Even when you filled out the FAFSA, I didn't get pell grants. I feel that the FAFSA, it just another way to get peoples information. My parents were very upset about not getting the pell grant nd even with that the FAFSA said that I could get the money or couldn't. It is like a game and now I feel like I don't know what to do about it and my parents can't afford to pay for college or anything else in that manner. I feel that everthong is falling down on me and I dodn't know what to do.

Hey, have any of you considered going to a 2 year school and then transferring to a four year college (depending on what you're studying, of course!)? It would be so much cheaper. Also, another tip that I learned from a financial aid advisor, for those of you with divorced parents, did you know that if the non-custodial parent (ie: the one you do not live with) makes less than the parent you reside with, you can use their income information on the FAFSA (granted of course, you are on good terms with the parent and they will give you a copy of their w-2)? See, when I first applied for school, I didn't want to use my mom's financial info because not only does she make decent money on her own, but she's remarried, which means I'd also have to use my stepdad's info. So, I called up my dad and he has a girlfriend and isn't married so I just have to report his income, which at the time wasn't much so I got enough grants to pay for school and even had money left over after tuition and textbooks!
Another reminder to those of you filling out the FAFSA: if you have a child, no matter what age you are, you are considered independent and do not need to include your parents financial information. I started school at 18 and had a child when I was 20, therefore I was able to just use my earnings for the FAFSA. You are also considered independent once you turn 25. Hope some of this info can help some of you out.

I think the majority of us have been hit hard by the recession and we're all feeling it! I think it's so sad that we're supposed to be one of the greatest countries in the world, yet we can be held back from higher education just for inability to pay. Ever since we're very young, we're stressed the importance of a college education and most jobs, even some assistant manager positions that don't even pay much more than $8-$9 per hour require one, but college is so expensive to most that we cannot afford to go and because of that we are held back and it isn't right and isn't fair. I feel that college should be more accessible to everyone..just like equal opportunity employers, there should be equal opportunity schooling.

Look, my family was an Airforce family, my dad died, the military didn't help us at all, my mom had to use our college savings to pay the bills and then in an abusive household I dropped out of high school, ran away from home and started working full time. Barely making it, I got my GED and now when I go to apply for FAFSA and school, I get jack in assistance and these scholarships that everyone talks about...where are they? I get the run around and I am told that my parents should be paying for this? MY DAD IS DEAD. My mom is dirt poor and my own US Military could give a rip about one of their own, aka my father.

I can barely afford to live but now school wants $970 a month from me when my rent is $500, utilities are $150, my car payment is $278, insurance $149, my phone $90, and that's not including gas to get around to school a part time job, or food. Living off the dollar menu sucks but i do it to survive because I have nothing. And I can't get assistance for school? Without school my bills are $1520 a month and then they want me to pay $970 on top of the cheapest rent, lowest cell plan, the only car payment I'm offered with it requires full coverage insurance, what? That puts my monthly income needing to be $2490 and that has to be after tithes and taxes, Mr Federal Govt. What are we supposed to do?

Now with the economy the way it is, lay offs are horrid. I lost my job in July of 2008. Unemployment refused to assist me, I have officially had 41 interviews with the first interview ending in, "We think you'll be great here! We're excited to see you on board!" then to have the second interview, "We're going to go a different direction." WHAT? To collect carts in the Target parking lot and bring them inside for customers you're going to go a different direction? McDonalds and Starbucks told me I'm over qualified and exclaimed, "Good Luck!" with smiles on their faces! 41 interviews, over 250 resumes and applications, 10 months later...what a great country we live in, what a great govt. we have, to make $600 billion dollars per the order of our new president to then have it disappear and no one knows where it went!!!? What?

The govt., Washington...you were created and established to serve the people, you have taken and twisted your role to provide, protect and serve the American people and now have enslaved us, steal from us, assault us and belittle us. And you still believe you are a mighty and great nation? No wonder the rest of the world hates us. They see our very own govt. hurting us and they don't want to be hurt in the same way by the American govt. I'm so tired of trying to please man, to please America.

This is crappy info. My father is never and will never have any intentions on helping me out for school. He just doesn't have the money, so he says. I have to come up with 8,000 dollars, because my finacial award only covers 23,050 of the cost. I can't seem to find any scholarships out there, and a huge student loan just doesn't seem to sound to good right now. I'm already considering a 2,500 loan, but 8,000 plus 2,500 student loan.

It's nice when parents can afford to pay for their child's education - but in this article, it sounds like having your parents pay for college is an entitlement. When I got my undergraduate degree, I was a first-generation college student and it never occurred to me that my parents - who did not ever have the opportunity to even consider college for themselves - should pay my way. I worked, went to community college because it was affordable - and eventually transferred to UCLA to finish my degree. Now, in my 40s, I've recently started a graduate program. I'm glad that I didn't pressure my parents to "pay up" - and instead, made my own way.

I find it hard to believe that the government and the financial aid offices would apply blanket expectations to every family. The article mentions only a few reasons why parents may not be able to help with college - and yet ultimately seems to assume that they've simply refused to do so. In reality - there are countless reasons why a student may have to fend for herself.

Bottom line - if your parents can pay, count your blessings. If not, be grateful that you've got a healthy enough mind and body to pursue higher education, and count your blessings.