I suppose it depends on what counts as family support.
I got Veterans benefits because of my father, who is a 100% disabled combat veteran. He told me that I qualified for different benefits because of his status and sure enough, I did. I got a monthly stipend from the government for quite some time that allowed me to go to school full time with much less worry (most of the time, I didn’t need a job, but I did live quite cheaply). My father himself, however, did not offer a cent and would not even come to watch my graduation, when I got my AA (yes, I know, it’s just an AA, but still).
I have always received financial aid. I mean, there for a while at my junior college, every time I filled out the forms they asked me to explain how I was able to live on so little.
But I have to say that my mom helped a LOT when she gave me her car; I take it to school every week. She helps me with little things whenever she can, I guess because she feels she can’t do the big stuff. I never expected her to support my college affairs and I wouldn’t want her to - I mean, she carried the burden of raising me, I’ll make it from here. I like being able to do things for her now, all the things I can, because I know that if she could afford it, my entire college would be set. Makes me want to call her and tell her I love her right now. =)
Nearly everyone here gets a student loan. In my final year of school I knew of only one girl who was going into university without one, and I went to a private school which had a higher average income. There aren’t many scholarships available though if your parents have a low enough income you can get a government allowance.
I’m leaving for university in 2 weeks and my parents have agreed to pay for my board at my hostel, which is really lucky for me, most people’s parents here don’t. I’ll get a couple of hundred from the government for my A bursary but that won’t go far. The rest… books, course costs (I’m doing a conjoint degree so they’ll be significant!) and $100 a week living expenses will go on my loan. It’s interest free until I leave University, then it’s gonna be at least $40,000NZ I’ll have to pay off, yay for me!
I received Social Security benefits after my father died when I was an undergrad. It was enough to pay tuition, books, gas and so forth, but not enough rent. At that time, dorms were pretty much non-existent at CSUF so I lived with my mom. I kinda sorta wished I had experienced living in a dorm.
I got through grad school with fellowships, student loans, self-employment, grad assistenceships, government cheese, and the well-timed care package/check from mom. I look back now and can’t believe how poor I was! Less than a dollar in my pocket and having to decide on toilet paper or a can of soup - yikes, I don’t want to go through that again! But weirdly, at the time, I knew I was poor but I didn’t feel like I was. Maybe it’s because I had a great time in grad school. Does that make sense?
Anyway, 23,000USD later I got my doctorate. I got a job chasing birds. I paid off my loans a few years ago (yes, that monkey *does * come off your back). It was entirely worth it. My only regret is that my dad didn’t live to see me graduate.
Partial music scholarship.
Parttime flight instructor in school’s aviation dept (not my major, but they let me work there anyway).
Offshore oil work in the summers.
Truck driver (UPS).
Took longer than 4 years to graduate, but no loans. (I might be one of the only graduates whose income went DOWN after receiving a degree )
I paid my undergrad tuition as I went, working two or more jobs. I was lucky to be attending a relatively inexpensive public university. I started out working fast-food jobs. But I pursued things I enjoyed like guitar teaching and math tutoring, and was much happier when I managed to land that kind of work. Better pay, and more pleasant.
I paid almost nothing for grad school – my employer picked up most of it in the form of fellowships and scholarships, for which I’m very grateful. Such a benefit is a definite perk to consider when the time comes to pick a job.
Concerning the jobs you take to pay your tuition: if possible, try to find work related to your major. It will probably pay better than fast-food type jobs, be more enjoyable, and can make a big difference after college, like getting your foot in the door and/or getting you a better salary.
I am in college right now (just one more year ). My parents make too much for me to get financial (via FAFSA) and not enough to pay for me because I have three siblings who are also in college. My grandparents set aside a fund that was about 10,000USD when I started college. I have used that to pay my tuition and everything else is payed for with my job. I never get to go home because I am either working or at school, but at this points it looks like I will barely scrape through without having to take out a loan. A large part of that was going to Junior College for the first half of my college experiance. I got just as good an education (if not better) and it saved me a lot of money.
I qualified for the MTAG and ACT Scholarships, which paid for my classes, room and board, with some left over. I only have one semester left on the ACT though, but I’m currently in Americorps, which will dole out $4,725 upon my completion of the program, besides the stipend they already pay me.
My family has a tradition: when a youngster is born, the adults in the extended family start giving them savings bonds for Christmas and birthdays. When they get to be older than babies we give them other things as well, but the bonds continue until they go to college. Small denominations usually, but they add up. I had about 12,000 dollars to my name because of this before I even graduated from high school.
I got some scholarships, got some money from the 'rents, and made up the difference in part time jobs. Spent none of the savings bonds until I used some of it to buy a used car and pay the insurance. So now I’m about to graduate debt free and with a few thousand to help me survive until I find a job.
Up until this point you could be talking about me. I just asked my parents yesterday if I needed a student loan, because I don’t want to get one if I absolutely don’t have to. I’m going to apply for some scholarships to help out, but they own their own buisness so my degree will be paid for out of that. I got a small entrace scholarship (though this school doesn’t give out very big ones, and getting any is an acheivement), but I haven’t been able to get the grades for a scholarship next year. All the other bursaries you need to have a student loan to be eligible for.
Hmm, I think I need to learn to stop going off on tangents.
I’m getting through school with Pell grants and signing over my liver to Uncle Sam. I’ll be about $15-20k in the hole by the time I’m done. No money from family for school, as they are po’.
I was fortunate that I was a Georgia resident and qualified for HOPE. I didn’t have to worry about tuition or fees. Since both my sister and I were on HOPE, our favorite saying was “Keep HOPE alive!”
I had a couple of smaller scholarships that provided for books and living expenses. Since my good ole dad paid for housing and car insurance, living expenses were basically food, utility bills, cable, gas money, and clothing allowances. I enjoyed a standard of living that was better than what I’m experiencing now! I also picked up part-time work my last two years of college and that allowed me to save some money. I was very blessed, I have to say.
One attractive feature of grad school was that not only did I not have to worry about tuition, but I was given a stipend to live on by the school. It was the bare minimum for survival, but hell, at least I didn’t have to go into debt.
No family assistance here. I couldn’t go to college until I was old enough to be legally declared as independent (24, according to the financial aid demons) because my dad makes a boatload of money. It didn’t matter that he doesn’t believe in women being educated and would never give me any for school. I couldn’t qualify for any aid until I didn’t have to account for his income.
Mr. Toes and I each work 2 part-time jobs and go to school full time. We have scholarships through the school (Penn State) and the rest is paid through Pell grants and subsidized loans. We also do work-study through the school.
We keep ourselves poor enought to qualify for as much financial assitance as we can (not really hard to do). And we’ll worry about the rest when we graduate and pay for the loans the rest of our natural lives.
I’m a trust fund baby, basically. My parents and grandmother are funding my education - my grandmother set up a trust fund about ten years ago for all of her grandchildren and my parents have contributed. In addition, I get about $5,000/year in an academic scholarship, which is about 1/3 of my tuition. I get that through my Junior year, provided I maintain a 3.3 GPA (my GPA now is 3.75). Both my parents worked their way through school - my mom at Steak 'n Shake and my dad at a Detroit steel mill - and I count myself as extraordinarily lucky to get this opportunity of an education without a financial cloud over my head for decades after.
My parents had a savings account for me, which (after I raided it to become an exchange student in HS) covered most of the first year. Luckily, I qualified for this really cool loan/grant thing that an organization in my home county offered for students who had gone to jr. high and HS in the county. It was 3 years, covered my tuition for that time, was interest-free, and once I paid back half the amount on time, the rest was forgiven. Thank you, thank you!
For living expenses, I worked and paid for as much as I could, and lived pretty cheaply. But it isn’t possible to pay for everything, at least not where I was, so every couple of months I would ask my parents for $300 or so.
My mom complained until I explained the realities of local economics to her. See, she had gone to the same college and supported herself completely. I had to point out that while I was paid about 3x what she had earned, my rent was about 6x as much, books were more, and so on. Not to mention that tuition was no longer free. (Oh, sorry, tuition is still free. Registration fees, OTOH, are thousands of dollars. Government-speak at its best!)
Austudy. Pigs can fly, the world is flat and a student can live on Austudy. I traded half back for a cheap loan. I graduated in 1995 and haven’t paid more than a couple of hundred dollars back. God bless the Bachelor of Arts degree!
My parents have provided about $6000 per year. I work part time during school and full time during the summer, which generally adds up to around another $6000. I’ve got aid from the government and from the school (expensive private school).
And the rest of it is in debt. Lots and lots of debt.
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