Is it worth it to go to my dream school but be in debt?

I’m from Illinois and my dream school is the University of Iowa. Per year there my tuition would be $30,000 (with scholarship) I absolutely love the school and the campus and they have a great communications and writing program, which is what I want to study. It’s the perfect distance I want from my house. The dorms are great and everything about the school I absolutely love. The only problem is how much it costs. I would not receive any help from my parents, and I would have to pay it all off myself. Is it worth it to attend, but be in debt?

  1. That is way too much debt.

  2. You can’t get into that kind of debt anyway because you can’t borrow that much on your own.

What affordable options do you have?

The federal student loan is only ~$5500/year. You can’t borrow more than that on your own. Can your parents pay anything? What’s your EFC?

Cost is a precondition before even starting the application process. If you can’t afford it, there’s no debate. Scratch it off the list and move on.

“I would not receive any help from my parents, and I would have to pay it all off myself.”

You cannot pay this much. You cannot borrow enough without a cosigner, and you do not want to borrow this much regardless of whether there is a cosigner or not. It is not affordable.

Will your parents help you pay for your in-state options? You have superb in-state public universities in Illinois.

Think about grad school there.
Too much debt for UG.

So sorry. Did you run the NPC, do you qualify for any merit?

Did you look at UIUC? Max full boat is $36k in state.