How Can High School Seniors Afford to go to College?

Are there any banks or companies still giving student loans?

I have heard it's almost imposssible...

What is going to happen to these students and to the colleges and universities themselves??

She made it thru with federal student loans that she took out each year, 2 that I took out in the last 4 years, and her working full time during the summer/part time during the school year. And a few times I'd deposit money into her account for those "the semester's loan money is gone, I don't get paid til next week, but the rent is due" moments.
But we knew that was how it would be even before she started..I'm a single mom and her dad told us in the beginning he would not be contributing any $$ for her college education ("I'm still paying child support on the other one, so no I will not be helping with college")

My youngest will be going to the local community college. She has no idea what she wants to do, is a little less mature than my oldest so sending her away kinda worried me, and at this point, I'm tapped out as far as getting loans/having extra $$. It'll be roughly $450/semester tuition and she's gonna live at home.

Those in poverty are also allowed in via massive financial aid, but the working poor and middle class are shit out of luck.

Until we move to a European model where education is valued for the benefit it returns to society and supported accordingly, the situation will continue to worsen.

By the way - the same goes for health care, and many other issues.

Maybe America is just too young to know better.

Because her school (in Philly) has many low-income-family students, she sees this first-hand.

Comparing the aid her students are given compared to the pennies our daughters were offered, the difference definitely exists. "C" students with 850 combined SATs get full rides. "A" students with great standard test scores get full rides PLUS expenses. Our daughters, "A" students with great boards, got squat (and all loans at usury rates).

I am not complaining about the large amount they get. My beef is with the little-or-nothing that students from middle class families get.

We should be more like Europe. If the talent is there, the education should be provided.

does not go to school we will be very short on workers to fill the jobs of the future and there will be no money to pay this damned debt back.

A student who has good grades and no money can get scholarships and grants to lots of schools. And students with really good grades and test scores even with no demonstrated financial need are often offered scholarship money without even applying. I know. Both of my sons were offered money to attend specific schools. Starting out at a nearby junior college is a low cost way to start. And if the nearest public college or university is within commuting distance you save the cost of room and board, which is more than tuition, books and fees.

Pell grants are still out there, although the amount of that has not increased in years.

People seem to think that all of a sudden not a single h.s. graduate is going to be able to go on to college, and that's simply not true, just like as bad as unemployment is going to get, it probably won't even be as bad as the Great Depression, and even then the unemployment rate was at 25% of the workforce. Not even 50%.

I purchased two rental homes about 5 yrs before my oldest child went to college. I fixed em up myself and rented them out. They both paid off in five years, and when my daughter was ready to go to college, I used the rents to pay her way through. She graduated with her MBA last year. My youngest is a sophomore in high school, so I am saving the rent money for her education now.
It was a way I could finance their schooling without counting on student loans, and when my youngest daughter graduates, I'll sell them to someone else! I'm sure most people are not as fortunate as I was to get a couple of great deals on the homes, $13K and 20K, respectively, that generate $1100/mo in rent, but one has to think out of the box when trying to solve issues like this.

How can seniors pay for medical care? There are a lot of these "how cans."

transfer to a 4 year.

This can often be better preparation for doing well in the final two years then heading to a university at 18.