<p>Well I do meet the requirements to be classified as an independent, but why is using credit cards to pay tuition a bad idea? As far as post-graduate job prospects go, glazing over some average incomes, even if I go into $100,000 debt (considering interest) and I make $50k/yr, if I continue to follow the economical lifestyle I’ve lived my entire life, I could pay all that off in less than a few years which doesn’t sound so bad to me.</p>
<p>I meant the options for schools are low for me…the “good” schools (opportunities for undergraduate research, funding, faculty, etc.) in NY are too expensive and/or pretty difficult to get into (even with a 4.0 GPA, which is not happening for me). I’d really like to get into a top tier school though, as a stepping stone for an advantage to a high ranking graduate school. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone from some no-name low-ranked college getting into grad school in the top 5 (Harvard, MIT, Caltech, Berkeley, Stanford) for my field (Physics or Materials Science). I need to get into one of these schools so I can have higher funding and access to better lab equipment for my independent research as opposed to limited/cheaper schools.</p>