<p>Hey guys. My parents were heartbroken that they weren’t able to send me to NYU but their in a ton of debt themselves because of unfortunate timing and real estate… They make a decent amount (my mom is at the top pay bracket for a NYC elementary teacher and my dad works tons of overtime so they bother just make 6 figures) but don’t have a lot. They’re also struggling to pay the interest on my older brother’s 135k loans. I mean, NYU was just not doable – I don’t even know that it’s possible to take out $200k in loans. My real EFC is around 25k (that’s what Cornell brought my sister’s price down to. NYU is notoriously stingy). My parents also didn’t save up for me and my siblings’ college – they figured anything they saved would just get taken out in financial aid, and for schools hat actually meet EFC I bet that would be true. My dad is also from Europe and people get free school there – no one saves up for college.</p>
<p>I definitely screwed up in applying (my senior year of high school) mostly to expensive private schools, generally because a lot of theater schools that are academically competitive are private, but even schools that gave me some money would’ve put me in around $100k of debt by the end of it, which isn’t a great idea for someone who wants to pursue a career in the arts. When I unexpectedly got a full scholarship, from my dad’s point of view it was the best thing that could have happened. On the other hand he doesn’t want to be the one paying back my loans when I’m working at Starbucks due to my worthless major, and on the other he doesn’t want me to be so trapped in debt that I’m unable to pursue a career I actually want.</p>
<p>Being without debt sounds <em>glorious</em> but I can’t stand it here. I won’t apply to NYU again (despite how much I love it) because it’ll just turn out the same, and even if it didn’t, my dad is now of the mindset that I can’t go into any debt – he won’t allow me to trade this deal for more debt. My mom is more allowing but still wants my debt to be minimal – no more than 20 or 30k, which still seems really impossible if I leave.</p>
<p>I’ve talked to my parents time and time again. My mom understands (she hated her first college and transferred to one that she ended up loving, as a music major). My dad went to 2-year technical school and has always worked hard. He says “college isn’t about having fun – just get your degree as fast as you can and get out.”</p>
<p>He also thinks that I’m choosing to be unhappy here, and that my attitude is the reason I have no friends and nothing to do. I didn’t have this problem in high school, but somehow I don’t know how to relate to the people here – they just don’t understand anything I do or say. I just feel so out of place here and I can’t find one person who gets me. I’m not that weird though – it shouldn’t be this hard. It wasn’t that hard in high school!</p>
<p>I didn’t want my college experience to just be 4-year purgatory until I get an increasingly worthless degree – especially while my sister is having the time of her life at Cornell. My parents try to make me feel better my telling me that my sister has to work hard at her school while I just coast with hardly any work – but I want to have work to do! Isn’t that what college is supposed to be like?</p>