<p>I read many posts on here and the OVER whelming theme is not to pick a college that will "saddle" you with debt. </p>
<p>I see many times when a person ask "should I choose this college or that college" the answer predominately is ALWAYS which one is cheaper or go in-state because of the debt. </p>
<p>But what if you live in a state like PA like our family. Our in-state schools will run around 25,000 per year AFTER need based and they virtually give NO merit money?</p>
<p>Do you choose to not go to college? Or of you choose to have larger debt? </p>
<p>Do you choose to go to a community college? Or do you choose to say well I might as well look out of the state and pay that debt?</p>
<p>Or lastly, do you simply go to a school that is say division 3 just to go to a college like West Chester?</p>
<p>If you had to get loans to afford college, what would you do?</p>
<p>We decided to go ‘cold’, meaning we picked one of the OOS schools in the midwest and northwest that offer d low OOS tuition and some financing. My daughter is going to Wyoming for less than the instate cost in our home state (although we didn’t explore if she could get merit aid in Florida, and she might have been able to bring the cost of FL schools down a little). It has what she wants, what she needs. Since she made her decision, she’s done nothing but find more things she loves about the school. She was concerned about the size but has now embraced it, is looking forward to Div 1 football, has signed up for several outdoor adventures.</p>
<p>I think you’ve listed a few good options - community college, OOS, smaller instate schools. Although going for free is ideal, full rides with everything included are not common at any school. Almost all schools expect the student/family to contribute something, and often that is done through loans. Most people are borrowing some, working some, using savings. The theme on CC is to borrow the lowest amount you have to.</p>
<p>I don’t agree with your assessment that the advice is ALWAYS one sided. At all. There are orders of magnitude. </p>
<p>It would depend on if there are any savings. How much income you have, how much you can cut expense to pay some out of current income and how much debt you are willing to take. I don’t know if you are the student or not but most here agree it is ‘worth it’ to get a college degree even if you have to take you student loans. Maybe more. How much will the parent take on? If the parent couldn’t put any aside, that gives you a hint how hard it can be to come up with extra money, so those loan payments are not easy to come up with.</p>
<p>Of course look at all the alternatives?? and weigh them. Look for cheaper schools, merit schools with low hurdles etc. That all depends on what type of student you are, your credentials, if you can accommodate your preferences. But I wouldn’t pick it on what sport div, maybe some people would but I don’t follow that.</p>
<p>I just realized that this is too general. Did you want a general discussion of vagueness? Then I’m out. I think it works better to try to address your specific situation.</p>
<p>You are not alone on this question.
I personally feel very bad for students in PA, which is among states with little if any funding to ease students debt and college affordability.
However, like some said, there is always an option to avoid debt.
Start searching out of state schools as well and add them to your application list. Some offer both academic and athletic scholarship that will dramatically reduce your cost of attendance.
Also apply to some private schools both in and out of state that are known to meet 100% of admitted students demonstrated needs. In addition, there colleges like Berea College, who offers free rides to all students that are admitted.
In all, YES, if you can avoid loans at all cost. However, loans are not the worst thing. If you are accepted to any of the IVY’s or other top ranked schools like Stanford, MIT, Duke etc… then the loans are somewhat justifiable because there are higher chances that degrees from these schools will pay off.
Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>@Brownparent is right. Instead of general questions, tell us your specific situation. Stats, proposed major, financial situation. Otherwise you only get generalities.</p>
<p>Many consider federal direct loans a reasonable amount to borrow, unless the post-graduation career goal is one of very low pay and very poor job opportunities, such that a string of unpaid internships or the unemployment line is the typical expectation. Beyond that, private student loans significantly add to the risk.</p>
<p>Living in PA, your lower cost in-state public choices are more limited than for those in some other states. That means you may have to do a college search lower on the selectivity scale (in or out of state, public or private) to find more merit scholarship opportunities that are within reach for the student.</p>
<p>Well in our case we should be able to just afford our EFC. So if we don’t want to take out parent plus loans any shortfall will have to be covered by student loan, student work earnings.</p>
<p>So we have to find schools where the net price is affordable to us.</p>
<p>We’re also in PA and there are some options here. </p>
<p>While we don’t have a community college nearby, we do have a state school and a satellite campus of a state-related school within commuting distance. These would be our financial safeties.</p>
<p>Anything else requires room and board. </p>
<p>I have found several private schools a few hours away, that judging by their net price calculators are very generous with need based and/or merit aid. Since they are also in PA we can also get a state grant to help with cost.</p>
<p>And then there are also some private schools in neighboring states that might work out financially.</p>
<p>So it comes down to figuring out what the schools cost, how much aid you qualify for, how much your family can contribute, how much the student can earn and how much you want to/can afford to borrow.</p>
<p>We have two more children so there are different considerations for every family.</p>
<p>Ok, why have you posted two identical threads? I just posted on the other one. Perhaps you should message a moderator asking to merge the two threads.</p>
<p>Personally, I’m against outrageous debt but I also live in the real world and pretty pragmatic. College debt is a reality for many if not most families. My eldest could have lived at home and attended one of our local public universities with no debt. However, they were awful fits for her… x-large, weak in her areas of interest, ect. She could have gone to community college but she spent the last 2 years of high school there as part of a middle college program. She’s already outgrowing it. So, instead, she’s attending a small, high ranking private school across the country that gave her the best “sleep-away” financial aid package (beating out the public in-state sleep-away options.) We could cover the costs with no student loans but honestly, it left NO room in the budget for anything bad to happen. So, D will be graduating with 12K in debt (that is, if she/we can’t knock it down a bit during her 4 years… which we are all motivated to do.) My husband and I are paying our part with savings and yearly income… no debt for us (we refused to take out parent loans because it would screw our younger child when his turn for college comes up and that’s not fair.) She may end up living with us a year after graduation to knock it out and we are OK with that too. Is it ideal? Of course not! It’s also not the end of the world and for us, worth it for this particular schooling opportunity. I mean, we took out a loan for our car and no one harassed us for that lol. </p>
<p>Yes, look for the best deals but also don’t make superficial assumptions about what you can’t afford. Really look into all the options. The goal should always be debt free but you also want to be someplace where your chances of completion are the highest. Just don’t NOT go to school because of debt (unless you have one of those skills that allow you to move straight into the professional world… and some kids do.) </p>
<p>Yeah, that works for someone who has the stats or hopes to get the stats. </p>
<p>If that doesn’t work, then it comes back down to original question. When there isn’t that free ride, excellent tuition available, what do you do? </p>
<p>Take on much higher debt then you are comfortable with?</p>
<p>Finally, I think you’re being way too hard on the state schools, particularly on West Chester. Believe it or not, I know kids with 3.2 GPA’s and 1200 SAT’s who have been rejected from West Chester. Many high schools are now advising their marginal for PSU applicants not to consider West Chester a safety school. West Chester has some highly regarded, even competitive programs. Entrance to its nursing program is probably more difficult than any other nursing program in the Philadelphia area (except maybe Villanova). </p>
<p>Unless you want to enter a blue-collar type of job – and some can become somewhat decent livings, like electricians and truck drivers – then yes, getting a college education is important.</p>
<p>You might also get lucky as an entrepreneur, but an education is going to help you better judge and adjust/enhance your past, current and future performance (pro forma)… both qualitatively and quantitatively. </p>