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Finding Money For College/Living Expenses
GirlPants
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
To start, I'm 22, living in Florida. I started going part-time to the local community college in late 2007 after I was laid off from a job. I never intended to go to college after high school so I didn't get any scholarships. When I started attending I just went for student loans. This has been going good so far and I'm almost done with my first year and I'm now going full time. I'm doing really well and I enjoy it a lot but there is a problem. I got laid off again about 8 or 9 months ago. I was making like 500$ a week as a CAD draftsman. I was unemployed for about 6 months. I had to sell my car in that time and now I only have a sport bike. My intention was to sell my expensive car and use my bike for a while to save another down payment on a cheaper car. Well I never got a drafting job again and now I'm stuck with the bike as main transportation. This is becoming a huge problem because I can't take anything with me and it seriously just sucks driving through rain, cold, heat, whatever all the time. Not to mention I'm scared I will get hurt in a wreck because I drive it all the time.
So my situation right now is that I'm working very part time at a grocery store making like 150$ a week. I have 1 guitar lesson which gets me another 25$ a week. I've got about 2g in student loan money that I probably won't need for school. I've been thinking about using it to buy a cheap car. The only problem with that is I will probably need that money to make ends meet because 175$ a week just isn't cutting it with bills. I'm pretty much at bare minimum right now, living in the spare room at my moms place, with only my bike payment and phone as bills. I just desperately need some expendable cash. Don't say sell the bike cause I owe like 2.5g more than it's worth. If anything I'm just gonna let the bank repo it so I can afford a car. My hope with this post is that someone will know about getting scholarships or getting living expenses paid for as a full time student, or just even have some advice about juggling my current funds. I don't even know where to look or if financial help is available for people like me. Heh, I'm even thinking about applying for food stamps.
TLDR: Need a car, have 2g in student loan money but probably need it to supplement living expenses. Also, stuck with a bike I owe more than it's worth on. Need advice on getting scholarships, money for student living expenses, juggling funds. Thanks!
So my situation right now is that I'm working very part time at a grocery store making like 150$ a week. I have 1 guitar lesson which gets me another 25$ a week. I've got about 2g in student loan money that I probably won't need for school. I've been thinking about using it to buy a cheap car. The only problem with that is I will probably need that money to make ends meet because 175$ a week just isn't cutting it with bills. I'm pretty much at bare minimum right now, living in the spare room at my moms place, with only my bike payment and phone as bills. I just desperately need some expendable cash. Don't say sell the bike cause I owe like 2.5g more than it's worth. If anything I'm just gonna let the bank repo it so I can afford a car. My hope with this post is that someone will know about getting scholarships or getting living expenses paid for as a full time student, or just even have some advice about juggling my current funds. I don't even know where to look or if financial help is available for people like me. Heh, I'm even thinking about applying for food stamps.
TLDR: Need a car, have 2g in student loan money but probably need it to supplement living expenses. Also, stuck with a bike I owe more than it's worth on. Need advice on getting scholarships, money for student living expenses, juggling funds. Thanks!
GirlPants on
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Dude, trust me I do. I am seriously at my wits end with driving that thing constantly.
Find more part time hours somewhere (second job, even at macdonalds is still some extra scratch)
Donate blood?
You gotta remember a car is FAR more exspensive than just buying a car, there is gas, insurance and maintinence.
Satans..... hints.....
Also, I'm sure you know this already, but if you default on your bike payments and it gets repossessed, your credit is going straight in the toilet.
Sometimes you just need to suck it up and basically not do anything for entertainment that isn't, you know, FREE. It sucks, but that's better than becoming a financial leper. Especially since even people with good credit are having trouble getting loans.
Contact your school's financial aid office, which will tell you everything you need. You should also make sure you fill out your Federal Student Aid form online.
GT: Tanky the Tank
Black: 1377 6749 7425
You're school's admissions/financial aid office should have all the information you need to apply for any funding the school itself offers. But for starters, check out http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ Lots of information about federal student aid there.
There's also Pell Grants (no idea what the criteria are for those), all kinds of scholarships that you just have to spend the time applying for and writing essays about how much you love Cambell's Soup or whatever. You should be able to borrow a book from your school or the library that will list scholarships that are out there.
It might sound a little extreme, but there's always the military.
Can carry lots of stuff on your bike. Cheap to make.
Your school's financial aid office will also be able to evaluate you and possibly flag you to get a job on campus. You still need to apply and things, but there are usually jobs on campus that they specifically hold/give to students who are flagged as needing financial help.
Mint.com
As for finding work as a CAD draftsman, now isn't the best time to get a job. However, it can be a potentially profitable time to find temporary work and freelance jobs:
oDesk
Elance
I can has cheezburger, yes?
Ugh, another bot necromancy! I can't believe I replied before noticing. Sorry guys.