Is the debt worth it? Advice.

Paying for College
1

Here is my situation. I will try to keep it as short and to the point as possible. I live in South Carolina and have been accepted to 3/3 colleges I applied to: University of South Carolina, University of Tennessee (Knoxville) , and Middle Tennessee State University.

USC seems the obvious choice because it is in state and I get money from the state lottery (a little over $4,000 with a $500 book allowance per year. However, they do not have the major I want, which is Speech Pathology, or even a major that would meet the prerequisites I need to get into the graduate program at my dream schools, UT and Vanderbilt. There is only one public school in my state that offers the Speech Pathology major, SC State University, a historically black college with 3,000 students and a bad reputation with the state of SC because of their debt. The state is considering closing it down/making big changes, so attending that school is out of the question. The only college of the 3 I applied to that has the SP major is MTSU.

Now here is my problem: I would have to pay out-of-state tuition. Granted, before moving to SC, I lived in this town for 9 years and know many people there, so it’s not as if I’m moving to an unknown town and my grandmother lives about 10 minutes from the campus. She would allow me to stay with her at no cost; this decreases the tuition greatly, but the cost is still intimidating. UT is pretty much out of the question as well because there is no way I can afford out-of-state tuition there for more than one year. I have considered attending technical school for a year to get the basic classes out of the way and save money and then transferring to MTSU, but there is one major related class that is supposed to be taken the spring semester of Freshman year. It is also a prerequisite for some of the sophomore year classes I would be taking, so if I miss it, I will fall behind.

What do you guys suggest I do? Is paying out-of-state (excluding room and board and food) worth it to get the major that I want? The way I see it, the ends justify the means. I will be getting a good degree and hopefully a very well paying job that will help to pay off any debt I incur during my four years of undergrad school. I don’t want to get a degree in something I care nothing for just because I wanted to save money and play it safe and end up with a job I do not enjoy for the rest of my life. I have applied for FAFSA and am waiting for the aid packages from each school. We are not expecting much. Our EFC is $21,000, which is ridiculous. I have a brother who will be starting college within two years and my dad is the only one working in our house of four. He cannot afford to help me as much as he would like, and that is understandable. I’m hoping for subsidized loans and work study and maybe some merit scholarships, though I doubt any of these will make enough of a difference.

Advice is greatly appreciated.

Side note: The Speech Pathology graduate program can be completed in two years or less if you have the prerequisites upon entry into the program. UT’s grad program allows you to take those prerequisites if you do not have them, but you will graduate much later. A major in speech pathology at MTSU meets all the prerequisites for UT’s graduate program. No major at USC does.

Thank you!

2

Is there another school in South Carolina that offers your major? Is there a school in the southern exchange (don’t remember the exact name, but if your state doesn’t offer a major you can get cheaper tuition at another state’s school)?

Don’t take on a lot of debt thinking that you are going to pay it back easily after you get a master’s. That’s a long time from when you start out this fall, and no guarantees. Student loans are a bear, and 5-6-7 years of them is a lot to repay. You won’t get much from other state’s schools usually. They won’t care that your brother wants to go to college until he actually does start college, then your EFC will be about half.

Talk to people at USC. See what they suggest for a major to get you where you need to be (masters program). Maybe there is a major that can be tweaked to meet your needs. Maybe they’d suggest you go for 2-3 years and then jump to a school for your last year of undergrad plus masters combined program. I know a lot of people who feel the state school doesn’t offer what they are looking for, but then find out it does. One was convinced UGA didn’t have engineering. Really? Oh, not only did it have engineering, it had the exact program she was looking for in robotics.

3

If your FAFSA EFC is 21,000 then I don’t think you qualify for sub loans. You the student can take unsub for:

freshman 5,500
sophomore 6,500
jr 7,500
sr 7,500

You don’t qualify for Pell Grant, so loan is all you will get federally. (You don’t apply for FAFSA, FAFSA is the application.) Any other aid will have to come from the college.

Sorry I don’t know anything about that major to comment.

4

twoinanddone there is no other school in South Carolina that offers my major. I have been in contact with the Academic Common Market and am looking at a major in Special Education or Linguistics at UT that would get me in state tuition while also meeting a few of the prerequisite classes I would need for graduate school, but the reality is that a special education or linguistics major is not something I would be able to do much with if I didn’t get into graduate school, which is a real possibility. And even if I get in-state at UT, I won’t be able to afford it.

I am also in contact with USC concerning a major that will help me get into grad school for speech pathology, but have not received a response yet. I have also contacted the chair of department at the UT Heath Science Center, asking her opinion on what would be a good major to get into the graduate program and have not heard from her yet, either. Considering the lottery money I would be getting annually from the state of SC plus any FAFSA money, I will be able to pay for my first year at USC in full. After that, I will have to start taking out loans to pay my way. The same goes for MTSU. Their out of state tuition (excluding room and board considering I will be living with family) is about the same as USC in-state. The reality is that no matter where I go, I will most likely end up in some form of debt.

I am trying to stay positive and consider all of my options but as summer gets closer and closer, the whole situation is starting to get very stressful. Thank you for your input. It is greatly appreciated :slight_smile:

5

I have discussed the possibility of unsubsidized loans with my parents and they don’t believe it is a good idea. I really don’t see what other options I have but to take the loans if that’s all I get from FAFSA, however.

6

Looking down the road, once you start school, get to know your department chairman, professors, etc. Then let them know you are looking to earn $ for school. They are aware if an office needs student help, where they can be the front desk person and work small jobs but can fit in some study time. These could help alleviate some of the costs. Better than taking on debt.

7

Look over the residency requirements. There are a quite a number of exceptions for OOS students to get instate tuition. Maybe you will meet one., see page 2. I don’t know if you want to consider moving in with your relative and working until you attain residency.

http://www.state.tn.us/sos/rules/0240/0240-02/0240-02-02.pdf

8

The questions on finances that should be considered:

How much debt will you have at each school by the time you graduate?

What kind of pay levels would you be looking at when working after graduation?

Can the debt be paid down in a reasonable time at the pay levels you may find after graduation?

9

Also, how SURE are you that you will stick with THIS major & occupational goal. Many students switch majors and goals from when they are 17 or 18 until they finally get their degrees. Have you done some shadowing and internships to be SURE that speech is your field?

10

You can only borrow $5500 . You seem to think that you can borrow as much as you need. thankfully you can’t

You should NOT borrow more than $30k TOTAL for undergrad ($30k for all four years total!). That’s not enough to do what you want to do. I doubt that your parents are going to co-sign other loans, so you need to find another solution for undergrad…

Speech Pathology isn’t really an undergrad major. There must be another way to do this.

The exchange program isn’t going to work for you since that HBCU is a state univ in SC. For the exchange program to work, there can be NO state program in your state. That HBCU counts!!!

To get into USouth Carolina’s masters program, a specific undergrad degree isn’t needed…just the prereqs are needed.

Master’s Degree Program in Speech-Language Pathology

Prerequisite Coursework
All applicants to the graduate programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders must have completed college-level coursework in the each following: 1) a human biological science (not marine biology, etc.), 2) a social/behavioral science (e.g. psychology), 3) Physics or Chemistry, and 4) statistics. These must be stand alone courses, and not simply material that is part of a course covering a broad range of topics. Our department does not consider a course whose content is limited to the anatomy and physiology of the speech, language, and hearing systems (as taught in a CSD program) as meeting the biology requirement. Similarly, a course in “speech science” taught in a CSD program is not a satisfactory substitute for a course in physics. All four requirements must be met prior to enrolling in our graduate program. Under no circumstances will an applicant, even if admitted, be permitted to enroll in graduate courses if any of these prerequisite courses has not been completed.

So, why can’t you go to USC, choose a major that will incorporate THOSE prereqs and then apply for the masters program?

11

b** Forget about your “dream” school and focus on your affordable school. If the grad program you want is available in your home state, that’s the one you should be focusing on.

It makes no sense to incur substantial debt as an undergrad in order to get into a grad program that may or may not still interest you in four years, and that may or may not admit you at that time even if it does still interest you! And there are dozens of people on this forum who can tell you, from personal experience, that doing well in a less prestigious grad school served them very well after they graduated. In the vast majority of fields, it’s your performance, and not the name of the school, that’s going to make the difference.

b** Stop thinking about your undergrad degree as a four-year program. You have many more options if you think of it as a “2 + 2” program. For example: two years at the most affordable in-state program, followed by two years at MTSU, if you still want to go there. Since SCSU has the major you want, and, as of today, is still in operation, you may want to consider that also, if it’s not too late to apply. If and when it closes, you can transfer to USC (or elsewhere).

12

“Prerequisite Coursework
All applicants to the graduate programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders must have completed college-level coursework in the each following: 1) a human biological science (not marine biology, etc.), 2) a social/behavioral science (e.g. psychology), 3) Physics or Chemistry, and 4) statistics. These must be stand alone courses, and not simply material that is part of a course covering a broad range of topics”

Major in psychology and make sure you’ve taken these pre-req’s. Do very well in these classes at the least expensive option you’ve got on the table.

In my region, the speech Master’s programs are extremely competitive. So you need good grades, some internship/shadowing experience to show you are serious.

You may decide NOT to do speech- I know a lot of young people in OT, Clinical Psych, educational counseling, Physician Assistant grad programs, many of whom thought they wanted speech. So don’t take on a boatload of debt now for a career you may abandon in three years for something you find more interesting. The person I know who just finished the PA program had some fantastic job offers to choose from… good career, a lot of flexibility in terms of the clinical settings, etc.

good luck to you.

13

Samu. I AM a speech pathologist. While it is possible to complete the course requirements in less than two years, it is almost never possible to complete the clinical hours in that time frame these days. Plus, the prerequisite courses you are talking about are those which will gain you admission to the program, not those which will actually apply to your masters. For example, even though I took several undergrad language courses, I was still required to take two on the graduate level, one being a seminar, plus do a certain number of practicum hours in that area on the fpgrad level.

Plan to be there for two years…and it can be a happy surprise if you can graduate earlier.

You do NOT need to be a speech pathology undergrad to apply to, and gain admission to speech pathology grad school. You need the prerequisite undergrad courses, excellent LORs, and outstanding grades. Some schools also look at your GRE scores.

You can PM me for more information.

14

I think you need to look deeper into prerequisites. I’m guessing you don’t want to stay in SC for your masters but USC does have a graduate program in Speech Pathology and my daughter had the correct prerequisites for it as a history major at another school since she took additional science and psych to meet requirements of masters in teaching elementary school. She decide to go with education but had the coursework required since she took the necessary additional sciences as electives. As Thumper noted sometimes the requirements are specifically on graduate level - D took developmental psych as UG but has to take it again in grad school.

I would think you could major in Public Health, Psychology, etc at USC and then go on to any grad program. Just be mindful of the prerequisites needed to get in the grad programs of your dream and take them as electives if not required by your major. I’m pretty sure this is a field where you need a masters, which means what you call your undergraduate degree doesn’t matter, so don’t get hung up on USC not having an undergraduate major in speech pathologoy. Go where you can afford although honestly I’d bridge from Midlands Tech to USC before I’d go to SCSU. I feel the state will find a way to save it, but it will be at the price of deep cuts - and that might mean some departments. Big unknown. Midlands Tech for a year would basically be free with LIFE scholarship and you know up front what courses will transfer to USC.

15

Is it possible to cobble together a speech pathology major through the interdisciplinary studies program? Would they let you take master’s level classes if you did that? It’s very odd that USC offers a graduate program in speech pathology but not an undergrad program.

16

^^It’s not odd because speech pathology is a master’s level program. A university with a law school doesn’t offer an undergrad in ‘law studies’ because the student couldn’t use such a degree to practice law without getting the grad degree. I’m sure there are plenty of students at UNC who will go on to the speech pathology masters from other majors.

17

Not sure how this works exactly, but a friend’s daughter is going to in South Carolina. They live in MD, but they get some deal because her major is not offered at any of the public universities in MD.

18

It is NOT odd that a school doesn’t offer an undergrad degree in speech pathology. If one wants to be a speech pathologist, they need at least a MASTERS in the field…undergrad doesn’t matter, except for taking the prerequisite courses for admission to a grad program.

An undergrad student doesn’t need to cobble anything together. They can major in any field and take the prerequisite courses for admission to a speech grad program. Many come from psychology, early childhood, special education, but in my masters class, we had music majors, biology major, chem major, and a PE major.

In terms of masters Speech study…you must be an accepted masters student in the speech pathology program to take the courses…no exceptions.

19

Go to the affordable school. Get a great undergrad degree, ideally one with which you could make a living if you either don’t get in to the MS speech pathology program or simply change your mind. Would a nursing undergrad (RN) degree be interesting to you, as it is certainly useful? Seems like it could be a very marketable degree, and it looks like you could easily get your prereqs done through a nursing undergrad . . . Then, you’ve got a great degree with which to earn some serious money if you don’t end up doing the MS . . . and meanwhile, I would think a nursing background would be a great strength in the field, too.

If you really, really want to go to the OOS school, consider going ahead and moving in with Grandma as soon as you graduate high school, establish residency immediately, and either work FT or get some basic courses done at a cheap community college . . . just be sure to get your residency ducks in a row! Then, once you have your residency established, go FT to your desired school.

Also, be aware, that as soon as you get your undergrad degree, the Financial Aid magic calculators will consider you independent of your parents, so you’ll be much more eligible for aid and loans for your graduate program.

20

In the very vast majority of cases, this will NOT NOT NOT work. You can’t just establish residency just because you live with grandma and support yourself. In the very vast majority of cases, the residency for undergrads is the state in which their parents reside. Some soecific colleges have easier residency requirements…but usually these are for community colleges, or directional universities, not the state flagships.

In any event, make NO assumptions. Check the college requirements for establishing residency. Check them again and again.

And remember too…in the vast majority of cases, residency must be established by moving to the state twelve months at least BEFORE you enroll in college.

Honestly, assuming you can get instate residency status by living with grandma is likely a very faulty assumption.