So why didn’t she go to Simmons?
If she does have to stay where she is, perhaps the uni offers online versions of a couple of her courses, or the professors have their lectures online so she can avoid those lecture halls.
So you talk about cosigning loans now? Is that speculation or based on actual information. If you didn’t do the FAFSA how would you know what the package would be? Has she gone back to them about a similar freshman package as a transfer?
Then take an aisle seat!
Honestly, it sounds to me as if your D needs to go into counselling. I can certainly understand preferring not to be at a huge school with big classes, but this thing about touching people just sounds weird, especially for a future health care professional. @ordinarylives ’ post #73 is on point. Unless your D is experiencing the onset of mental illness, asking her to finish out the year is NOT a big deal, even if she doesn’t like the school and wants to transfer.
I would be extremely reluctant to cosign loans anywhere. I can see this developing into one of those situations where the parents are on the hook for $40K plus and the student is a drop-out with no degree in sight. 
So nursing COA is 56K per year. It looks like an amazing place but that is also an amazing amount of money. Did she get full tuition scholarship or Presidential (which looks like 20k per year)?
She’s not one for huge classes. When she came home today, I asked her what she meant by she didn’t want people touching her-she said that wasn’t what she meant, but she found it hard to focus with so many people surrounding her. Evidently, two of her professors don’t use microphones, which stresses her out because she can’t always catch what they’re saying.
What really helped me (especially in larger classes) was to sit near the front of the class so it SEEMED smaller to me and kept me alert and helped me be able to hear everything. None of my instructors used microphones and some mumbled, so I felt it was very good to sit closer and be able to hear instead of trying to guess what was said. Sorry your D is unhappy–I’m sure it’s tough.
It can be hard. I had to sit way up front in classes like that.
Personally, I think she’s being dramatic. Yes, we did really push this school on her, but there’s nothing wrong with a state school.
But was there another school that was a realistic option with scholarships?
There were a couple options that probably would’ve worked out okay after financial aid
So is it still possible for her to approach them about the same scholarship package? It is not unheard of for that to work - especially with her current record. It sounds like you did not submit the FAFSA for the alternates to know what the need based grants might have been. Did you get a complete package at any other school?
And there isn’t anything wrong with a state school, particularly when it has your program and is the right price. The question for her to answer is are there realistic alternatives that are both affordable and get her through her nursing program. People who know have pointed out some of the pitfalls of trying to transfer nursing programs or enter mid-stream at another school. The money part you don’t know until you go through all the steps of both merit and need based aid.
She’s told me that getting out of UMass is her #1 priority and if she has to change her major, she will. She’s interested in education or possibly being a school counselor if she cannot find a nursing program
Wait, she found schools she liked, and that were affordable, but because you didn’t submit the fafsa, and/or because YOU wanted this school, she is now is a situation which she finds so unbearable that she is willing to switch her major to get out of it? This sounds like a situation that you created, and she is paying the price. Just because you, personally, don’t think it is that bad a place to be, doesn’t have any bearing on how she feels about the place. I hope that you are able to hear her and work with her to get her where she needs to be, but it sounds like she is on her own. Perhaps she will find a way, on her own, to go to a more supportive environment.
This cosigning loans thing seems to be putting the cart WAY before the horse if the FAFSA was never submitted for any other schools so no real aid packages were in hand. Did you go through the calculations to see what your EFC might be?
What’s the EFC?
expected family contribution as calculated by the FAFSA - it sounds like your family might need a financial aid tutorial to understand how all the pieced can fit together to find affordable options.
Did you submit a FAFSA to UMass?
When you have a better idea of where your family situation fits into the larger equation it can be easier to narrow school options and know if you need to skew more towards merit or need based aid or both.
We did submit the fafsa to UMass. She got a $5,000 scholarship
So your FAFSA print out would tell you your EFC - do you still have it someplace? It will be different with changing circumstances and a second kid in school but it’s a good place to start.