Question by Oyu: Disabled. Can’t get job. Help.?
Hi. I am disabled to the point of not being able to work a non-professional/career-type job. As such, I need to see what options I have re: financial aid and assistance.

Problem is I have NO IDEA how financial aid or scholarships or anything works, and I have no one to turn to for help or to ask. I am 19, been out of high school for about 2 years now, and the last 2 1/2 years of my high school education were in a once-a-week high school ecause of my disability and I was never given adequate direction or help regarding college and the like.

I just googled “scholarships disabled” without the quotes and so far have checked out two links.. but they all seem to be about “lists” and “publications” of information for scholarships for people with disabilities – but how the f-ck is that supposed to help me? I have no clue how scholarships and etc work. Do these lists list different scholarships, which I then have to somehow “apply” to.. and then I “get” that scholarship (granted they accept me)? Or what?

I’m completely lost here. Being out of a job means I have no money to pay for my own tuition so I will be 100% dependent on scholarships. And from what I think I understand, you can get as many separate scholarships you can, but ultimately there is no one “yes we’ll pay for your college” scholarship for people like me and any scholarships I get could stop/not continue to the next year, thus putting an end to my college education?

Or what the f-ck? I’m normally a very coolheaded and non-desperate person but my future is absolutely black if I can’t figure out a way to go to college.
Thank you very much for the sincere help.

So I guess, in the end, since my status is “dependent”, I cannot do this alone. Just what I wanted NOT to do (my family is not so great). But oh well.

My plan before this post was to retake my SAT.. or ACT.. or whatever is necessary, since all I know is I passed, have no idea about my score, but know I could do 1000x if I actually studied. I guess that’s still what I need to do first, aside from getting my parents to fill out the fafsa. Then pick some colleges to apply to, apply, look for financial aid/scholarships offered by whichever school I get accepted into, and finally seek out third-party assistance from places like the local voc rehab center (which I’ve never heard of, before yesterday) and etc.

The pdf file seems like it has tons of information, I’ll definitely read it over.

Best answer:

Answer by Suddenly Human
First you need to apply for federal financial aid by filling out the fafsa. To do this you go to http://fafsa.ed.gov and enter your and your parents information. This is an application for all forms of federal and state financial aid… often called grants, loans, parent loans and work study.

Then you need to pick a school or two and apply to them. Once you get accepted to the school, they will issue you a financial aid award letter detailing the kinds and amounts of financial aid you qualify for.

Scholarships are a different form of financial aid and the fafsa is not an application for scholarships. Scholarships are given out on the basis of “Merit” meaning you have to meet a certain criteria in order to apply… like have a high GPA, a high admission test score… while possibly also meeting other criteria as well… there are as many criteria as their are scholarships because every one of them are different and the funding comes from all places. Your best bet however, is to go directly to the school you choose and ask about the scholarships they offer. Most of the time they will have a web page with a list and an application or link.

Also, since you are disabled, you should contact your local “Vocational Rehabilitation” office. Often referred to as “Voc Rehab” this government agency will sometimes assist disabled students with college costs if the funding and ability is there…. (don’t ask for them to pay for you to go to school to be a truck driver if you are legally blind for example).

Yes, you are right, there is no ONE place that will pay for you to go to school no matter what….. even Voc Rehab isn’t a sure thing for a lot of folks, but where there is a will there is a way….. and this is EXACTLY why not everyone has a college education.

Hope this helps… email me if you have more questions. This is a good book to read if you want to know more about fin aid.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!

 

 

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