conversation: User (collegetraaaash): "I'm 17 years old and I'm turning 18 the week before I move into college. As of right now, I'm going to college in the same state as my parents but I will be a few hours away.\n\nPart of the discussions we've had is finances. Right now I have the Florida Prepaid Plan for my tuition and I am waiting for my Bright Futures application to be accepted. I'm confident in my application being accepted because I had a 7.2 GPA along with a 1560 on my SAT along with meeting all of their deadlines.\n\nMy housing at university will cost $12,000 for the first year. My parents have claimed they want to cover it but I am feeling like they are using that to control me in college. By being controlling, they've claimed they will want me to send them my location whenever I am in class and when I am not in class I will have to give them a reasonable explanation as to why I am not in class. They have also threatened to turn off my phone in college if I don't send them my location whenever requested. They also plan on imposing a curfew and enforcing it with me sending my location.\n\nMy problem is I want to begin to cut them off and become independent so I don't have their rules when I am in college. I plan on getting a job when I move to support myself financially so I can afford my own phone plan, gas, and food. I just need a little guidance on where to start in terms of becoming independent from my parents.\n\n**EDIT** A lot of people are questioning my 7.2 GPA. The way that my county does GPA scales there is an unweighted and a weighted. Unweighted is out of 4 and my GPA was 3.92 due to getting some Bs in HL Biology and HL Physics my junior year. Weighted my GPA is 7.2. IB, AP, and Honors classes give weight.\n\nAnother thing that people are mentioning is that it's their money, their rules. That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid. With my scholarships (Bright Futures, National Merit, University, and Local), I can pay for college for 2 years. My parents want to help pay for my housing and tuition with Prepaid. However, I come back to my initial post being that I'm trying to be independent so I don't have to report back to them whenever they please. I would like to have my own social life in college and not one that is similar to that of my controlled high school state.\n\n**EDIT 2** People seem to assume I'm *this* ethnicity or that I'm a girl. I'm a 6'4" white guy. Their control isn't in the intention of me being kidnapped or sexually assaulted."
  Self: "Will the scholarship allow you to wait?  What do you think about taking a year off to work, save, and pick a focus for school? \nI've had friends that did this, and I believe I would have benefited from the same advice.  "
  