College funding problems

I am wanting to go to college for IT/Networking or Computer Information Systems with a specialty in networking. But I have gotten stuck between a rock and a hard place. You see... because I am not a veteran, born before 1979, have kids, or support somebody... I am considered a dependent student by the government. That means I have to enter my parents financial information to apply for federal student aid. The problem with this is that My mom makes too much money for me to qualify for the financial aid. Whats ironic is that I havent lived with or associated w/ my mom in 2 years... so why should what she makes interfere with my being able to get an education? It seems pointless to me. I guess the purpose of this post is to see if anybody has any ideas on how I might be able to get around this, or any other ideas for paying for college. I know this isn't directly related to computer security... but how is somebody supposed to get a degree for computer security if u can afford it? Questions, comments, and any ideas are appreciated. Thanks

I did a thread yesterday on funding sources.....hope it helps...

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=234228

When I first applied for college, I was under my grandparents care. The problem was that they made too much to make me eligible for any grants. All I was offered was the Stafford loan and a monthly payment plan that was incredibly expensive (Around $400). The ironic part, was that compared to what was offered by the college and the government, my grandparents didn't have the money to afford something like that.

I'm 20 now, I found the only way to bypass this situation was to claim independence completely from them. I certainly didn't fall into the tax brackets that they did with income, and became eligible for all sorts of grants and such. It also lowered my monthly payment plan, with grants, Stafford, and everything else to a little over $200. Still for a 20 year old, on her own, it's expensive, but there's not a whole lot you can do about it.

My suggestion would be to apply for as many scholarships as you can and hope for the best. It doesn't seem fair that there isn't much help for the people that really want to be in school and can't afford the financial BS that comes along with the education.

I would also suggest, if you're interested a work/study program. They have helped quite a few of my friends who couldn't afford classes otherwise.

Hope this helps somewhat. I know how it feels. It's frustrating as hell.

Also, if you have the skills you can try to get your foot in the door doing computer work. It may be just a low end help desk, black box software test type job....but it will get you experience and many companies will help fund your college education or other training.

I was stuck in a similar situation living on my own a 1000 miles from my family. So I learned a bit about computers and kept at it until someone hired me for their monkeyboy. Now they pay for all my training. ;)

Brian,
If you run out of options you may want to look into becoming a veteran. The national guard in NY is picking up my $30,000 a year college bill. Yeah its a pain giving up one weekend a month but a free college education is a free college education.

I am in Canada and while the Student Loan system still requires you to enter your parent's financial information when applying for a student loan, there is a small claus that allows you to claim emancipation from them if not living with them for over 18 mos. Maybe there is an appeal process where you are that would work in a similar fashion? Worth an inquiry. If not all the other suggestions here are very good.

Good luck!

Hey, Thanks for all the info. Looks like i've got some research and work to do. You guys/gals have given me alot of ideas I didn't have in the first place... much appreciated

Brian