Hello everyone!
I am in a bit of a quandary. I have to make a decision by Monday on where I will attend school this fall (I know, very late…). I am trying to choose between the University of Wyoming (FREE) vs. American University ($45k in debt, all federal loans).
I am positive at either institution I will want to transfer. At University of Wyoming, I will want to transfer because I have lived here my whole life and would like to seek out more opportunities.
At American University, I definitely cannot afford this, especially as my parents will come into more money over the next few years, without supporting me. I still have to report my parents’ income.
SO, question is:
Which university will look more favorable as a second-semester transfer student applying to top-tier universities for the spring???
THANKS EVERYONE
You cannot afford American U, even for one year. You can only take loans of $5500. How will you pay for the rest? Go to Wyoming. Do well; transfer later.
I am an independent student so I can take out $9.5k in loans. The $45k is over a four year period. I also have about $15k saved up from working all through highschool. First semester at American is $10k.
Why do you have to report your parents’ income to American? You shouldn’t have to if you are an independent student.
Financial aid for transfer students is almost never as good as financial aid for freshmen. This means that starting at American but planning to leave for a cheaper place may not work out at all. It would make better sense to start at Wyoming. If you would get in somewhere else later on, you would be able to decide whether or not it is worth it to move.
Any application for a second semester transfer during your freshman year will be based almost entirely on your HS record. Rather than try to do that, you should take a gap year and apply to those places as a freshman applicant for fall 2016.
I recently applied for a financial aid appeal at American. Although I am independent for federal aid, for institutional purposes I will be an dependent until I am 24.
I have already taken a gap year. I spent it in India and became nearly fluent in Hindi. I was awarded a scholarship to do this from the US Dept of State.
Go to U of Wyoming. It’s probably going to be easier to explain why you are transferring from there then to explain the transfer from American. ‘I want more prestige’ isn’t considered a good enough reason in either case. And it will be easier to make the case that U of W doesn’t offer the coursework/concentrations/major/opportunities that you want in order to advance in your chosen field. Lastly, no reason to go into debt for a school you aren’t even going to graduate from.
U of W is free. Who will turn over that? plus, you’re an international student. Be bless you get to come to US for free. My dad went to UCLA for free 
FYI: dad was an international student from Peru.