Expert: Valerie Broughton - 8/29/2010

Question
QUESTION: Hello,I am from Kentucky and i am trying to register with a local community technical college but i didn't qualify for the financial aid.Would you please help me find out any community technical college in USA that offer the lowest tuition? Thank you for your time and help.

ANSWER: Hi,

The most economical community/technical colleges for you will be the ones in Kentucky.

Financial aid decisions are based on a family's income.  Once you fill out the FAFSA - did you do that? - the government and financial aid office decide how much the family should be able to contribute to tuition. That amount is called the Expected Family Contribution(EFC)  When a student is told that they don't qualify for financial aid, it usually means that their EFC is greater than the cost of going to that college.  

Even if there were a community/technical college in another state with lower tuition, you'd have the expenses of moving there.  You'd likely have to pay out of state tuition(higher than instate tuition) for a few years until you established residency in the new state.  

Maybe you could go to school part time, take only a few classes and pay partial tuition, as much as you can afford.  

Best wishes,
Valerie

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your fast reply.
Before i have moved to KY, i was attending community tech college in GA, and in-state (KY) tuition for one credit hour is $130.00 (under KCTCS) versus out-of-state (GA) $90.00.
I fill out the FAFSA and my household income was less than $40,000.00 and they told me that my  EFC was greater than the cost so i didn't qualify for it.
Community tech college in GA have a lower tuition but i am not thinking about moving out of KY, so i will take some on-line class.
I was wondering if there is a way to find out about other community tech college to see if lower tuition exist somewhere within USA.thank you for your time and help.
Scott

Answer
Hi Scott,

Based on the information you provided, I understand that the out-of-state tuition in GA is less than the in-state tuition in KY.  That doesn't help  you much unless you live close enough to GA that you could drive back and forth every day or unless you wanted to move back to GA.  

Please be careful about on-line classes.  Make sure that they'll count towards your degree or certificate.  Make sure you understand and follow all of the directions perfectly.  Sometimes those on-line classes can be very expensive.  

Other than checking the information for all of the states to find out their community technical college tuition, I don't know of any one site that would give you that information.

Best,
Valerie