I am graduating from high school next year, which means that it'll soon be time to send out the college applications.

However, there is a slight problem with funding. I have rich parents, first generation millionaires, who worked their way up to the top themselves. They got scholarships to the best colleges and that's what they keep telling me - we're not going to pay for college, get a scholarship, or a loan, or don't go to college at all and you can go work at the local Publix for the rest of your life.

I am not a bad student, most A's and a couple of B's, which under normal circumstances would get me a scholarship, considering all of my extracurricular activities and high SAT scores. I've told my parents that if I were in the same place they were thirty years ago, I'd get the scholarship, but that I can't now, since they make waaaaay more than 50K a year.

I NEED IDEAS? I don't want to take a loan, I vowed to myself that I'd never buy what I can't pay for right away. Should I maybe join the military? Or are there any other ways?

Why can't you get scholarships? They are NOT based on family income.

Fill out an FAFSA and, once you have been accepted by colleges, contact the financial aid office to find out about in-house grants and scholarships.

Your high school guidance counselor should have pages and pages that list scholarships. Get busy applying for them. Many require essays. For instance, the Ayn Rand Institute wants you to read a Rand book and do an essay on it ($5,000 scholarship).

Does that mean that you get scholarships just for writing essays? Sounds almost impossible. Thanks, I'll start searching.

You get scholarships if your essays are the best of the ones submitted. (It's a contest.) Plus, they may have other criteria for entering. One scholarship is given to someone of a certain ethic group who annually visits the grave of a hero from that ethic group and writes about that experience.

Your local library has several books on scholarships, what they pay, what the demands are, and how to apply. There may be local businessmen and organizations (Rotary Club, Kiwanis, Lions Club) in your area that give out scholarships.

Many colleges have a work-study program too. Find out more about that.

Have you identified which colleges you will apply to? What might be your major?

Your parents (or their accountant) will have to fill out an FAFSA for each year you are in college. This is a federal form that's required by college financial aid offices. The federal government uses that information to let you know what your family's expected contribution to college expenses will be. For instance, in 1993, when my son was a freshman at a private college that charged $20,000 a year (back in the good ol' days), our FAFSA report was that the family contribution for that year would be $8,000. The college gave him a scholarship, he got independent ones, and then took out a loan for the balance. As long as he got good grades, the college continued that same scholarship every year.

If you are super smart or have a special talent that the college wants, you could get what's called a "full ride" -- all expenses paid. That's why it is very important to shop around for colleges. You can get just as good an education at Miami U in Ohio or Ripon in WI as at Harvard -- and probably a better deal on scholarships and grants.

Thanks, your a real expert

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

Why can't you get scholarships? They are NOT based on family income.

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Not true for all schools. There are many schools that base scholarship money solely on need, and not at all on academics. Granted these tend to be the top tier schools (for example, the Ivy League), but nevertheless if you are accepted for admission the amount of scholarship assistance you may be granted by the school is based solely on need. Under these rules the OP would qualify for virtually no assistance, unless he can show that he lives independently from his parents (which seems doubtful).

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Originally Posted by ebaines

Not true for all schools. There are many schools that base scholarship money solely on need, and not at all on academics.

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My understanding is those are called grants, not scholarships. Like scholarships, grants do not have to be paid back.

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

My understanding is those are called grants, not scholarships. Like scholarships, grants do not have to be paid back.

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Good point. Actually they use both terms - "grants" come from the university budget while "scholarships" come from named endowment funds. The total amount of aid you can receive is based on need only. If you qualify based on need for, say, $10K in aid it may be that $8K comes as a grant and $2K from a named scholarship. The criteria for which named scholarship you may receive depends on the terms established by the donor. Interestingly - academics may be a criteria, but since the total amount of aid given is determined by need you aren't even considered if you have "rich parents."

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Originally Posted by ebaines

Actually they use both terms - "grants" come from the university budget while "scholarships" come from named endowment funds. The total amount of aid you can receive is based on need only ... you aren't even considered if you ave "rich parents."

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A scholarship is not considered "aid." Even a rich kid can win a scholarship.

High schools have available sheets about local scholarships (Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions Club, etc.). A college will give scholarships based on a winning essay and/or other criteria such as a talent the school is looking for. My son received one annually from his college for creative writing, as long as he continued in that special division of their English department and produced a well-done portfolio of his own work. As I told an OP recently, one scholarship is given annually to a student from a certain cultural group who then visits the grave of a famous person from that group and writes about it. The Ayn Rand Institute awards scholarships to students at various levels of education who read her books and write winning essays about them. None of the applicants of any of the above have to pass a financial-need litmus test to qualify.

The public library has a couple of publications filled with information about scholarships. The particular college or university's financial aid office will give a student information about its own scholarships.

And at the end of the day, you can look into a ROTC program at college that pays a lot of college costs ( you do have to join the military)

Or you can go into the military for 4 years and get great benefits to pay for college when you get out.

You can work at that Public ( like 1000's do) and go to college part time.

Your parents do not owe you an education, and may actually be doing you a better service by teaching you there is no free ride in real life.

I agree with Chuck.

So your parents are rich. That's them, not you. They don't owe you an education.

Do what millions of people do, get a loan, work part time while going to school. Get your education knowing that you worked for it.

Your parents are doing you a great service. They're making you work for your future, like they worked for theirs. Look how well that turned out for them. They're rich!

Yes, my boys new from early that they would have to make their own way in life. My parents were rich, and while they used their money to interfere in my life a few times. They knew I had to make it on my own.

I had to work for any and everything, and lost everything several times over the years, but could fight and work for it again, because I know that was what life was about.

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first generation millionaires

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Look how well that turned out for them. They're rich!

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Sorry, but being a millionaire no longer means you are rich. Comfortable maybe but not rich.