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Today, my best friend texted me and said that he was going to drop out of college because he had been denied financial aid. He is very smart (1550+ SAT) and an incredible guy, but his parents have weird financials so that he is ineligible for need-based financial aid, even though he is broke without it. Our school doesn't offer merit-based aid. For him to stay in school next year, even with him working all summer, we need $30k, ten of which has to be paid by June. He is an international student, so lots of stuff is off the table, but he is also very popular. His girlfriend and I are willing to work like hell to help him pull this off.

Between people we know, we could probably raise $500 in the next week, but we have no idea where to go from there. Has anything like this worked before and how did they go about it?

John Doe
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Might be a better investment to go to a different country and study. The US prices for education are incredibly overpriced (having taught at both European universities and an Ivy league university in the US, I can tell that the education is not much different).

It is also easier to get admitted to European universities - the difficult part is to actually complete the studies.

Per Alexandersson
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  1. He could speak with a financial aid counselor to make sure he understands all of his options, including whether there are any policies/petitions that could take into account his parents' "weird financials". Is his situation really so rare that no one has heard of it? Or can he learn about what the possible outcomes have been in similar cases?

  2. While his school doesn't offer merit-based aid, he could apply for external merit scholarships. The school should have an office to advise on this.

  3. He could apply for student loans.

  4. He could try crowdfunding such as GoFundMe, especially if his story would be compelling to the public.

  5. Rather than dropping out, he could take a leave of absence to have time to raise the money (e.g., by working) and resume his studies later.

nanoman
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Given his circumstances I would go to a community college for significantly cheaper, and accumulate as many transferable credits as possible. While at the same time working and saving up as much money as possible. After one or two years, transfer to the college of your choice and continue working to pay off tuition. Many if not all colleges offer some kind of deferred payment plan so the money made working during the year should be enough to pay for college.

I don't believe being an international student affects community college tuition, but he should check this for the specific college he chooses.

Hatman
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Tell him to cut his losses and get out of college while he still can! What a waste of time. Get a specialized certificate from a industry authority and you'll make much more money and spend tens of thousands less on the education! What a gimmick this U.S. college system. Here's a few examples of big money makers: rope access technician, security penetration testing, company GDPR/privacy officer...

Mr Magoo
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Crowdfunding for education

There is a crowdfunding site for individual goals, like Kickstarter. Common projects funded on it are for people's' education and healthcare. Take a look at some of the past projects and their marketing, and you might be able to replicate those successes.

https://www.gofundme.com/

personjerry
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