Should I bother completing a FAFSA?

Free Application for Financial Aid.

Would I even be eligible for anything? Is it like a "you never know" thing?

- I am DACA approved

- NY in-state eligible

You are not eligible

What I can tell you however if you want to figure out how to cover the gap in funding is to talk to the universities that you are getting accepted into. In some cases they might be able to help out, specifically inquire if they have an appeals process. This would be a situation where you get to explain why you are not able to afford the tuition that you are getting, and it becomes an opportunity to share your experience. For example, in many cases they give you a certain amount based on their belief that you will be able to cover the rest with FAFSA or student loans, unfortunately as undocumented (even if we are DACA approved we are still undocumented), we cannot apply for federal loans of any kind, or FAFSA, or most types of public scholarships or many types of private scholarships, if you make them aware of this in an appeals process they might be able to work with you on figuring out either a payment plan that works for you, or giving you more assistance.

Another alternative is to apply for scholarships that do indeed give money to undocumented students.

Always investigate whether you can get the money that you are being offered. I have learned of cases where people have been offered scholarships that is offered by the state, as it is federal tax funded they applicants may not receive those scholarships and accepting them would be considered fraud which can damage any opportunity of legalizing in the future if it is discovered.

Very interesting.

Thanks for the info, very helpful.

btw... check out my signature... I list the wells fargo student loan and how it has been possible for undocumented student to apply for this loan category. It is a private student loan, though it requires a USC person to co-sign.

That student loan is going to be very helpful for me in the future, but I have a question...how do loans work when you have to repay it?

Does gigantic interest start building up as soon as you get the loan? Does it start building up 2 years after you get the loan? How bad is the interest.

Just asking for general info.

Thanks.

http://world.utexas.edu/isss/student...e/scholarships

I know you're in New York, but the last three pages of the College Forward Scholarship List has national scholarships. Some schools are very anti-illegal but others really want to help you go to school with as little debt as possible. The link is on the front page of our international student services page. You should definitely look through your school website to see if they have any support pages with links to New York scholarships. Loans should be a last resort. If you can't pay for school now what makes you think you'll be able to pay it after you graduate when theres no guarantee you'll have a job? I'm just making assumptions that you can't afford college but I personally think loans should be avoided. School loans are one of those things that are easily forgotten and later come back to bite you when you least expect it.

Yea, I am currently researching as I go...I actually may be able to avoid loans altogether...worse case scenario, I work full time and go to college part time.

I second this, loans are only a last option when you have exhausted all other attempts and are looking at a situation where you are almost done with college and not getting a loan could have you dropping out of college for good.

This loan will start charging you a month after you get the money, the interest rate is variable for the one that I got, but I heard that they are not offering fixed rate loans which are a safer option for planning how much it will cost you in the future. The interest rate can be pretty high compared to other student loans as it is not intended to be a loan to cover college expenses, though it may be used for that purpose but it was intended as a loan to cover everything that federal loans would not cover such as books, rent, or a computer.

The interest rate would strongly depend on who your cosigner is and what their credit score is like.

Thanks for the info, I probably won't ever resort to loans...I will definitely be organizing my college years as I go to avoid loans...work full time and college part time will be worse case scenario for me.