I spent the first thirteen years of my life across the street from a pretty good university. Then I moved to a place half an hour away, and hated it. My goal was just to get out. I was going to use college as my excuse to
'accidentally lose contact" with a lot of people and get out of family obligations and guilt. Basically, I wanted to get away.
Now, deposits are due in just a few days. I’ve been wait listed at my first choice, and accepted into a school across the country as well as the one I grew up next to. I want to go to the one across the country, but I’m not sure about affording it. The other school has given me a scholarship that will pay for most of the tuition, as well as offering me a brand new macbook.
I’m trying to accept the fact that I’ll probably not be going to the out of state school. I will be getting out of the town I live in now, but I’m not exactly leaving the area or going anywhere new. The school is really good, especially for what I want to go into, so I almost feel guilty about not wanting to attend. Does anyone have any advice for dealing with this? Or should I just accept mountains of debt to go OOS?
College anyplace is a fresh start. Save your money and use it to relocate and start over when you graduate! If you can move out of town, get involved and make new friends on campus it is like a new community. College keeps you busy. You may not be able to make it home for all the family events, but when you want to, you can.
There’s no rational reason to go into large amounts of debt for a bachelors degree. All it does is kill your earning potential, which is the whole point of going to college in the first place. You would be better off going to community college to be an electrician or a plumber. The only time where a mountain of debt is worth it would be medical. Most law school graduates have a difficult time paying their student loans.
I would assume take the scholarship and be happy. Your adult self and future spouse will thank you later.
You can move after undergrad if you still want to. I moved about 700 miles away from my hometown and the nearby university I attended when I graduated.
You went to the local school with the scholarships. You lived on campus and made friends there and stopped seeing the old friends. You are happy that you have little to no loans. You got a job in a different part of the country.
You went to the farther away school. You have 80,000 in loans and you are wondering if ti was worth it. You have a job in a different part of the country but can’t go on vacation or save money for a down payment for a house because of the debt.
It is hard when you are a teenager because you are the oldest you have ever been…you dont’ have the experience to look back and realize that less debt is preferable and you have the rest of your life to move elsewhere.