<p>Im in Penn state right now. a freshman. not in university park, at another campus. I have a gpa of 3.5 and hope to transfer to Smeal for junior year to study Marketing. My problem: is staying at PSU worth it? Im an out of state student, and had to take a loan. my first year I have around $15000 in loans. By the time I graduate, (if I get accepted to smeal and go to UP), I'll probably have around $40000+. Im working really hard on my grades and clubs to get to smeal, since its so prestigious and stuff, and my goal is to work for Disney, google, dreamworks, etc, something like that and smeal students have been recruited by some of them. but when i look at there job postings, most say masters is preferred. and i do plan on getting a masters. So should I transfer to another school now to not increase my debt (like CUNY Baruch since they have a good business school and is in NYC, (i dont know if i could aim much higher)) or just stay for smeal? I find out if I get accepted to smeal in sophomore year in spring, i could always transfer after my 2nd year if i don't. </p>
<p>$15,000 in loans for one year is almost three times the maximum Stafford Loan for Freshman year, and more than half of what the maximum Stafford Loan total for four years would be. Who is co-signing for your private loans? Will they be able to continue to do so for the rest of your degree program? At the rate you are going, your loan burden is likely to be more than $60,000 by the time you graduate - assuming of course that your co-signers can keep on doing this.</p>
<p>The level of debt that you are contemplating for your bachelor’s degree is excessive. It will limit your career choices, and will prevent you from continuing on to grad school in a timely fashion. You need to transfer to a more affordable school now. Certainly there is a home-state public U that will be more economical for you. Nothing wrong with spending a year at a commuting-distance community college to save money either.</p>
<p>Yeah. Actually my parents moved with me to PA and my fafsa is under their taxes. I should be an instate for my junior year. I got the pell, both sub and unsub loans, but had to get a parent plus of around 11,000 to pay the rest and have extra cash. I got a 1200 psu grant but that still isn’t much. Not unless I get a higher grant or a scholarship which i am going to apply to, i don’t think its worth it. I love psu but the bill is too high. =’(</p>