<p>Question: Do you factor in that private schools are driving students to be out of school in 4 years vs the public schools who dont care and don't help your student to graduate in 4 years and may even impede them from doing so due to scheduling issues with classes?</p>
<p>This is exactly what I am doing. Going to a community college in their UC program. I am still hating for money. I had to get a Cash Advance loan just to get a couple textbooks.</p>
<p>That totally sucked and cost me 45 bucks. But what could I do. Has anyone felt the pinch like that? Had to borrow money from parents, family or friends?</p>
<p>I was stuck and couldn't borrow from anyone, so I went to a place online called Online</a> Cash Advance | Online Payday Loan | Online Payday Advance | Spotya! for a payday loan. </p>
<p>Has anyone done this before? I plan on paying it off and not getting another one. What is the danger from getting short term loans like that?</p>
<p>edit: okay that was weird, I posted the site I got the loan from and the address got replaced with the title of the site. strange.</p>
<p>^ Don't get another payday loan and pay off as quickly as possible. Payday loans are some of the most expensive money out there. Tread carefully.</p>
<p>keilialexandra,</p>
<p>If you want to attend a school (a lower tier that gave you merit aid) where you are academically way ahead of your peers, more power to you. That can, indeed, be an intelligent choice. But it is not one for everyone.</p>
<p>Note that while I said earlier that the school does not matter according to research, (the student is the big factor) when looking at life success, for some kids, the school does matter: consider peer influences; physical resources; faculty resources and so forth.</p>
<p>These lower tier schools are lower tier for a reason. Usually it is some combination of student quality and educational resources. </p>
<p>So one must ultimately ask the question: Is this school worth it's discounted (due to merit and other financial aid) price, compared to my other options?</p>
<p>The answer to this question is deeply personal and depends on the student him/herself and the options that student has. We can't make such decisions anonymously on boards like this, but let the buyer beware.</p>
<p>somemom said:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Another option for compromise but still choosing the private school experience is to attend a local CC the first two years, then move to the small private to finish up. My DD chose this and it will work out to about the same cost as 4 years at the large state U
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Good point!</p>
<p>Here in Jersey they passed a law some time ago that mandated that all our 4 year state colleges must accept ALL credits from NJ Community Colleges. It's a good law.</p>
<p>Our county CC has been adding classroom space for the last 5 years. They did so because both the quality and quantity of students have increased dramatically. Look for this trend to accelerate. And BTW, employers don't care if half of your bachelors degree was earned at a CC.</p>
<p>My DD really had to swallow her pride when attending the CC; she felt the same way many others on this board and in public feel, that a cc is just HS with ashtrays ;) but she did very well, as we told her she had to do and she is now at a private with a small school experience. Having two sisters pass through UCs, she knows what she wants- not a huge campus, a small one, and she made the sacrifice to get it, but it was a sacrifice. I will let you know in two years if it was actually worth it!</p>
<p>Community College, as is any college, what you make of it. Yes, there can be classes that are easier than they should be or classmates that don't provide that intellectual spark in classes. It's always a good idea to pick your classes and professors carefully if possible.</p>
<p>My best friend from childhood went to the local community college for two years, taking care to choose classes that would be transferable to the state flagship university, and ended up getting engineering prerequisite courses that way with smaller class sizes and less expense. That was a smart move. He eventually went on to graduate school in engineering, doing "all but dissertation" in a Ph.D. program, and he has had a very successful career as an engineer. So community college is not a bad idea at all for someone who chooses the community college courses carefully. </p>
<p>There have been students with limited economic means for a long time (my friend and I both were in our childhood). It's nothing new that many students have to save a buck while pursuing a college degree.</p>
<p>WE should all be aware that higher education has changed radically in the past generation, so an experience from 20, 30 or more years ago will no doubt not be relevant today.</p>
<p>Perhaps the biggest changes are in public higher ed, which has been hit by decreased public financial support. This has hit community colleges particularly hard.</p>
<p>The other big change is a higher degree of socio-economic and educational stratification. This means that the difference between the flagship state university compared to the second tier state colleges is much greater than a generation ago. And it means that a CC student is likely to be much poorer and less well prepared than a state college student. </p>
<p>CC quality varies widely from state to state (CA has some decent ones, for example) and is truly abysmal in a lot of areas. IMHO, a kid with any brains (i.e. any kid of a parent posting on these boards :) ) should look hard at local 4 year public colleges where he could commute if necessary, over a local CC.</p>
<p>Our daughter is taking two courses at a local CC (she's homeschooled). One of the classes is with a professor that our son took - I looked for him as he's a good and tough professor. The other we just picked for schedule convenience. The latter course provides a lot of practice but it doesn't cover many areas which I think of as very important for the course so I supplement it with course videos and additional readings from textbooks. I expect this to be a normal mode of learning for our kids.</p>
<p>I agree with the other NJ posters, NJ state schools are expensive for instate schools. But there is a scholarship program for the top students. A full ride is possible for the top 5% ranked students.</p>
<p>The number of kids who entered Rutgers (NJ Univeristy) from my son's high school went up by 50% for 2008......went from 40 in both 2006 and 2007 to 60 in 2008. I expect it may go up again in 2009. We live pretty close, so the kids don't want to go there because it is too close to home, but economics may be trumping that desire.</p>
<p>It would be interesting to see how this affects the number of ED applicants.</p>
<p>It would also be interesting to see how this would potentially mitigate the rising number of students applying to the top Ivies (HYPS...) and make admission for the class of 2013 slightly easier.</p>
<p>::::::shaking the 8 ball:::::::
* Doubtful*
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/567999-2009-largest-therefore-most-competitive.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/567999-2009-largest-therefore-most-competitive.html</a></p>
<p>Just last night, we took another look at my son's list and togther decided that he should apply immediately to another one of our Wisconsin state schools (in addition to UW-Madison) which was already on the list. He sat down at the computer and sent it in immediately. Then we dropped one of his 'dream' schools on the West coast because of the increased travel costs. Just two months ago, s was only looking 'far and wide', but as the financial realities set in, he realized that closer to home is most likely going to be the most realistic option for him.</p>
<p>Well, here's my FAQ on demographics again: </p>
<p>DEMOGRAPHICS </p>
<p>Population trends in the United States are not the only issue influencing the competitiveness of college admission here. The children already born show us what the expected number of high school students are in various years, but the number of high school students in the United States, which is expected to begin declining in a few years, isn't the whole story. </p>
<p>First of all, if more students who begin high school go on to college, there will be more applicants to college even with a declining number of high school students. And that is the trend in the United States and worldwide. </p>
<p>Second, colleges in the United States accept applications from all over the world, so it is quite possible that demographic trends in the United States will not be the main influence on how many students apply to college. The cohorts of high-school-age students are still increasing in size in some countries (NOT most of Europe). </p>
<p>Third, even if the number of applicants to colleges overall stays the same, or even declines, the number of applicants to the most competitive colleges may still increase. The trend around the world is a "flight to quality" of students trying to get into the best college they can in increasing numbers, and increasing their consensus about which colleges to put at the top of their application lists. I do not expect college admission to be any easier for my youngest child than for my oldest child, even though she is part of a smaller birth cohort in the United States. </p>
<p>And now I would add to this that at the very most selective colleges that have just announced new financial aid plans, next year's (and the following year's) crush of applicants will be larger than ever. When colleges that are already acknowledged to be great colleges start reducing their net cost down to what the majority of families in the United States can afford, those colleges will receive more applications from all parts of the United States, and very likely from all over the world. </p>
<p>The Austin American-Statesman newspaper in Texas published news about these trends in an article about a particular applicant in April 2008. </p>
<p>The Economist magazine published a brief article about these trends in April 2008. </p>
<p>University</a> admissions in America | Accepted | The Economist </p>
<p>I don't think changes in current economic conditions are going to do anything to make the most selective colleges less desirable this year or for the next several years.</p>
<p>hieronymus wrote: "It would also be interesting to see how this would potentially mitigate the rising number of students applying to the top Ivies (HYPS...) and make admission for the class of 2013 slightly easier."</p>
<p>Just the <em>opposite</em>! HYPS is the cheapest option 75% of the time (at least) for families earning under $150,000. Check out the FULL RIDE for <$60,000, and 10% of income as the tuition component for families under $180,000.</p>
<p>In fact, more pressure will be on HYPS since it will be seen as the tuition-paid lottery win that it is for most middle class applicants.</p>
<p>They real hit will be taken by privates that aren't able to come close to matching the HYPS largesse. Let's see, NYU/Rochester/Colgate/etc. at $53,000 or Geneseo/Bingamton/Stoney Brook at $21,000? </p>
<p>How much of the $32,000 tuition differential can these average endownment privates make up for with merit money?</p>
<p>I'm a senior in high school, and plan to attend the local community college for the first two years then probably transfer. People say it is wise, and I'm starting to believe it. I've heard of a lot of kids going in to a four-year for the first two years, but then dropping out and changing their major. You just sucked thousands of dollars from your parents' pockets! I can uderstand if the kid gets a scholarship that pays for most of the tuition and what-not, but most don't really give a thought to how much it really costs.</p>
<p>^ i'm also a student and i know 3-5 people already who are going to the CC for two years and then transferring. Though my hs looks down on it, it makes a lot more sense than going to an unranked private school for $50,000 a year</p>
<p>I am currently attending a community college- never having gone to a large university- but over the years I have taken courses from a nutritional anthropologist with a Ph.d from UCLA and extensive experience in the field and teaching, a botanical curator who recently led seminars for others in the field at Harvard, * The Wizard* who is now in residence at Univ Puget Sound in the chem dept, a prof who went on to teach music at Northwestern University, a well known geologist who is very active in his field, an English prof who others have credited with them going on to get their 4 year degrees & so on.</p>
<p>It helps to live in an area where others want to live. I know profs at the CCs who could easily be teaching at a 4 year school in another area, but they want to live here & they want to teach- not necessarily worry about publishing ( although many do).</p>
<p>From where I sit- those who look down on colleges that are open to all, are a little worried that they are spending money for something that they could have gotten for a 1/3 of the price and unsure that they will be able to feel that " they got their moneys' worth", when they are done- so they attack those who have made a different decision.</p>