Worried About Being Able to Afford Living On Campus
First, let’s start with the great news here – getting into your number one school! That is a very exciting thing and certainly an accomplishment to be proud of. So congratulations from TeenHealthFX! We would also like to commend you on having a plan set for yourself about your education and career. Not everyone your age is clear about this, so congratulations on that as well!
As for your concern about living on campus, FX can appreciate your stress about this. Not only does it sound like living on campus will be easier for you to manage, but living on campus for your first year can also be a fulfilling experience in terms of meeting people and establishing some very special connections with friends. To help you figure this out, FX suggests the following:
Ask your father if he would sit down with you to help you make a realistic plan for yourself. Let him know that you are really feeling stressed out about how to proceed and how to manage this, and that you could use his assistance in making a plan for yourself. Also, find out from your father what makes him so concerned that you will not pay him back for the loan. Be careful in this part of the conversation to approach it as genuinely curious and wanting to understand where he is coming from, rather than being defensive or attacking. After discussing these things, ask your father if there is anything that would help him feel better about cosigning a loan, such as having a contract written up between the two of you that could be notarized by a public notary.
If your father won’t talk to you about this at all, are there any other family members who could get involved and perhaps have more of an influence on this topic?
Speak to a guidance counselor at school or to someone in admissions at the college to find out about options. College admissions offices and high school guidance counselors are generally full of information and resources for students who need financial assistance in some form or another.
For more information, read the article No Scholarship? Here’s How to Pay For College.