this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2024
206 points (99.0% liked)

Asklemmy

43945 readers
25 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy ๐Ÿ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Student loans for in-person university. I'll be paying for that for a long time.

Eventually dropped out and finished my degree with WGU. I highly recommend that for anyone considering a college degree. I was able to finish with PELL grants so I added no debt and have a degree

[โ€“] evasive_chimpanzee 14 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Student loans had to be a top answer. The fact that they even call loans "student aid" is bonkers. There were two events with student loans that really drove that home for me.

First, there was a school I was considering applying to that advertised that they would pay 100% of what the government determined was your family's need. They had 2 admission windows, one "early-decision" with a good chance of getting in, that was before when the govt releases their estimates of your need, and another with abysmal acceptance rates, but after you'd know the cost. For someone without money, you would have to give them a binding agreement to go there if accepted without knowing what you will end up paying, or you likely wouldn't be accepted at all. I ended up not applying, but if I had, I could have attended a good school for around $3,000 per year, including room and board.

Second, one year i was in college, my parents (who weren't paying for any of my education) made less money. This made the government offer me higher loans. Because I could get more "student aid" from the government (loans), my school reduced my scholarships.

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The fact that you count as a dependent on FAFSA until well after your parents don't write you as a dependant is wild.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

I used to help people apply, and it was hellacious when there was animosity from one parent due to a divorce. It could really fuck things up for the poor kids.