My husband and I had our first child and we decided me going to college is the best thing to do to deal with the falling economy....but it is going to cost almost $50,000. My parents are dealing with my fathers medical bills from prostate cancer and my husbands family has a 11 year old to raise. The government keeps saying going on to college is the best thing for all students but more and more people are having to file for bankrupsy because of medical and college loans then any other reason. I havent been able to find any grants with out paying a fee to get the lists....and the loans and pell grant still doesnt help with all the costs for classes besides living expenses. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Its horrible how the government just states that our parents don't want to help. Its demeening how the press just says that they (our parents) should pay for it. I have known from the very beginning that I would have to pay for college. My parents wont pay for my first house, why should they pay for my college?

Taken out a loan is a big mistake. Too high of interest and penatilies are horrible and not worth it. The governments need to do better on this area. They take too much in taxes and give nothing to regular people who struggle to make ends meet. They tell parents to pay for college when there is not money for it so you can't go.
Too bad other countries do better for their citizens.

I am a freshman at ASU. I just graduated from high school with a 3.5 and 24 college credits under my belt. I work a part-time job and have reasonable test scores. So i guess you can say I am an average student. Even though I feel like I have put in so much work. I didn't receive a single scholarship, and hardly any free money from the government. Mostly loans. I have been looking forward to the day to move out of my house and move into the dorms. I went shopping for literally all of my stuff and spent all my (vacation hour) money on my dorm stuff with barely any help from my dad. The upcoming week was the day that everything had to be paid for such as tuition and housing, so I asked my dad if he could except the parent PLUS loan and he refused. Even, after I explained I would pay it back once I get out of school. He wouldn't help me out. Even though in the past month he bought a new flat screen TV for his room, lent $1,000 to my uncle, paid $800 for my irresponsible brothers tickets on his car, goes to dinner at least twice a week and he has two cars. So, move-in day is two days away and he won't accept the loan. Now, everything I have done has gone down the drain and I have no one to help me out. I won't be moving into the dorms and I don't make enough to move in with room mates.The government has done nothing to help out with my situation and I hear all this talk about how everything is going to change I'm just wondering when! Because i need help now and I feel like I'm just by myself in this.
I don't feel like I can exceed in school when I have no support in my own home or from the government. I can't re-file my fafsa as an independent student because school starts on Monday. I want to move out and start fresh but my dad is holding me back. I am forced to drive to school everyday which is about 15 miles away from home, work a part-time job, babysit my 8 year old brother, and deal with an evil stepmother.
I don't care how much debt I will be in after college I just need to get away from the madness of a home that I live in!! And so far my cries for help have been washed out.

"The federal government’s opinion is this: paying for a college education is your parents’ primary responsibility"

Well screw the federal goverment then. My parents are not rich and neither would I want them to be. My father works very hard, but he works just hard enough to put food on the table and keep a roof over my family's head. With a family of seven it's been a definate struggle, and I have no idea how in the hell I am going to be able to afford college especially since I am the youngest out of five. I remember how badly my mother wanted to put a little money aside each year when we were younger, so there would be enough money for us to go to college when that day would come. Unfortunately, the goverment's a bitch. The bank was after us, mortgage payments were behind, and people were knocking on our front door wanting to sell our house for us. It was an absolute nightmare, and it got so bad I remember for four years we either walked 6 miles or rode in a taxi every night to the store and didn't have any other means of transportation. Going to bed hungry and not knowing when the next meal was, because my father couldn't find a job for six years. So I don't care what anyone thinks, but it has been absolute hell living in this country and being hounded by the goverment doesn't make things any easier. Loans are hard to come by, especially with the economy going downhill. You can't just run into the bank every time you need money, and expect ease and happiness later on in life. And guess what, after you graduate, they are going to be right back down your throat again hounding you for money. Besides tuition isn't your only problem, you have housing fees, text books, food, clothes, personal items, school supplies, transportation to different areas( not everyone lives on campus and neither is everything on campus for that matter) ect,.

I am trying here, I really am, and I am thinking about trying to get a part time job but it's been a tough call and scholarships seem like weeks trying to apply for them and still not even getting anything. My parents have done so much for me, and it's not that they don't want to help me because I know that they do, but they CANNOT afford it whatsoever. But I wouldn't want them to pay for my college education, because they raised me to be the individual I am today and that's already brilliant enough for me.

FAFSA Stinks! I agree with the majority of the people who commented below. Their biggest problem is that the US Government assumes! You can't just assume when it comes to peoples future! How on earth is it possibe for a full time student who works 10-20 hours a week (minimun wage) to pay for rent, tuition, books, food, personal supplies.... each month!? How is that possible? They dont think about those of us who didnt grow up in suburbia with two parents who put away money for their children to go to college! What if your drunken father used all of your college money and lost it all in the stock market?! Thats what happened to me! I have to beg and plead with my mother to fill out the FAFSA each year because she says it takes to long and I don't get anything anyway. That is not my fault she wont help! Now Im stuck figting with the financial aid office almost every month to stay in school. It's a battle each day to get my education -- I fear I won't make it through. It should not be like that. It's times like these where I wish I was born in Sweden or Switzerland. They know how to take care of their people. Our education system is deplorable!

if i take out a student loan is under mom or me???