Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input.

College student - I'm a 'dependent' and my parents won't apply for the Parent PLUS loan or cosign a private loan
If the 6 credits per semester working part time schedule includes no loans, consider this.  Yes, it may take you twice as long to finish, BUT, you'll have a lot of working experience, AND zero student loans when you're done. Compare this to someone who graduates in four years and has 20k in student loans.  If they set up a 20 year repayment for the loans, they'll still have 16-18k left to pay and 4 years of job experience.   You'll have 8 years of half time job experience and zero debt.  The key would be to find a job in your area of interest.  More ideal would be one that pays for classes as a benefit.  Then you might increase your class load and decrease the total time to graduate, AND have relevant job experience when you graduate.