It gets better for me though. Well, technically for my friend. Neither of her parents are employed or have been employed in the last ten years (both are listed as ‘disabled’ and get money from the government). Their EFC is, in turn, $0.

So just recently she called the school she will be attending in the fall to ask about the FAFSA (which she already applied for well over a month ago…going on two now, I believe) only to be told that the school will not be giving her money. She has a scholarship from them, but she won’t be receiving any FAFSA money. She has no clue why, only that they told her ‘sorry, no dice.’

What is also unfair is that we have the same general grades in school and I have a $21,000 yearly scholarship while she only has a $16,000 one. And she applied several months before I did.

It’s…well, like I said. Financial aid is bull. I’m focusing my time on getting my money through other means, especially since my mother all but disowned me (basically told me that I meant nothing to her and never would, but refused to go to court and actually do the deed), so I still have to file as a dependant, and thus, since our ‘EFC’ is $13,000, I can expect to get little to no help through financial aid.

When I first applied to be an undergraduate I was in a unique situation. My parents did not have the money to even pay for my books at college, and my father in a lot of debt due to tax leans, credit, and recent bankruptcy. Therefore I was making money on my own and attempting to get loans for myself. However because I was not married, under 25, and not veteran everyone I would contact (from finical aid counselors to the people in the Department of Education) treated me like crap and or played “dumb”.

Even though I received NO finical support during the entire time I was an undergraduate, I still could not apply for loans, scholarships, and student aid on my own. My father be grudgingly file taxes and give up his W2s and my mother did not work (if she did it was temporary.)

Every year it was a waiting game, I would go to school, apply for student aid, the School’s finical aid office would sit on it, then the student accounts office would bombard me with letters and phones demanding their money. At the last minute my father would give up his W2s or file taxes, apply for loans (only to have them rejected)and then I would have to go right behind him and apply. On more than one occasion the university locked my accounts and held my transcripts only to release them after I was approved for ridiculously high rate loans, or the left over student aid/grant money (which was slim to none). I had to do this “dance” every year for four years. The “expected family contribution” is what I had to pay out of pocket or either via another loan.

Eventually I graduated after four years, with a gpa well over 3.0, and consecutive Dean’s list during my last three semesters.

However now, because I lack a “graduate/professional” degree employers in my field (especially on the Federal side) refuse to hire me or even consider me as a candidate.