I'm Stuck

Paying for College
1

To start this off, I must admit I don’t really have a clue how I should approach my upcoming years. I am about to graduate from a community college in Maryland (College of southern Maryland) with an associate’s degree in computer science with a GPA of 3.9 (It is SLIGHTLY lower). I wish to pursue a bachelor’s degree in computer science, so I am looking at transferring somewhere.

There is some internal conflict that I am having. I feel like the classes I took at my CC for computer science were mediocre as they were all online based. I passed them all with A’s with some effort. When it comes to transferring to another school; I feel like if I can be exempted from some beginning CS courses, I will be missing out on some important knowledge/fundamentals. I just have this feeling that these upper schools provide much better ‘building blocks’ when starting out compared to what my CC provided. This feeling could just be from anxiety, or some sort of perfectionism, overall just emotional based. I want to do my best, and have the best from a structured intuition. Ultimately, I want to have an impact on the world somehow, and attaining and using knowledge seems like the approach for me.

Seeing as I did well in my CC and had a decent GPA, I thought about going to UMD. I talked to an advisor and they said I had the highest GPA yet, and I had a good chance of getting in w/ a scholarship. They do not accept CS transfer credits, so I could potentially test out of some classes but this goes back to my ‘emotional conflict state’. I did not get the TAES scholarship (somehow), but I did get accepted into the school as of this week. As of no credits transferring for CS, and not hoping on the chance of, and not really wanting to, getting exempted from a few classes, I am looking at being 100k in debt at least (from the information I can gather).

Being 100k in debt is really not ideal, even for a great school I’d wish to go to. My immediate reaction is look into the next best thing. The other schools I’ve looked at include UMBC and Towson, but their costs are all around the same. I’m not sure about transferring credits there yet; I’m going to call soon. Regardless, if they won’t accept credit transfer it will be the same costs, and if they do it’s still expensive (and also the fact if I can get exempted from a few classes, It’s back to my problem of wanting to have the best knowledge from the ground up from a nice school and not my CC).
Further, I can attend ‘lesser schools’ while not attain so much debt from the costs (there’s the probability about living at home due to them being closer too). I still have that gut feeling that I want to learn from somewhere amazing, and not somewhere in the gutters (I’m not trying to put down any schools; I’m just trying to really emphasis and express what I mean).

So ultimately, I don’t know what to do. I can attend an amazing school for the costs of an enormous amount of debt, which might not be the appropriate thing to do. Or, I can go to a ‘lesser’ school that have a lacking CS program compared to UMD, etc. I guess I’m ranting and just looking for any sort of advice for a broke college transfer student.

2

You can only borrow $7500/year as a junior and senior. How much can your parents pay per year?

3

What is your EFC? Why didn’t you qualify for any financial aid?

4

I’m about to apply for financial aid to see how that goes. My parents had supported me through my community college, and the plan was for me to take a student loan out for when I transfer. They never mentioned about paying anything else, because they already supported me through CC.
This may be a rather stupid question, but how much could one even expect from finanical aid? Would it even make a dent into 100k debt?

5

There’s no one answer to that question. Your financial aid is specific to you and your family’s resources. Your parents’ income will still be counted (even if they aren’t giving you money) until you reach age 24.

You need to go through the financial aid process (hopefully you haven’t missed any deadlines) and see where you end up.

6

Honestly, they are going to tell me to borrow money from my parents, same thing happened to my brother. I’m too poor to go to college but too rich to get finanical aid. My parents won’t be contributing much, as I said, they already supported me through CC, and on top of that they are moving, etc.

7

“Being 100k in debt is really not ideal,”

Yes. 100K is a lot of debt, and would require a parent to co-sign. I would only consider a debt of this size if it were for a degree that is almost certain to come with a good job, and if I were VERY confident that I would be able to graduate on time. Fortunately, computer science is one of the few degrees where jobs are very available, and your GPA for CC is really good, and two years at CC probably should very significantly increase your confidence that you know what you want to do. Less debt would be a lot better.

IMHO you should carefully check how large the total debt will be. For example, can you get some credit (even for classes outside of your major) that would shorten the number of semesters that you would need to be in university? Can your parents help some? If you can cut the total debt in half this would be a huge win.

“I feel like if I can be exempted from some beginning CS courses, I will be missing out on some important knowledge/fundamentals.”

At some point, probably right after getting accepted to a university and finding out what your financial aid offer will be, you should try to talk to a professor in CS at the university and discuss what you know, and what classes you should be taking.

“I talked to an advisor and they said I had the highest GPA yet, and I had a good chance of getting in w/ a scholarship.”

The way that universities assign financial aid is a huge mystery to me. However, in some cases scholarships can be quite significant. I think that you will need to wait and see what they come up with. Hopefully this will allow you to go to UMD with a debt that is reduced to a much more manageable level. Good luck and best wishes!

8

Wait, can you still take CC classes for gen ed credit that is transferable to UMD (either of them)? Apply for fin aid, and if you can finish a degree in 2 years, that would be ideal.

9

The only classes at UMD I would have to take are the computer science classes ( as my cs credits don’t transfer to UMD), some technical writing class, and a statistics class. All other classes I have taken and passed already.I met with an adviser and received paperwork. It would take me four years to receive my bachelors, it could be shortened if I am able to take a few exams to be exempted from some beginning classes (if I’m lucky, as my CC for cs courses were pretty mediocre/bad, honestly) . This also goes back to me also wanting to make sure I what I learned already is actually solid (seeing as the CC CS courses were online bullcrap), opposed to a UMD lecture,etc. Maybe I’m crazy. Regardless, it would still be high up there in the debt.

10

You need to do the FAFSA and find out your EFC.

11

Will you lose instate status if parents move before you apply/enroll?

Ask your parents if they’ll cosign? They may not realize that they’d need to do that.

Why would you need to borrow 100k for TWO years at an instate school??

12

Huh? If you only have your CS classes and some writing classes and stats, why would it take you 4 years? Are you planning to go part-time and work?

How many credit hours total would you need for a degree?

13

Don’t transfer until you’ve taken all the GE courses so that you’ll be a junior when you graduate. If you can, take some UM CS classes over the summer…or take some CS classes at a nearby univ.

14

https://www.sfs.opm.gov/default.aspx

https://www.sfs.opm.gov/contactspi.aspx

UMBC is on the list of participating institutions, ask how to apply to the Cyber Corps Scholarship for Service program, if you are accepted.

15

UMD is less than $30k a year all in so why would 2 years cost $100k? Do the financial aid form. I’m surprised you won’t get any aid from the school, with your GPA.

16

There’s one easy way to find out if your preparation is solid- put together a resume and start applying for programming or CS related jobs in your area. The “marketplace” is going to quickly tell you if you’ve learned anything.

17

For those insisting that it is two years, I feel like you didn’t read my post, missed the point, or I constructed my argument poorly due to me mainly ranting.

For the computer science program, they do NOT accept computer science credits from other schools. This means I would have to do their computer science program from the very beginning. Yes, I completed the other requisites, such as GE classes, (math,physics,soc,psyc,eng,etc,etc…), I have an associates in computer science from my CC. To complete their entire cs program from the beginning (to reiterate, MY CS CREDITS DON’T TRANSFER), it would take four semesters (I even talked to an UMD transfer adviser!), this is for my bachelors. The only way to shorten this is to take exemption exams, which is my other point. My CS classes were online based, and were rather lacking. So I have the possibility to pass these exams (need 80% or higher), with my lackluster fundamentals that my CS classes provided at my CC compared to what UMD would consider. This results in me at a maximum of having to pay 100k, this is probably the likely outcome.

Yes, I can get a loan with my parents co signing. That is not the issue, the issue is the high probability of me having 100k debt. No, I did not get a scholarship. No financial aid won’t help -> I am twenty one, I will be expected to borrow money from my ‘successful parents’, who can’t support me any further (Same thing happened to my older sibling). I’m not going to rely on the chances of me passing those exemption exams (although it would be great). So I guess the ultimate question is, 100k debt worth their CS program at UMD? Or go to a shitty school with substantially less debt.

On a side note, if it is indeed the case of having to spend four semesters there, I would probably minor in cyber security to further make it worth my time.

18

In general, 100K of debt is too much. But you’re not helping us try to understand or reduce your costs.

What is your EFC? The FAFSA fof this fall has been open since October. Fill it out already. Even if you don’t qualify for aid, it allows you to take the federal student loan. Even if you need a private loan on top of that, the federal loan is a good deal that you shouldn’t pass up.
What is the alternative school and how much will that cost?
What is your in-state tuition status going to be since your parents are apparently moving?

19

“To complete their entire cs program from the beginning (to reiterate, MY CS CREDITS DON’T TRANSFER), it would take four semesters (I even talked to an UMD transfer adviser!), this is for my bachelors.”

Um, 4 semesters is 2 years.

20

If this college won’t accept your credits and you can’t afford to attend for 7 semesters then you need to choose a new school. Taking on $100k of debt isn’t affordable. Where else did you apply? Did you check with your cc transfer counselor to see what schools accept your credits?