I’m at kind of a dilemma here. I am from NY but I am currently attending Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. When I first got accepted here, I was so excited. I was going to get out of my small town and live on my own. I barely read up on the school before setting my mind to going here. I didn’t get into any of the other schools I applied to so I was happy I wasn’t going to have to go to community college. I visited Coastal and liked it so I committed. I realiezed I made a mistake when I went to orientation and I found out that I didn’t get any financial aid. I got 5500 in subsidized loans so my mom had to take out a 32,000 loan to cover the rest of my first year. so basically I’m halfway through my first semester and I can’t decide if I want to transfer home to community college or to finish out the year here. My plan always was to get good grades and transfer to Binghamton in NY because I’m a Political Science major and they have a great political science program. The pros and cons are:
Pros: -I’m saving roughly 18,000 by going home
-my mom said she’ll buy me a nice car to get to and from school
-I can start working again
-it would only be for one semester if I can get into Binghamton for fall 16
getting an associates at this community college basically guarantees acceptance to Binghamton.
Cons:
-I have to live at home and share a room. (At coastal, I have my own room & own bathroom)
-I won’t have the freedom I have here
-the community college I would be going to is considered the “melting pot of the local high schools.”
-I have the possibility for stupid high school drama because I could have classes with my ex best friend and her a-hole boyfriend (not a big deal but still annoying)
Are you saying finish this semester and go home? I think that is s good idea, this school is unaffordable for you. Not sure what the implications are if your mom has already borrowed the money, though.
Yes, I’m trying to decide between transferring home or staying. She already took out the loan but we didn’t use the entire amount. We only paid for one semester. So if I transfer, my refund check will be about 18,000 and I can immediately put it right back into the loan.
Get out of there if your mom is taking out loans! You can always get off campus housing at Binghamton which is considerably cheaper than the dorms or then staying where you are. Finish out the semester and get out of there midyear if possible.Coastal Carolina University is an unknown school. It won’t provide you with a “Name school” that will somehow get you a good job. I think you are being very wise to make quick changes. Even if you board at Binghamton you will save a ton of money. Even if you have to stay out a semester, which could be a gap semester, you’d be better off getting out after the first semester. That would half the amount your mom will owe.
And you need to be more mature than to even consider the high school drama stuff. It is college. Go to BCC and then Binghamton or some other similarly priced school. How could anyone ever get above the amount of money you’d have to borrow to continue where you are. It is not possible. It would be like condemning you and your mom to living with a anchor around your necks. Don’t do it. Get out after the semester. You could even go to OCC. Why not?
Go home, go to community college and don’t burden your mother and yourself with excessive debt. My husband and I had to do the community college route to start with, and while we still ended up with quite a bit of student loan debt later on, we ended up earning doctorates and were able to pay off that debt. We did not burden our parents, though that was not an option for us, you don’t want to either. Our parents never offered to help. Thank your mom but take care of her too. Debt makes life harder.
Plan to transfer for the spring. Community college in NYS will be cheap and your plan to reimburse the loan right away is a good one.
Tell your mom thank you but you’ve now grown up a bit and you realize how generous she was, and how financially unsustainable your decision was, so you’re going to transfer back. Coastal Carolina is a very nice university but good weather and a nice room aren’t worth that much, plus, you’re going on a vacation or going to college ?- use a little part if the saved money and job earnings to take your mom on a few day’s vacation this winter when it’s full of snow in nys and great weather in Florida or Alabama.
Check out the cc’s near your home for transfer rates (ask if the information is not clear ). Look at Binghamton’s requirements and check you have a bunch of them done.
