I’ve never used this website before so forgive me if replying here is the wrong way to do it, but I’m a student and I need advice on a big decision and I figured I could ask some parents after already asking my mom and getting her opinion. I am currently unsure if I should back out of my 4 year university before it starts and go to a community college. Now that the starting date is getting closer I am worried that it’s a mistake to go into 100K+ debt rather than going to a CC for 2 years and then university for another two which would be cheaper. I’m also being considered for a job that pays anywhere from 50-55k right out of highschool (I’m good with CAD stuff). My mother is unhappy with the thought of me not going to University and I just don’t know what to do.
In general, $100K of debt is crazy. You can only borrow $27K. So your parents are borrowing the other $73K?
They, not you, will be responsible for it.
What school, what major? Can your parents not afford the tuition?
It’s very unwise - you will owe, if a 6.5% rate, $1135 a month for ten years. That’s financial strangulation.
You have to balance family desires - but it’s most likely a huge mistake.
Good job thinking through your options! More people should do what you’re doing!
Would it be possible to follow the path you described (live at home, take CC classes for two years) and also work part-time for the CAD job? That might allow you to knock out some foundation classes, determine what you want to major in, save money on tuition, AND make money to go towards your two years at another institution. (It’s possible that that university might be an even better fit for your long-term goals than whatever school you’ve gotten into for this fall.)
There are many motivations students and parents can have for a student going to a four-year university, but that amount of debt will weigh you (or your mom) down for a long, long, long time. The 2+2 path you’re considering is a really solid one.
Did you have other more affordable options you declined? It’s accurate that you can’t take out that amount of debt yourself. Your parents would be taking the loans.
Can you take the job and take classes part time? Is the university local? You might be able to take classes part time at the university. If you do CC make sure the classes can be transferred.
That kind of debt will have a long lasting effect on finances- yours and your family. Do your parents really want to take that on? Are they motivated by relative prestige? Or the desire for you to have a traditional residential experience?
I think there will be consensus here not to assume that kind of debt.
I would take p/t classes either at the university you want to go to or at the CC, and take the job, if your can handle both. You might even be able to save enough to attend the university for 2-3 years. Though there is a danger you might stick with the job and not attend at all!
Or you could work and then reapply next year, trying for more financial or merit aid, at other schools.
You are wise to be re-considering your college plans. I would not take out that amount of debt unless you have a clear plan for how to repay it. Find out exactly what your monthly student loan payment will be upon graduation. I don’t know exactly what it would be, but for the sake of discussion, let’s assume it would be $1,200 per month, which would be $14,400 per year, AFTER taxes. What kind of job do you think you would be able to get? What would it pay? From that salary, deduct taxes and your student loan payment. How much will you have left each month to live on?
Unless you are very confident that you will have a salary upon graduation that will allow you to comfortably make those monthly loan repayments, I would strongly consider finding a more affordable way to obtain your undergraduate degree.
$100,000 in debt is a huge amount of debt.
One issue is that you cannot borrow this much by yourself. You will need to get a cosigner. The cosigner will need to be qualified to borrow this much. You do not want to get part way through university and then discover that you are not able to borrow enough money to finish.
Also, paying this back is going to be tough.
However, to give more accurate advice we would need to get more accurate information.
Why did you choose a university that is this expensive? Can you tell us what your other options were, what state you are from, what your total budget is, and what your stats looked like?
One option is to attend community college with the intention to transfer to a 4 year university. Another option is to take a gap year, work at the job that you are being considered for (if you get it), and apply to more affordable universities to start one year later.
Go to YouTube and search “Dave Ramsey student loan undergraduate.” Ramsey is a financial advisor who posts lots of videos about how to pay for college and takes calls from people struggling to pay back their student loans. Many of the people who call in deeply regret the amount of loans they took out to pay for college.
Last thought — when you are thinking about whether you will be able to make those monthly loan payments back, keep in mind that you also may have other expenses that you can’t anticipate now, such as medical expenses, childcare, mortgage. You don’t want to have such a tight monthly budget that you can’t afford other expenses that come up. That is a recipe for lots of stress!
So unless we get more information on the questions above going to a lot of Local Universites is about $25,000/year so yes $100,000.
As stated do the classes credits transfer cleaning from community college to the university your thinking about?
Whats your major? If your able to state the university that might help.
But in general, debt is bad and income is good.
Working part time and going to school could be tough also. Don’t let people tell you community college is easier. It’s not the case for many people. It can be hard for any 18 year old to start a new job and trying to navigate classes, studying, time management. But I did it and it was not easy for my first year out of high school. Working and taking classes. Most here wouldn’t let their kids work during freshman year (mine did but limited hours). Taking a gap year and saving some funds if your offered the job and you like doing this type of work could ease the situation. Maybe the work will let you work part time and still take the classes. If classes transfer easily maybe taking like 2 classes first semester and working and seeing if you can handle it. Or take a full load with the idea of dropping some before the drop deadline to test the waters… Lots of options to think about.
If your parents can cleanly pay for the college without huge loans or taking out a second mortgage then that to me is a different situation.
Please clarify.
I am not a Ramsey fan, but we do follow a strict no debt but our mortgage lifestyle. I wish we had stopped to question our choices early on like @ldbtw is doing now. I did however appreciate the Borrowed Future podcast. @ldbtw it might be worth a few hours of listening to understand how and why schools, government and banks issue these quite predatory loans.
Here is an amortization schedule link. You can fill in the loan amount, interest rate and terms to see what monthly payments will look like when you graduate. Scroll down to see the monthly details; the interest $ amounts are staggering. It will be very difficult to cary that monthly debt and do things like pay rent and also save for a house, buy a car, go on vacation, or build emergency funds.
That amount of debt can lead to using other debt (credit cards) to cover emergencies and “wants,” which helped accelerate the $986 billion dollars of credit card debt in the US.
IMO, work and go to CC, then get your BS. You could also take a gap year and save up $ as @Knowsstuff suggested. Another option could be working and letting your employer pay for your degree, or some combination of all 3 options. It may take a little longer, but it is doable. I’m speaking from experience as someone who worked 3 jobs and went to school; it’s not easy, but in the end it’s rewarding. If you choose the CC path, just make sure the CC has an agreement with a 4 yr and credits will transfer. No one will care that you started at a CC; your degree will only list the school from which you graduated.
@ldbtw I’d like to applaud you for your maturity; it takes a lot of personal insight to pause and question the status quo. Bottom line, the more debt you have, the more difficult it is to accumulate wealth. Think of it like trying to swim with an anchor tied around you; if you work really hard, you may get out of the lake, but the effort to do so will be very difficult and exhausting physically and mentally. The chances of drowning before you reach the edge are much higher.
Apropos of nothing, I haven’t logged in much lately and today I had a notification about this thread, with “11 replies” and I’m apparently watching it.
So confused…
Good luck, OP. Would be nice if you replied 
OH, I see what happened - it was split off the 2023 thread.
Nevermind!
Please DON’T go into $100k+ in debt for a bachelors degree. That’s financial suicide. First off, it’s most likely going to be over $100,000. Second, you could probably make your payments if all goes well. Unfortunately, life has this funny way on NOT complying with our plans. Go to community college, and be darn proud that you did. Then transfer to an affordable university.
Regarding the job offer…is it a job with upward mobility and a future, or is it a dead-end job? If you’re going to college, is there a plan to gain employable skills so you can overcome a “dead-end” situation in the long-run? That’s the purpose of going to college.
What State do you live in and what’s the transfer agreement like? (It can go from awful like in PA and MI to seamless like in VA or CA).
Did you have other choices than the 100K university?
What about working for a year, redoing your college list, and applying ED (Nov1) to a 4-year college that is affordable as per NPC?
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