I am 22 living in Los Angeles, and trying to support myself while I go to community college and study fim production. In the pursuit of trying to support myself I pretty much have no life, and it's been that way since I was ~20. Many of my peers just went straight to a 4-year, which I neglected to apply to any colleges as I was unsure what I wanted to do so I went to a CC. Now I feel trapped in my condition and fear I'll spend many more years like this. No networking, no friendmaking, just work and (when I'm lucky) school.
About me:
- Work 80 hours every 2 weeks, split across every day while it's summer for minimum wage ($10/hr). I have had better paying jobs, but nothing sustainable until this job at a restaurant. I have 2 years of production experience already, but haven't been able to land any paying jobs that could support me like working for a news station did.
- Rent is $850/mo, car is $175/mo, gas is $150/mo, Credit Card is $40/mo (450 left to pay), and remaining legal fees are $40/mo.
- My community college's costs are ~$400-$750 a semester now. I am a film production student.
- I had to take my Spring semester of college off because I could not afford to go to school and work as much as I needed to to pay for legal fees after I was arrested and plead to a Wet and Reckless in mid 2016 and the pretty rough living expenses of LA.
- My family has an income of around 100,000, making only about $500 in unsub loans available to me (expected family contribution is almost 20,000/yr; actual is about 2,000/yr at best).
- I'm a generic white guy. I have no special benefits, nor received scholarships (though I only applied to a few; pretty much anything to do with family law enforcement). Supposedly I'm native american (makes sense since we'd to to the reservation when I was a kid) but I never tested this and AFAIK I won't receive anything at my age for it if I did end up being whatever magical % native you need to be to get benefits like friend did (10,000 on her 18th. What a break).
- I did not apply to a 4 year because I did not believe it was wise to spend as much money as I heard other kids were going to spend when I was unsure of my career path, especially consideirng I had no idea how we could possibly have the kind of money to pay.
My goals:
- AS Degree
- Be able to attend Community College full time, or just go for a 4-year (not sure if this is a thing). I'm getting sick of wading around. I want to put my education into high gear, get networking, and begin my career sooner rather than later.
tl;dr My questions:
- Is it possible for me to switch to a 4-year college without completeing community college? My thought is, if I can, and I have to takes loans at this point anyhow, I might as well just go straight to where
- What do I really need to apply to a state college or university like Cal State Northridge or even UCLA if I were just coming out of High School?
- How can I acquire the information I need to apply to a 4 year (I believe I need to know where my GPA was, my ACT or SAT scores [pretty sure I took ACT] + what else to I need)?
- If I cannot get more than $500 in unsubsidized loans despite only receiving <2,000 in family contributions yearly, what is the best way for me to do federal subsidized loans? How stupid am I for needing this when I'm only attending Community College?
A lot of this is just ignorance. I am from a small town, and depsite having spoken with several couselors over the years I seem to get different answers from different people. If you can't help with all of it, just what you do know is appreciated. Also ask me any info you need, and it can be fairly personal as this is a throwaway account anyways. I will reply when I check the thread tomorrow.
Thank you.
Submitted June 26, 2017 at 06:22AM by tossout2000 http://ift.tt/2tM9mn6
