Can you help me get a full ride scholarship or grant with my situation?
My mother is in a ton of medical debt from being hospitalized many times and being sick. She has a ton of credit card debt, and is lucky to even be working part time, but it’s really not enough. We stay with my grandmother who has a huge mortgage and debt of her own, and she can’t help my mum out. My parents have been divorced for ages, and my dad stopped sending child support when I was 18, around the time my mom was sick and loosing her mind. It’s been awful , especially the past couple of years with illness, debt, verbal abuse, and no one who can help because they have problems of their own. I have been searching for even a part time job since before I graduated last year, to try to see if I could save up money, and nothing ever came through, except for being sexually harassed. I was told to go for modeling, but again no money and no connections. I’ve been interested in applying to health club like jobs or pharmacy, or coffee shop type jobs,like Starbucks, and clothing and book stores, etc. I’m more of an introvert- ambivert type, and I learn quickly on some things. I was stupidly encouraged to apply to schools, when all hell was breaking loose, but it was so stressful I could only think of doing well enough in my classes, and I did do very well. My dad is super overwhelmed working from home, but he does send my grandmother money. I’ve visited some community colleges, and even looked into Southern New Hampshire University and Lincoln Tech, because I have a few interests, but they all want loans. I know someone who has a hundred grand in debt, and all she can do is volunteer. I do not feel comfortable taking out loans for obvious reasons, and want to know if there’s another way I can approach this. This is extremely stressful and scary for me, seeing how it’s still very bad out there. Math is not my thing, but I am interested in dental assisting, exercise science, and creative writing. I just signed up to be a volunteer at an animal rescue league.I have a job interview at CVS tomorrow for a Pharmacy Tech position. Can anyone understand what I’m talking about, or help?
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8 Answers
The child support agreement between your Mom and Dad might have contained a higher education clause. You might want to ask your mom.
The best idea is to google free online college. There are some valid colleges that you can use.
Do you have a guidance counselor or social worker at your school that might help you?
I graduated from high school, a year ago. I don’t think so, but I’ll check. My grandmother’s getting up there in age as well, so it’s unfair to put it on her.
@Emeraldisles5 If you can’t get help at your high school, you should be able to work with the Financial Aid or counseling department of the community college you want to attend.
I’m with Yarnlady on this, but odds are that if your dad stopped paying child support when you turned 18 your mom had a crappy divorce lawyer and a higher education clause isn’t in the agreement.
That means your best bet is probably to search online. Some companies will pay part of your tuition in exchange for a pledge to work for them after graduation. I think that teach4america and jobcorps (check if that’s really what these programs are called – I’m not sure, but it’s close) are programs that do this. The Bureau of Indian Affairs used to pay for nurse’s training in exchange for 5 years of working on a reservation clinic. The GI Bill still pays for college, if you’re feeling patriotic. Then there are little known grants and scholarships available based on some pretty weird criteria. A research librarian might be the best person to ask for help here, but some of them are if you had an ancestor who fought at Gettysburg, came over on the. Mayflower, died on the Titanic, received a purple heart in any of the US wars, belong to certain ethnic groups, you get the picture. It’s not easy, but it can be done. Good Luck.
Yeah I’ve met with the financial department and that didn’t get me anywhere, except creating more stress on my mum. Yeah she was lucky to get what little child support she did. I don’t meet any of that criteria. All I was told was loans, loans etc. It’s at the point, where I attended a technical trade school, that I think I would have been better off as like an electrician or something, because those kids are actually getting work, and got co op jobs. College isn’t always the answer, and as my mom reminded me for many schools, it is a business and they encourage all the students to go, regardless of how bad it is, whereas some kids should be encouraged to have a trade or to get in with that.
You’re right about that. If you’re more technically oriented you’re better off learning a trade. I read somewhere (really) that in the next 20 years the US is going to have to import skilled tradespeople since we stopped directing certain students into the trades and insisting that everyone is college material.
Yes, I went for biotechnology, and they did have an Allied Nursing program where you would get to work in a hospital or a nursing home and get to study for your CNA certification while you were still in high school, and some of the girls were going for their RN license or for their LPN at another school. There were people enrolled in Cosmetology, culinary, masonry, HVAC, Dental Assisting, Carpentry, plumbing, and some other trades. Some of these people who are in the trades have businesses where they bring in six figures. Just think of what it costs to bring a plumber into your house to work on something for an hour, and you’ll know what I mean. I love these stories where kids wanted to be in the trades but instead were pressured to go to some four year university and studied something they hated like engineering etc., and completely failed out, and not only that owed a lot of debt.
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