<p>Do you think it is worth it?
I haven't been able to sleep at all. I have been having constant sleepless nights and been totally depressed.
I got 21k in grants and schoalrships from TEXAS A&M
Only have to take out 2388 in total loans</p>
<p>15k grants from uf and about 27k in loans. This is my dream school. I want to be here so bad. I don't see myself being happy at TAMU. My parents want me to go there to make them happy, but in retrospect UF is the only school I want. I want to be a psychiatrist and uf has an amazing psychology school #42 while TAMU IS #65. Not bashing them. My parents are no help they want to decide where I want to go, but it's my choice at the end. Please help.
@mom2collegekids I need your opinion thanks so much.</p>
<p>Is the $27k in loans PER YEAR? If so are you aware that you cannot get that much on your own? </p>
<p>It includes a parent plus loan</p>
<p>Heres the breakdown </p>
<p>A listing of your current awards is shown below. If this listing is incomplete, use one of the following four sections to make additions or corrections.
Award Details<br>
Fall
2014
Spring
2015
Summer A
2015
Summer B
2015
PREDICTED FEDERAL PELL GRANT 2,840.00 2,840.00<br>
FEDERAL WORK STUDY 1,500.00 1,500.00<br>
PREDICTED FED DIRECT SUB LOAN 1,750.00 1,750.00<br>
FEDERAL PERKINS LOAN 2,000.00 2,000.00<br>
I DOUGLAS TURNER GRANT 3,250.00 3,250.00<br>
PREDICTED DIRECT UNSUB LOAN 1,000.00 1,000.00<br>
PREDICTED PARENT PLUS LOAN 9,234.00 9,234.00 </p>
<p>What is the problem with TAMU? Did you get accepted anywhere else you could go to that is more affordable? I know people in their 40’s who are still paying student loans. STILL. It effects if you can get married or buy a house. </p>
<p>Florida is not worth it. Statistically, not much difference between 42 and 65 (I’m not much for statistics anyway). Take the lowest amount in loans you can.</p>
<p>Florida isn’t going anywhere. You can go there for grad school, or take a semester there if there are some classes you feel you cannot get at TAMU. I think UF is a great school for instate students because it is such a bargain, but you have to evaluate YOUR options, and this isn’t a good one for you. Too expensive.</p>
<p>I hate to be a party pooper here but your parents do have some say if they would be taking out a $9000+ ParentPlus Loan per year. Did you visit TAMU? Did you hate the campus? If you want to go into Psychology you are going to want grad school. Better to save up for that and take the TAMU package now. Sorry the financial end didn’t work out the way you wanted. 
</p>
<p>Thank you guys for your comments. Don’t apologize for being harsh I need this. I haven’t visited the campus. It’s just that the whole conservative school and I have always love uf for some strange reason. I don’t know why I do.</p>
<p>@135pipe, you’re not alone in being “rejected” by your number 1 choice due to price. Thousands are going through the same thing. Here’s a thread on the Georgia Tech forum, for example:</p>
<p><a href=“Financial Aid Award Letters Have Arrived - Georgia Institute of Technology - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/georgia-institute-technology/1633762-financial-aid-award-letters-have-arrived-p1.html</a></p>
<p>TAMU is a GREAT school, it’s going to be a great choice. You (and your parents) do NOT need to take on all of this debt. Succeed at TAMU and when you’re looking at grad schools, circle back around to UF. :)</p>
<p>Thank you so much gator88NE you are the besttttttttttttt</p>
<p>UF isn’t THAT conservative of a school. Maybe more than Texas A&M, I have no idea, but UF is not particularly conservative. I mean, yeah, it’s going to be more conservative than a school in the Northeast, but it still a state public university so it is still leaning toward the liberal side. Most of my professors at UF are not conservative, and students are definitely not conservative on average. You really should visit the campus during a school day before making that decision because schools can be very different than what you hear from other people and what you see online. For me, I toured about 5 different universities, and each one was vastly different than what I expected. I had read numerous student reviews, articles, and completely searched through each university’s website, and each was still a lot different than I expected. If you visit UF and still feel so inclined toward it, then I would consider it. But for the price difference, I would not pay more for a school you have yet to visit. </p>
<p>First of all, I completely agree with @AnnikaH - your parents DO have a say if you are expecting them to bear the greatest burden of debt, which you have to since you (as a student) cannot take out more than $5500. $27k in loans is A LOT, especially when you multiply that over 4 years (approx $27 x 4 years = $108k for your parents). Frankly I’m surprised you don’t see this as an issue putting your desires completely over common sense affordability for your parents who have to fund the majority of your education. </p>
<p>Also, it’s not like UF is #1 and TAMU is #200 (or not ranked) … the difference between the 2 - #42 while TAMU IS #65 is not that big of a difference in the greater scheme of things. Also, you’re talking about an undergraduate degree, not a masters or PhD level. Go to TAMU for undergraduate, then for the higher education, get a loan yourself and go where you want to go. </p>
<p>I am just a stupid kid that’s all and selfish. </p>
<p>You asked for an honest opinion. Considering I have a daughter who got essentially no aid from UF (~ $495 total), I am telling you the same thing I would tell her had she not come to the same conclusion on her own. </p>
<p>In fact, in her case, she wants to major in biomedical engineering- and UF Engineering is ranked 35. She also got into Penn State (zero aid) ranked 13 and UMd (8k in scholarships) ranked 23. She didn’t choose any of those. Instead she chose Univ. of South Carolina where the Engineering is ranked 104!! BUT she got scholarships equivalent to in-state tuition + $4k on top of that. It’s literally a difference between 18k and 42k per year for the higher ranked schools b/c of the nice scholarship she got at USC. It was her choice. She also got into NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill (in-state for us) but she wanted to go out of state. Our only requirement- she could choose anywhere for undergraduate as long as she could get scholarship money within 5k of instate tuition (max 25k/year). For graduate school, she can go anywhere and get her own loans. </p>
<p>So I don’t think you’re stupid or selfish although you question in your original post sounds selfish as you called out… but I suspect you probably have just not considered the whole picture yet. </p>
<p>Easy, TAMU and your parents have quite a bit of say if they are paying </p>
<p>Thank you very much for that @coleman4 you are very helpful. Congrats to your daughter that us a great a achievement </p>
<p>135pipe just needs to vent, it’s frustrating giving up on the school you had your heart set on due to $$$ concerns, but thousands of kids will be doing just that over the next few weeks.</p>
<p>@coleman4 </p>
<p>UF’s biomedical bachelor program is a limited access. UF feels (as do most folks) that Biomedical is a field that requires a master’s degree (unlike most other engineering programs). For that reason they limit the number of folks in the biomedical program (at the bachelor level), only wanting folks they are sure will continue in a master’s program (or med school). The first year they only let 20 folks in. At UF, many if not most of the engineering students in the biomedical master’s program have BS’s in ME, EE, ChemE, etc. (which is the case in most Bio Engineering master programs). </p>
<p>If your daughter wants to go into this field she needs to plan on pursuing a master’s degree. Which means where she goes for her bachelor matters far less than which master’s program (and school) she ends up at (likely not USC). At UF, she may have not gotten into the biomedical bachelor program, and she would incur all of that debt, before going for her masters. She’s making by far the right choice with USC. :)</p>
<p>Thanks @Gator88NE … that’s her plan- masters after bachelors. We agreed it was risky to go to a college with a LEP (limited enrollment program) because, as you said, she could go 2 years, then not even get into the upper division. Moving on … </p>
<p>Good luck to you @123pipe which ever you choose. </p>