Hello,
I am in the process of deciding what college I will attend. I want to attend a 4 year university that is in state but is a quasi-public school so it has a pretty high cost for being in state. My parents want me to go to Community college or a branch campus for 2 years but I am strongly opposed because I really want to move out and start to live alone, meet new people, and have more challenging classes. Basically if I went to this college I would be 75,000 in debt. My major (MIS) has a very good job look however so I feel as if it would be tough but not impossible to pay off. Please help me because I know they want me to be financially sound but I really really want to leave with a passion!
HELP!
Oh and btw I have applied for around 11 scholarships but even with them I will have a large amount of debt.
So, what’s the extra cost involved in starting at the 4-year as opposed to doing the first two at home?
So basically I will only owe 10,000 in debt if I do Community college first
And I’m pretty sure I will owe around 30-39K if I do a branch first and then transfer (I would commute to this campus)
Wow. $65,000 owing to getting out of the house? Have you considered what payments and interest on $65,000 would mean to your life after you graduate?
Unfortunately yes. I would have to cut back on a lot of things I use and do now, I would need to work over the summer and it would be hard, but even after going over this I really want to go to the main campus. Plus I would need to get a good job out of college and most of that would go to paying off debt
You may have to borrow $70,000 by yourself. Max. Federal Direct Loans for most dependent students is $31,000; for independent students (and dependent undergraduate students whose parents are unable to obtain PLUS Loans), $57,500. Any debt beyond that will require co-signers.
I don’t know…it’s one thing if you have it and want to spend it, but we’re talking about deficit spending here.
My parents told me they would co-sign but highly suggested that I look into other options to avoid it coming to this. I don’t want to put me and my parents in a bad spot financially but this is something I really want and feel like I should try to figure out.
Not sure you should share your concern over not being able to party at CC with your parents…being able to party didn’t really fill out my education as much as I thought it would.
greeninohio, obviously I am concerned about being home for reasons such as having to share a room, LOTS of what I believe to be unnecessary rules and I really want to go somewhere else at this point in my life. Partying is fun but this isn’t solely based off of it
I don’t see why it isn’t unreasonable to save money at the 2 year and then spend the last 2 years transferring to the in-state. You accumulate less debt and get to spend 2 whole years at the state school.
kgos16 It is perfectly reasonable and probably what I will end up doing, I just wanted advice on it
That amount of debt isn’t reasonable. Are you going to be making 75K right out of college?
Well, with all due respect, you are going to have to share a room at college. I can’t comment on how unnecessary your parents’ rules are, but being a successful college student will require a great deal of self-discipline. From experience, I can tell you that getting up at 7 AM to make an 8 AM lecture a mile from your dorm room is a lot harder when no one cares if you get up or not. They don’t take attendance. No one will call your mom if you don’t show.
Since you need to borrow the money anyway, it doesn’t seem like taking a gap year is going to cost you much. Why don’t you move out and live for a year on your own? If you can hold a job and pay your bills maybe you will impress your parents enough that they’ll support your dream.
I waited until I was 20 to go off to a big state school and ran out of money/quit going to class after half a year. The only saving grace for me is that I only squandered my parents’ money instead of going deep into debt to pretend I was an adult.
kgos16, I cannot guarantee what I will be making out of college so it could be 40k it could be 0$. I hope to land a job seeing as the job outlook for MIS is pretty good but then again I can’t guarantee anything.
greeninohio, This is a good point and honestly I could even try renting an apartment while going to go CC which would still increase costs but be a good balance between what I want and they need.
Does anyone else have experiences or other pieces of advice to share on this topic?
This question comes up a lot.
I suggest looking at it another way. You choice are:
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Spend 65K plus accrued interest to buy your freedom now and for the next four years. You will then spend 10 years paying for these four years. You might have to live at home to be able to afford your loan payments. You might have to turn down a great resume building job because the pay is too low. You might have to limit your job search to areas with low cost of living or within commuting distance from your parent house because of your debt load. You will have significantly less cash (if any initially) available for dates, travel, nicer housing, etc. But hey it only 10 years.
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Live at home for two years. Transfer and have greater freedom for the next 12 years. You can have a lot of fun with the money that you will save during the 10 years after graduation.
Bottom line; Fun for 4 years and stress and limitations for ten years or two years of parents and restrictions follow by 12 years of fun. Your choice.
It sounds like your options all end up graduating from the same school. If this is the case, then the above is a fair argument. You will still get out of the house in two years. You have no idea how fast those two years will go by.
Keep in mind, those private loans do not have any provision for income based repayment like the direct loans. Also, can you parent guarantee that they will qualify as co-signers for all four years? In these times, it is not always a given.
If you really want four years at the main campus, why not take a gap year, or even two, working and living at home and saving up as much as humanely possible? Maybe that would cut down on your future debt.