Hello PF, it's my first time posting here.
Some background about me; I'm currently a Junior enrolled at a university (expected to graduate May 2019). My major is Computer Science (engineering). At the end of this semester I will have completed 99 credit hours and so far my tuition has been paid completely by parents and I've also lived at home for all my college. I haven't had a proper job yet and I have about 1200$ in a bank account (just money I accumulated over the years). I am not in debt at the moment but I also do not have much money.
For the past year or so things have been really rough at home. There's been intense tension and it's at a tipping point to where I just can't handle it anymore and it's negatively affecting my mental health. I'm convinced that the only reason my dad paid for my tuition this past semester was because I told him I'd pay him back once I was graduated and earning from a full time job (which I intend on doing). I won't go into all the details about my family since this is a finance subreddit, however here is what I need advice on:
I've been thinking once this semester ends that I'll move out of home and be completely self sufficient. I will receive $3k in pell grants and another $1.6k in State grants for tuition. My tuition (cost without any grants) will be 6k per semester so I'd be paying a total of 12k till I graduate. Now on top of the tuition I will also need to pay for rent, food, travel costs(I don't have my own car). Food and travel and other miscellaneous expenses won't be much as I cook home, walk a lot, etc however the thing that worries me is paying rent and also actually getting approved for an apartment. I won't be able to get my parents to cosign the lease since they'll see me moving out as a bridge burning act (I'm 21...). I would also be finding part time retail jobs once this semester is over. And BTW, I don't do drugs or alcohol so that isn't an expense.
I need advice/pointers as to how I could get my own place and job and how I will be able to sustain it all till I graduate in May 2019. I am open to taking loans since I'm confident I'll be able to pay them off once I get a full time engineering job, however not sure as to where exactly I could get a loan from (besides the federal Stafford loan which won't be enough to cover everything)
Thank you in advance for any tips and sorry for the long post.
Edit : so I'm more in need of advice of how to exactly get an apartment locally and sustain rent
Submitted January 16, 2018 at 11:15PM by cdma12 http://ift.tt/2DhXLEF
