely suffering from mental illness. They don't have the luxury of taking in people who purposefully left their security blankets and moved because they felt like it. Not being mean at all, just saying - you'll want to find something else for housing than just skipping around to shelters. It's going to make you very depressed, it's going to be very hard to get a job and stability when you can't even give them a home address, and it'll make you hate Chicago.

Save up money and rent a cheap room in a house or something. Don't come fresh out of high school from a rural area in NC right before winter and have no idea what's going on. Just a fair warning! I love Chicago and hopefully you'd love it too, but you have to do these things with some thought process and a plan. You can't just count on God to take care of everything.

[chet everett]

There are probably not enough "no BS" type posters that tell it like it is -- shelters are 99% for folks that either are NUTS or soon will be. Sure there are some support services for women fleeing an abusive home life and runaways but those are the exceptions. Heck even "heart breaking stories of going from homelessness to success" are more often MADE UP by some lying writer than true. Ask Oprah about how she got scammed!

If you live in some dysfunctional home your best plan is almost certainly to spend as little time there as possible while saving up money and hanging out with neighbors, schoolmates, and co-workers. Once you have several months of cash saved up you can move someplace where you have a shot at a normal life.

Planning to take advantage of charities that try to use their meager resources to keep bums from freezing to death is wrong on so many levels...

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

These shelters aren't just minimal places to crash while you shop around for a job and an apartment. If you HAVE other options like parents, etc - then you probably aren't going to be welcomed into a shelter. It's a place for people who are totally out of options and more than likely suffering from mental illness. They don't have the luxury of taking in people who purposefully left their security blankets and moved because they felt like it. Not being mean at all, just saying - you'll want to find something else for housing than just skipping around to shelters. It's going to make you very depressed, it's going to be very hard to get a job and stability when you can't even give them a home address, and it'll make you hate Chicago.

Save up money and rent a cheap room in a house or something. Don't come fresh out of high school from a rural area in NC right before winter and have no idea what's going on. Just a fair warning! I love Chicago and hopefully you'd love it too, but you have to do these things with some thought process and a plan. You can't just count on God to take care of everything.

[chikidnw]

I did what the OP wants to do. I did it back in the early 90s. I had friends to crash with though, and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of print and advertising related jobs. You can do it if, as you say, God is willing. Sometimes though, He just isn't. There is nothing cool or interesting about being homeless, and coming to Chicago right before winter without any leads on where you can even sleep is, I am sorry, but it is just insane. Look into student hostels at least, have a plan for where to stay. If you do not have anywhere to stay, don't come. Wait until spring.

[Chicago South Sider]

Stay home.