CSULB or USC?

Paying for College
1

<p>Before you guys go, "Oh PUHleaze, USC obviously." I'm probably not eligible for ANY need-based financial aid at USC. 100k AGI and more than 1 mil in real estate assets-- pfft, yeah right. I have a younger sister and my parents are nearing retirement age as well.</p>

<p>I have been accepted to both of the art departments at USC and CSULB. In USC, I'm in Roski School of Fine Arts, and for CSULB, I'm in for Illustration/Animation. CSULB's more relevant to my career goals, but Roski's got the name of USC behind it and I can take classes from different schools and majors, which takes care of that bit.</p>

<p>Networking in USC is way better than at CSULB, and it's just a better school overall. It'll probably be easier for me to find a job if I graduated from USC instead of CSULB. But USC is just waaay too expensive. </p>

<p>My parents want me to go to USC, but I'm just not sure. I don't want them to strain themselves trying to give me money that they need for retirement. But I also don't want to take out over 100k in loans, especially for an unstable career choice like mine.</p>

<p>Which would you pick if you were in my position? I kinda just want another person's perspective.</p>

<p>tl;dr Pretty much all I'm asking is if I should risk the 100k+ debt and go to USC or play it safe and go to CSULB.</p>

2

<p>But I also don’t want to take out over 100k in loans, especially for an unstable career choice like mine.</p>

<p>Taking out those loans would be a very bad idea. Frankly, your parents shouldn’t be pushing for USC unless THEY are going to pay for them. </p>

<p>Do your parents know that they would have to cosign those loans and they’d be responsible for them if/when you can’t pay them back (and with that line of work, you probably won’t be able to pay them back).</p>

3

<p>My parents are willing to do a lot to get me there, from co-signing loans to spending some of their retirement money. I’d feel terrible if I let them do something like that though.</p>