<p>" A good rule of thumb is to take on no more debt than you expect to earn your first year out of college"</p>
<p>This could be true, but I think this op has shown himself to be a bit too optimistic, and might overestimate this number. Plus, who knows, even in cs, if the job he has in mind will be waiting for him in four years? I think its worth being sceptical of this “rule of thumb” given the current economy.</p>
<p>“The more of these sad threads I read the more I am convinced that financial literacy must be mandatory to graduate high school.”</p>
<p>Meaning what…the OP had better learn all about financial aid before he comes to cc to ask a question and get a smackdown from the adults?</p>
<p>I don’t think he is getting a smack down. Posters are trying to help him! And they wish him well. It is clear he should have received practical guidance before he applied anywhere.</p>
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<p>I know. It’s funny. Maybe because I went to Penn State but “OSU” to me only means Ohio State.</p>
<p>The people who live in Oregon or Oklahoma might not agree. ;-)</p>
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<p>Meaning that if you are even asking about loans in the amount that OP is looking for then you have a financial literacy problem. I would say parents should be teaching this but I see every day that most parents don’t have a clue. We need to teach this in High School and make it a graduation requirement.</p>
<p>We’re trying to keep the OP from making a huge financial mistake that will ruin their life. Tough love.</p>
<p>Read this Snowdog: <a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/college/story/2012-01-12/private-student-loans-relief/52520848/1[/url]”>http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/college/story/2012-01-12/private-student-loans-relief/52520848/1</a></p>
<p>This thread made me sad. My kids are right in the boat next to this young man and the only difference is we only allowed them to apply to schools that would give merit and/or talent monies, which took many schools off the list like Carnegie Mellon, Nothwestern, and the Ivies which they would have qualified for academically. When you are a two income family trying to provide for your own retirement so you don’t burden your children, deal with unexpected medical bills and chronic illness, help your children with college, financially help out ailing parents when they call, and pay 42% of your income in Federal and State taxes…the net you are left with can be far less than you would think. </p>
<p>I often laugh that we have far less disposable income now then we did when fresh out of college earning a combined 60K and owing 20K in student loans. We have never lived frivolous lives, gone on extravagent vacations, driven expensive cars, and I still clip coupons. My S saved up enough money from the time he was small to pay for his first two years of college in full along with merit scholarships. Now he’s back at CC because he can’t afford to finish at his current school and is hoping to transfer to a less expensive one. My D didn’t have the same opportunities for earning that he did so her hole is already deeped.</p>
<p>There is nothing “free” for those of us in this place who don’t have disposable income or wealthy parents or grandparents to help out with college expenses so we have to hope we have kids that WANT to go to CC prior to university (not really where the 4.5 GPA GATE Honor students want to end up in all reality after years of hard work) or highly motivated kids that can get merit monies; highly talented kids that can get artistic monies; or kids that can get sports scholarships. Consider this a reality. My H and I lived it when we were students and unfortunately our kids live it now, so we’ll deal with it.</p>
<p>There is nothing “free” for those of us in this place who don’t have disposable income or wealthy parents or grandparents to help out with college expenses so we have to hope we have kids that WANT to go to CC prior to university (not really where the 4.5 GPA GATE Honor students want to end up in all reality after years of hard work)</p>
<p>Those kids who are doing so well in high school have a lot of options.
Usually they have taken AP classes in high school and score well on AP tests.
State universities often allow students to place out of classes by using AP scores. This saves money.
Honor colleges within the state universities are available for top students.
CCs are also good choices for students who are motivated but have few other options financially.</p>
<p>Attending the first two years of college at a CC then finishing up at Oberlin or UChicago or a flagship sure beats what students who get themselves over their head financially are in for- Attending a top name school and then finishing up at a no name but affordable school but still owing money for their expensive private school.</p>
<p>Would UChicago take transfer credit from a cc? Doubt it. </p>
<p>Not to belittle your point, because there are options, like emerald kitty said. My own kid will have an AA when she gets her high school diploma.</p>
<p>But it IS hard to see one’s friends go off to cool private schools, and realize that you can’t get there no matter how hard you try. I know no one is crying for the kids in these instances, nor should they, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt badly. It happened to me, and it will happen to my children as well.</p>
<p>*Would UChicago take transfer credit from a cc? Doubt it. *</p>
<p>Actually they have- the two schools I mentioned are where two of my Ds friends earned their degrees after transferring with two years of credits from CCs.
I wouldn’t have just picked two names out of the air.
;)</p>
<p>emeraldkity4 you are 100% correct! I came from a middle-class (40K/yr), single income family, and there was no financial aid available to me even back then, 1986. So, though I was 12/468 in my class, GATE, Honors, AP, a Varsity athlete and the first in my family to attend college, I still couldn’t get any help from the schools to which I applied which were all public state schools, so I grudgingly went to CC. I was devastated that I had worked so hard to end up there. That being said, I got a wonderful education there and I was very successful and it gave me time to grow into an adult and really figure out what I wanted to pursue. </p>
<p>My S had enough AP credits to make him technically a sophomore when he entered college, but even the best laid educational paths don’t always end up where you think they will. He got the highest scholarship offer of his entire graduating class, but those offers come with GPA maintenance requirements and unfortunately, he suffered a long illness in his 3rd semester and it all disappeared and excuses don’t matter. We could have never predicted it, nor can we change it. It will now take him 6 years to complete college if he can get the classes he needs every semester which is almost like winning the lottery!</p>
<p>My D is also a scholar and an athlete, performer and yes, fortunately, she is receiving merit awards primarily from school’s outside our state and she specifically chose those schools for that reason. She will use her AP credits to offset general ed so she can double major or minor. She has applied to all Honors Programs within her colleges. I can’t complain at all. The idea is for each to graduate with as little debt as possible because we are the parents and we know how hard it really is to pay it all off.</p>