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Make sure you get a Mirena before you leave your parent's insurance.
Sit your parents down and show them the financial aid info, and that it's their income keeping you from a grant. Ask if they would be willing to give you the grant money, maybe on condition of certain grades, or as textbooks or fees. You won't have time to do well at college working two min wage jobs.
What field are you interested in? Are there any short courses you can do to increase your wages in the interim? CNA is one which seems popular. Six weeks, I think.
You'll need to be in Michigan for 12 months before you can enroll in CC for instate tuition. I suspect once you start you can't switch to instate the next semester. And, if it goes sour you'll have to wait 12 months in VA again. If you move, decide after ten months that you hate Michigan and move back to VA it will be two years wasted before you can start studying. Doing a short course now before you move would be a very good idea, even if it delays you six months it could bump your earnings up enough to make life a lot easier.
Last edited by Wild Colonial Girl; 04-28-2013 at 06:47 AM..
Don't go to school right away.
Work as many jobs as you can, save as much as you can.
Establish residency in MI. In-state tuition is much cheaper.
If your parents don't claim you as a dependant, you can will be eligible for more financial aid.
Check out the FASFA guidelines.
Try to avoid any debt/loans.
It is much better to work full time and go to school part time.
Live below your means now, and you can have a successful life in the future.
Good luck. It won't be easy or always "fun", but you can do it.
Working in Federal Aid has just made me bitter and I have to correct this.
FAFSA (Free. Application. (for) Federal. Student. Aid.) It's spelled out on the application and the site. Learn to read and spell before even thinking of college.
Federal Aid is a joke, but with most colleges ripping off as many people as possible, there's no way around it for someone to make it on their own. Ask the college if they have financing options. Low interest > low payments. Also the government can garnish your wages. That's no fun.
So far as employment goes, a great entry-level job that pays great for what it is - Customer Service.
A lot of call center jobs pay $11/h+, with places like Geico starting at even $13/h. Most hire often as it's a high turnover job, and depending on what the calls are for, can be stressful (taking complaints for example.) I highly recommend looking for work in this field when you first move. I myself got a job in a center before I even moved. The requirements are usually just that you speak fluent english, and can type 20 WPM min. (I watched a man in the interview stage peck at the keyboard and be allowed to retake the test until he passed.) There's also a lot of great benefits like cheap healthcare options, vacation and sick time. If you have the time for it, they often have overtime opportunities. If you can handle the food industry, you can handle customer service no problem.
So far as Gov't assistance goes, I've never qualified for any. So I couldn't help you on that.
Research state and Federal grants and aid for whatever courses you want to take. In a few cases you may qualify for a couple grand for pursuing a high-need field of study.
Here one of my rules - never move for a guy, especially if he's just a bf, not a fiance or husband. I would get my education first, before anything else. That education will be with you the rest of your life and will improve your chances of success more than anything I see that you have posted. Put yourself and your education first, everything else goes on hold, including guys. Focus on your future.
Boy, is that good advice. I wish someone had told me this years and years ago, but then I probably wouldn't have listened.
Yeah...my wife and I have a good friend that relocated with a boyfriend to Pennsylvania (I think he was going to grad school there). They had been dating for a couple years...he never ended up putting a ring on her finger, and she eventually moved back to this area after much heartbreak. It wasn't the end of the world, but it really set back her career a couple years.
I grew up in Pontiac, MI.. just a bit north of Detroit, and it was flat out the most depressing place in the world, besides Gary, In., I drove through there a few times, and wow.
Anyways be prepared for the life to be sucked out of you in that cesspool called Detroit. Sorry to people who think its great, but they most likely have money and live in a hip arts district, or in a nice suburb like Bloomfield Hills or something. If you guys are going to be working minimum wage and struggling to make ends meet, I almost assure you it will end up wearing you thin. Theres just not enough sunshine, nice people, happiness or hope up there to make up for scraping by!
Go drive around Detroit a few hours and tell me what you see, I spent lots of time during childhood in the ghettos with my mom while she was getting her fix, I have been left outside of drug houses at 7 years old and told to lock the doors, while watching the crackheads and homeless prowl the block! I know thats the very negative extreme of experiences, but I have seen the underbelly of the city.. When I got older I had a boyfriend who ran weed from Detroit to Flint, and I have seen all of that side of life too. Its a place where people just dont care anymore and that attitude is infectious.. Just be careful, and talk your boyfriend into moving to Austin, Phoenix, San Diego, or Tampa. At least its not cloudy, grey and cold 8 months out of the year
Not to be rude but MI is pretty state though I agree long winters but they are not 8 months about 4 or 5 but you picked Pontiac which is a horrible area. I grew up in the nice suburbs and Bloomfield Hills for ex is one of the wealthiest cities and very beautiful. Moving to San Diego on a budget they would have would have them renting a room for 1000 a month in someones home. Austin,Tampa,and Phoenix is like a reverse winter where in the summers well from personal experience living in FL you can't even breath it is so hot and humid
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