Not even sure where to begin!

Transfer Students
1

Hi! I’m only in my second semester of community college, but I am already stressing over where I should apply when I transfer. I hope someone in this thread could help me out a little.

I want to go to a good university, but I also don’t want to run myself into debt on a needlessly expensive college.

The universities in my state (Kansas) aren’t all that great. I am willing to relocate to go to a better university. The problem is, I don’t even know where to begin, or what universities I should be aiming for.

I’m a psychology major. I may switch majors at some point, but I would still stay in some sort of science major.

I would love to go to the best university I could possibly get accepted to. I have a 4.0 GPA at the moment, and I have been invited to Phi Thetta Kappa, which I plan on accepting soon. Unfortunately, I probably wouldn’t be very active in it, for many reasons (one of which includes time conflicts), so I doubt it’d have that much of an influence on my college applications.

I dropped out of high school as a Freshman with straight Fs at the time. I don’t know if that helps me or hurts me. Helps because it shows I changed things around? Hurts because that shows how sucky I was? I know what you did in high school is very important when it comes to applying to colleges. Everything I did in high school could be summed up to “nothing”. I got my GED on my own years later, but my total score was pretty basic.

I really do not have any impressive accomplishments to my name. I don’t know how I could even begin to have some. I’m in a psychology club, and at best, I may be presenting (replicated) research at an upcoming conference, but it wouldn’t be anything impressive or noteworthy. I don’t have anything about me that stands out.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what universities I should start looking into? Or just general advice on building up “impressive” things? The only impressive thing I can think of for myself is that I have lost about 90 pounds, and should be over 100 pounds lost when I finish my AA. Maybe that would be worth noting on applications? I’m not sure?

(I would also love to be able to study abroad in South Korea for at least one semester. I wonder what colleges have such programs available? Or how that even works? I’m so clueless.)

Thank you for your help!

2

Congratulations on turning your life around. A big thing will be what is your budget? That will determine what people say.

The schools in your state may actually be better than you think. My son came to Kansas from OOS because he really likes the school. He has has a top notch education in the sciences and has been accepted to vet school in the fall. These schools will be you best option to get in to with your background and they have awesome study abroad programs where I bet you could study abroad, maybe even in South Korea, for a semester. They have a good honors college too.

Once you can give a budget I bet others may give you some OOS options. Just know in state can be pretty great too. Go talk to them about options.

3

Talk to transfer advisor at your conmunity college. There are plans for your credits to transfer.
https://www.kckcc.edu/admissions/transfer/transfer-and-articulation-agreement-policy.html
“In accordance with K.S.A. 72-4453, the governing boards of every Kansas community college and every technical school or technical college must establish transfer and articulation agreements providing for the transferability of substantially equivalent courses of study and programs in order to facilitate the articulation of students to and among institutions. (1-18-06; 1-17-07)”

University of Kansas has study abroad in South Korea.
https://studyabroad.ku.edu/semester-or-year-south-korea

4

I am relying entirely on grants and loans. I can’t pay out of pocket, but I do not really have a set limit on how many loans I am willing to take.

Thank you for your thoughts on schools in Kansas! I like your K-State avatar.

I do currently have it listed at my college that I plan on transferring to University of Kansas, and my credits are set up to transfer there, but right now I’m just trying to explore more options outside of Kansas. Thank you though!

5

Have you done FAFSA? Do you have EFC? Your parents may be expected to pay.

6

FYI in case Kansas schools end up being your most affordable option, I grew up in Kansas and one of my high school friends, at the top of our class at a well regarded public HS, went to KU for psychology because it was affordable, went on to get her PhD at an Ivy, and is now a Psych professor at a top LAC. KU prepared her well!

7

Where are you getting the money to go out of state? Don’t plan to go anywhere just to please your ego to go out of state. Study abroad also costs money. Its not free. We have a family friend at Kansas now…out of state… The grass is always greener right.

Look at your community College and it’s transfer requirements. Does it make sense financially to go a 2nd year then transfer? Talk to financial aid at your target schools now. It might be realism that you need now in order to plan your future.

Also high school is in the past. Plan for your future. Can’t change it so forget about it. Talk to your professors about opportunities to explore since your looking for stuff to do. They might have them. Some might be doing research.

You should be very proud of yourself. Go to your less expensive option that accomplishes your goals. Loans etc will just put you in a rut that is hard to climb out of.

8

Financial information: I am on SSI. It is enough to pay for food and basic necessities, but not to pay for college. I was under the assumption that loans (and grants/scholarships) would be enough to cover the cost college while I am attending, and then I can start paying the loans off after I finish college? I may be in debt for several years after, but it will not be forever.

I have done FAFSA, currently my grants alone have covered my first and second semester, but I have a couple thousand dollars from the loans that I plan on saving for when I transfer to a university.

My parents cannot help fund me going to college.

Thank you for all the helpful answers so far!

9

If you are admitted as a transfer student at an institution that meets full need, then it is possible that all of your tuition, fees, housing, and meal costs could be covered with scholarships and a federal student loan. However, it’s almost certain that you would still need to come up with the money for books and materials, personal expenses, and transportation to and from that college/university a couple of times each year.

The only loans you can borrow on your own are the federal student loans that you qualify for by filing the FAFSA. To borrow more money than that, you would need a co-signer. Unfortunately, some students do find co-signers and do end up essentially being in debt forever.

Make an appointment with the financial aid office at your CC, and talk through the details of your financial aid package. Don’t leave that meeting until you feel that you do understand everything. And don’t be afraid to go back again and ask more questions.

The Transfer Advisor at your CC is likely to know where students in financial situations like yours have found affordable options to finish their educations. Have a chat with that person and get some input. Then, contact KU and the other places that the Transfer Advisor suggests to you, and discuss financial aid with their transfer admissions team.

Wishing you all the best!