Consider finances first when looking for a college

College Search & Selection
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There are so many of these stories that periodically come out. It’s enough that I think it’s important for students and parents to stop and really think about finances at the beginning of a search. If you can’t easily afford 250K +/- without raiding retirement or mortgaging your house, consider your options.

Some colleges are good with merit aid - others don’t give it at all.

Some colleges are good with need based aid - others aren’t.

What parents/kids feel they should get for merit/need based aid isn’t necessarily what the college thinks they should get.

Read threads, ask questions, run NPC’s at colleges and know what your EFC is along with knowing a college doesn’t have to get their cost down to your EFC.

A good college for a student doesn’t have to be the most expensive one.

High debt is rarely a good investment.

In the following, had the student made different choices (that could have still included college), their financial life would likely be totally different today.

As my dad said, “Learn from other people’s mistakes. Life is too short to make them all yourself.”

I am 32 and got my associates degree in occupational therapy. I owe $25,000 in federal student loans, and $60,000 in private loans with high interest — despite having my mom as a co-signer. I went to a great college: It was private and costly, but I have learning challenges they were able to accommodate. But I will never forget back in the beginning of 2018, my professors told me that by the time my classmates and I graduated, we would likely struggle to get jobs because of changes in the profession. Well, they were right. And of course after I took out these huge loans, it was too late to fix it.

…

I feel like I will never be able to afford my payments, even if I find higher-paying work. I feel like I have a useless degree at this point. I would give anything to go back and not go to college at all. It wasn’t worth it.

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$85k debt for an associates degree in a field where the entry-level professional degree is a master’s degree?

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Another reason to do research ahead of time before opting into high debt.

It’s really easy for humans to put rose colored glasses on assuming what they think is real will happen - even when people are urging caution as was happening in this case with the prof’s warning.

Kids/parents at the “searching and selecting” stage need to start with looking at reality if they don’t have ample funds available for college.

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Wise words. I got a bachelors and a masters with average debt from an in-state university. I started the masters a bit late, but it’s been a rough ride to pay back early in my career. A bachelors/masters will cost $50k in loans. Add an educated spouse and you could have $75k or even $100k in loans if she’s super smart.

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Occupational therapy assistants are getting phased out and her school should be ashamed of itself for still offering the program if that region is saturated. She could move and find a decent paying job in her field, there’s a lot of underserved areas in the US for healthcare but it’s usually for a good reason. Very rural, far from your connections and the state doesn’t have good funding for Medicaid. My community college had the program when I was looking for a major but I chose respiratory therapy instead. My entire 3 years cost about $6,000 with me commuting back in the late ‘90’s. Even today one could still cover it with just the federal loans and a part time job if you lived at home. Her school sounds like a for profit scam.

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