Linsy-I would defer to Katy since I am not an expert on this but in my opinion if they are still claiming you as their kid on their taxes then no you won't be eligible since it will be based on their income. If they were not counting you as a dependent you would likely be eligible. If you truly are financially independent from them and they don't count you on their taxes or insurance or anything financial aid shouldn't be looking at their income, but you have to prove somehow that you're not. I was still considered my dad's dependent as an undergrad but as a grad student I was independent. As an undergrad my dad paid what financial aid told him to pay and paid my portion of the rent (i had roomates). I too had a part time job (max of 20 hrs a week) and i was able to pay all my bills and food. Find a job on campus, they pay decent and you can do homework on your downtime without getting into trouble. lol In grad school I had 0 help from family so I was independent. Whatever you do don't use a credit card. I did that too and racked up a huge debt by end of grad school. I am still paying it off and i'm 30. :)

well, when they (the people that do food stamps applications) they have all the info on the web. just go to your states dept of human services or whatever it's called in that state. her parents can't contribute to her income across the country unless they send her money. they will ask about all income, including if you are getting money from somewhere else other than a job. they just need to determine if you can afford to pay your bills. if you are at or below the poverty line in the new state, then it's possible. different states have varying guidelines, sometimes they may say you only qualify if you have kids, disability, elderly or handicapped living with you, or extremely poor.

what state are you moving to? we could look it all up.

i second finding a job on campus. i worked on campus too. and it was tax free, because i worked in the veteran's dept. it was great! i didn't make much, but i could spend most of the time doing hw, unless it was registration time.

also try to think about how you'll be getting around. buy a car? bus? subway? if you live close enough to campus, you could just walk almost everywhere. try to think how you can just build the exercise into your day. you often won't have time to have a planned workout.

also consider getting some equip. that you can take with you anywhere. like resistance bands. keep them in your backpack. and make a few mini workouts you can do when you have a few mins, with minimal equip.

also, make use of the gym on campus. on my campus, it was least busy in the afternoon when there wasn't any classes going on, so everyone went home or was working. consider taking night classes. you only have to meet once a week, unless you have a class with a lab like chemistry.

i know a ton about saving money going to college. like getting cheaper books and how to apply for financial aid.

i suggest not doing the loans. try to apply for as many scholarships and pell grant as you can first. paying off a loan is a big pain. or possibly, could you do your degree at a community college or part of it?

When I went to college a lot of the younger (than me) people worked in food service - waiters/waitresses. Generally their schedules were flexible enough to accommodate classes and you really can't make better money part-time because of the tips. Further, many of them were able to have a free or reduced cost meal as a "perk." Plus, think of all the exercise waiting tables. I don't know if you already have a job lined up, but if not, consider waiting tables at a place close to the hospital or medical offices and you can network with the physicians and medical staff that come into eat. Those kinds of releationships are invaluable when you have your diploma in hand and are beating the streets for a job in your area of expertise.

katy trail, you have some amazing advice! I'm really stressed about the money situation, I've never lived on my own before and no I don't have a job lined up yet. I'll probably be getting to school by bus or walking since I don't have a car. I was checking out this really nice co-ed house that has really cheap bills (because of all of the people living in it) and cheap rent that is a 2 mile walk to my school or a shorter walk to the bus that stops at the school.

I'm going to speak with the school on the 9th about financial aid and grants and loans and all of that. My financial aid should cover about half of my two year tuition and then I'm going to ask my grandpa to cover as much as he can (he's been saying he'd help pay for my college practically since I was born, I just need to figure out a way to ask him tactfully without seeming rude) and maybe take out a small loan to help cover my books and living expenses--I don't want to be extremely in debt so I'm going to try to wrack up as little debt as I possibly can.

I'm not sure if the campus has jobs or not...it's a small technical school, not a community college or university. I'll ask the admissions rep when I'm there next week.

I'm not sure if I'd rather have morning or night classes. I'd like my nights to hang out with friends and I function better at night so I'd get my homework done better in late afternoon/evening than the morning. I guess I'll just see when it happens I guess.

One thing I'm stressed about is transportation. Since I'm going to ride a bus, going from school to work is probably going to be annoying and require quite a bit of walking. I don't currently work out at home but maybe I should start just so I'm a bit more in shape by the time I'm actually forced to walk a lot, lol.

Get a bike. I used a bike on campus my entire undergrad. Also with a student id buses were free. I don't know what school you are going to but if its a big university something like that should be available. But most days I rode my bike (even to the mall) but if weather was bad I would take the bus.

I don't know how to ride a bike. LOL.

The thing is, it's the city where a big university is located, so there's tons of bus routes. The school I go to isn't far from the university campus either and there's a specific bus route that goes down past the school that I'm going to.

Atkins is not expensive. Let us look at a typical day for someone on Atkins.

Breakfast: scrambled eggs and bacon
I'd say that costs $1
Lunch: salad greens with chuck steak - $3
dinner: 70/30 ground beef with a little cheese and maybe a couple veggies: $2.
$6 for a day. Try doing that off Atkins.

I agree that Atkins can fit almost any budget. If you can budget more than $1 per day for food, you can follow Atkins.

Cabbage and onions are usually dirt cheap, almost everywhere. Broccoli and cauliflower often go on sale cheap, but you have to watch. In our area broccoli and cauliflower can run $3.00 per head (usually about 2 to 2.5 lbs), but routinely goes on sale for 89 cents to 99 cents per head (that's half as cheap as the frozen price at Aldi's).

Canned veggies are really cheap, especially green beans. We buy veggies at Walmart, Aldis and also Dollar Stores because they're usually 2/$1 or less. Store brands and generics are usually just as good.


Pork is often very cheap. Very fatty and tough cuts are often cheapest. Fatty meat is usually more tender (but perceived as less healthy and wasteful to trim), and tough cuts are usually lean, but require low,slow cooking to make tender.

Dark meat chicken can be super cheap also. Legs, thighs, and leg-thigh quarters are very cheap. Sometimes one will be far cheaper than the others. Where I lived in Illinois, legs were always cheapest. Often selling for less than a dollar a pound (and as little as 50 cents a pound in giant family packs).

Where we live now in Wisconsin, leg/thigh quarters usually are cheapest, but if you watch for specials sometimes other cuts are cheaper.

Sometimes whole chickens are even cheaper, but not usually. Usually legs or leg/thigh quarters are cheapest.

Both Aldi and Walmart have frozen vegetables for around .80 to $2 per pound bag. California mix (broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower) tends to be the cheapest. If you have a little more freezer space, there are often larger bags that are cheaper per pound (always take a calculator and a small notebook to the grocery store with you).

Sometimes you find regional specialties. For example in Illinois, cheese was extremely expensive. Here in Wisconsin, it's very cheap, especially if you go directly to the local, small cheesemakers. We go to two shops. One has the best variety and the best overall prices (about $5 per pound, 30 - 60% off the price in local grocery stores), and the other specializes in plain and flavored varieties of Monterey Jack (often on special for $2 per pound).

Asian markets are great for asian vegetables and seasoning. You can buy gourmet soy sauces in quart bottles for the price of a small bottle of Kikoman's at a typical grocery store. Large cans of exotic mushrooms (twice the price of tiny cans of button mushrooms, but almost four times the weight). Fresh bean sprouts are the same price per bag as in non-asian groceries, but the bags are 5 times bigger (so you pay 1/5 the price per pound) and they last longer because they tend to be fresher.

Green onions, fresh basil, mint and cilantro.... Cans of flavored sardines and other fish (if you like sardines, you'll love the canned fish in asian groceries. They have them in all sorts of yummy sauces. Chili paste, chili tomato past, green and red curries, tom yum sauce.

If you have a car or access to cheap public transportation, you can eat cheap and Atkins-friendly.

Even in relatively large cities, in the summer, you can often find free and dirt-cheap produce from home-garden excess. Check freecycle, Craig's list, and newspaper ads (or just start asking around) and you'll find people with more tomatoes and zucchini than they know what to do with. If you pass the word that you have a use for overgrown zucchini, you'll be swimming in the stuff.

You can grow tomatoes in zucchini even on a small porch or balcony in a pot.

Growing herbs on a window sill isn't hard either (I always forget to water them though, and kill them, so it's cheaper to buy them fresh at asian groceries).

Dollar Tree has these amazing garlic-flavored cashews for only $1 a bag. It's not a huge bag, but it contains several servings (even more if you want to add them to a salad).

Dollar Stores and overrun stores like Big Lots can have some really good low-carb snacks and foods. If I find a really good sale, I stock up (even when it meant storing extra cans under the bed when there wasn't room in the kitchen). I found artichoke hearts (usually $4 per can) at Big Lots for $1 per can. I found Chicken of the Sea pink salmon at the Dollar Tree and bought 6 pouches (I wish I'd bouth 4 times that much, because they haven't had them since. Though they routinely have tuna, chicken, and ham in cans).


Again I'll recommend the Shoestring Meals thread, because people have left a lot of great suggestions there. Whenever the grocery budget is tight, I browse it and frugal living websites for ideas.

check out chegg dot com for renting books. they also rent other things now such as calculators.
some schools let you borrow books-you may need to qualify financially, and sign up super early
buy used from ebay or amazon. i never buy brand new. i went to college for close to 10 years. i only buy brand new if i can't get used. and i usually don't get the current edition. you can talk to the instructor, sometimes it's ok to use last years book. depends on the subject, some books are only different by a few pictures. math, computers, science may be updated each semester so you have to buy it.
always check out all the book resources mentioned then only as a last resort use the campus book store. their prices are always sky high.