Am A Student Loan Virgin - Help Needed

Paying for College
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<p>calmom: Thank you for your thoughtful responses about loans and interest, which are very helpful. If you know me at all, you know I hate hate hate loans, but the cold hard reality is that I can either have daughter stay at home and do a gap year, or she and I can try to pare down the loans to a reasonable amount. Since it’s unlikely that even after a gap year she will be able to get anything like my son’s full ride, I don’t know that gapping will help that much. </p>

<p>What’s really great is that because she has always been the one of my children who had to work <em>hard</em> for everything, she has already just rolled up her sleeves and started closing the loan gap. It amazes me how much work she’s willing to put into squeezing every last possible penny out of every possible source she has. I think my parent loan burden will be closer to 8K than 16K by the end of the summer, just from our various efforts to whittle it down.</p>

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<p>1sttimemom</p>

<p>OK…I would sit your D down and have a hard facts talk with her…</p>

<p>you are right that she shouldn’t only major in theater, but the choice of having journalism as the primary major is not a good one.</p>

<p>What else is she good at? What else could she major in? Perhaps it’s not necessary for her to know right now…she may discover her primary major once she’s at FSU (and yes, she should go to FSU, not GWU). </p>

<p>What line of work do YOU see her doing?</p>

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<p>Tell her she can major in theater as long as she gets mad computer skills on the side. I don’t care how she does it. Take classes in Ruby on Rails, for example (Google it!). She doesn’t have to be a computer science major, she just has to cultivate a geeky side. Why? Because you can make more money doing entry level tech support or QA jobs than you can waiting tables. Even if you’re just temping, skills like “Linux kernel building” and “Cocoa programming” get you the gigs that pay more than receptionist. </p>

<p>Journalism is dead/dying, at least the way it’s being taught in many schools. Tech skills are the way to go, if you ask me. I’m a little biased, since I’m a theologian and religious studies major, but I tend to work in “soft tech” – being the person with the people skills in the pool of techies at startups. There are great opportunities for women who have an eclectic set of tech and interpersonal skills, and there will continue to be opportunities into the future, as long as one stays flexible and current with skills.</p>

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<p>thoughtful responses - thank you. </p>

<p>had a sit-down with my parents last night - reading the “money matrix” of the schools to which she’s been accepted. not that they’re financial players in my D’s college picture, but they are my “iwise counsel” and their input matters to me. it was a nice talk and they gave me a few other things to think about. </p>

<p>three schools seem to be in the running -
FSU (10,300/yr in loans for a BA in English - Editing Writing and Media and a minor in - maybe Advertising?),
Rollins (12,100/yr in loans most likely for a dual degree - BA in English - Writing concentration and BA in Theatre Arts), and
GWU (12,675/yr in loans - if she gets the cheapest housing available… possibly 15,200 if not for a BA in Political Communications and a minor in Theatre - Acting). </p>

<p>One thought that surfaced around the table was that the cost differentials are pretty neglibible (although they’re less so when you multiply by 4), but the educational/living differences are significant. so that’s something to think about i guess. </p>

<p>what do I see her doing?<br>
good question - whatever it is, it’s going to center around her skills: language/expression & analysis, writing, speaking, etc. i think she’s a storyteller - from analysis, to writing, to expression - she’s always been attracted to the telling of compelling stories. </p>

<p>i thought maybe advertising might capture her interest if she were to be exposed to it.</p>

<p>what else (besides academics) do I want for her?

  • to go away and learn about herself in a new place that’s not familiar or certian
  • to explore and gain knowledge and find out what she wants to do & who she wants to be
  • to stretch her wings</p>

<p>i’m afraid she’s hoplessly untech-ish… competent, but completely disinterested. though the happenings in digital media are of interest to her and i’m pleased to see that there are production requirements within the journalism degrees.</p>

<p>oh - and, thanks to your answers on this thread - i added a new column to my matrix - “amount of monthly payments for 10 years”. verrrrry interesting perspective. thank you.</p>