Very difficult situation, hard choices to make. Please, please help!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Dear Friends:</p>

<p>I am a 29 year old man who lives in New York City. I have been going back and forth to college for the last 9 years. I'm so frustrated, irritated, tired and sad of not being able to finish school (bachelor's degree in Computer Science) that I can't describe in words. I used to be an international students and my parents were supposed to help me with all my college expenses. But due to unforeseen financial circumstances, they couldn't help me anymore just a few months after I arrived in the United States from my home country. Stuck with no money, I persisted and went to school part time. I had financial issues so I couldn't attend a few semesters. I wasn't even qualified for any kind of loans. :( I was able to only earn 64 credits somehow at a community college so far. :(</p>

<p>In the meanwhile, my parents are in a lot of debt (about $10,000) and they have been constantly pressuring me to send them that money so the loan-sharks can stop taking all of their income just to pay off the monthly interest on the loans. I don't have that kind of money.</p>

<p>Now this year, I'm in a much better position. I am a legal permanent resident of the United States (I have a green card), have a full time job at Columbia University as a support staff, which allows me to be enrolled for up to 7 credits per semester for free starting Fall 2015. This job pays 48K annually. I know that if I was a software engineer, I would have been making over 100K.</p>

<p>Now I am debating what to do from now on. I would like to major in Computer Science. I have taken Computer Science classes in Java, Discrete Math, etc. and got A's in all of them. I have a few options.</p>

<p>First, I can take online classes from Stanford or MIT and/or another school for free, learn everything I need to know about Computer Science and start applying for a job as a software engineer; or design iPhone apps and see where it goes. I know companies have hired software engineers without a degree. Google, for example, where I'd love to work.</p>

<p>Second, quit my job at Columbia University and go to City College of New York (CCNY) to study computer science full time from Spring 2015 (I have been accepted). I would have to take federal student loans, but I would get my degree faster this way.</p>

<p>Third, I could attend CCNY part time in Spring 2015, get some student loans, help my parents, keep my Columbia job then from Fall 2015 start at Columbia's School of General Studies (GS) 7 credits a semester offered free by the school since I'm a full time employee and get my degree in Computer Science in about 4 years or so (since attending school part time will take longer to graduate).</p>

<p>Fourth, quit the job in Fall 2015, start at Columbia GS full time and get my degree from Columbia ASAP. This option would require me to take a significantly larger amount of loans since GS is more expensive than CCNY. I would have to take out private loans, in addition to federal loans. I'm thinking that it might be worth it since I'll be making over 100K as a software engineer so I could easily pay off the loans.</p>

<p>Fifth, there could be a combination of options too like, attend CCNY part time in Spring 2015, take out loans, help my parents, then attend GS for free in Fall 2015 for 7 credits. Then quit the job in Spring 2016 and attend GS full time from that semester. I may not have to take out that much loan at GS if I maintain a good GPA there and get scholarships.</p>

<p>I would also like to mention that I workout at least 4 times a week at the gym and sleep at least 8 hours everyday. This also requires a lot of time. Hence, I can't work full time and go to school full time. This is not an option for me.</p>

<p>This is a very tough decision for me. I am single and live all by myself in New York City. My entire family lives abroad. I haven't seen my family in years because I couldn't afford to travel. There's no one to give me advice or to help me in any possible way. I feel lonely, frustrated, sad and anxious. However, I'm a very determined person. I have suffered a lot in my life and I would like to make the future better for me and my family.</p>

<p>Thank you so much for your help! Please help me make the right decision.</p>

2

<p>Listening to you, I think that you want to get a college degree. </p>

<p>I would try to figure out what option would cause you to not need to take out loans. </p>

<p>Then thirdly consider your parents. They made a choice to need to go to a “loan shark”.
You had no choice in that. Are they both working? Working a second job?
I know that culturally this may be an expectation but don’t mortgage YOUR future because of their choices.</p>

<p>So I would continue working at Columbia, take your classes for free, and IF you have any money to spare work with your parents.</p>

3

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<p>That’s terrific. Which school and if Columbia, which school within Columbia. </p>

<p>

If you had graduated at 22, then you might be making $100K at 29. Not a guarantee. It’s also not relevant. </p>

<p>Congratulations on getting your green card. I would hold off on helping your parents until your income is higher. </p>

<p>Consolidation of facts

  1. You are a 29 year old man (according to social security tables has a life expectancy of 44 years. Assume retirement at 70). </p>

<p>2) You want to study computer science. From top schools, I’m seeing starting salaries in the Boston area from $75K to $85K. From more average schools, it’s probably in the $65K-75K range. Neither Columbia GS nor City College will likely get you a salary premium, but you will get a job and by being awesome at what you do, can increase your salary fairly quickly. </p>

<p>3) You currently make $48K - that’s almost poverty for NYC. </p>

<p>4) You are approximately half way done with a degree and can finish in about 2 years if you go full time. </p>

<p>A couple of questions:
Why Columbia school of general studies? You seem like a great student. Could you not get admitted to a school that offers financial aid for your living expenses? Could you get into places like Cornell, Columbia (the engineering school), or Johns Hopkins? </p>

<p>Ok. Now lets investigate your lifetime earnings under some conservative scenarios. Assume that your starting salary today would be 70K, it would grow by 2.5% per year over inflation as you become more skilled. When you hit 50, it will grow with inflation. Your current salary would grow by inflation. I’ll take inflation as 1.5%. I assume that you will work until you are 70. </p>

<p>Option 1) Keep your current job, take 4 more years to get your degree. Present Value of lifetime earnings: $3.133 million</p>

<p>Option 2) Go to CUNY, have an income of -25000 over 2 years (that’s -12500 per year). Then start working sooner. Presnet value of lifetime earnings are 3.117 million. Basically, your lifetime earnings are worse by about $15K. </p>

<p>If you assume a starting salary of 80K rather than 70K, in today’s dollars, it swings the other way but only by a little. Basically, you would make $13K more over a lifetime. </p>

<p>It seems like going part time for free is a really decent option. I’m sure that you are getting benefits. Certainly borrowing a lot of money isn’t a great option. If you go full time, you’ve lost 2 years salary plus 25K in debt ($121K). Basically, you would be investing $121K for $65K additional salary for the extra 2 years, plus between $1650 and $1940 additional income per year for 36 years. It’s not a huge win and is fraught with risk. I didn’t even factor the interest payments on your loan, which would eat up most of the benefits. </p>

<p>Frankly, I would just continue to go part-time, but excel. You are not in a position to help your parents much. </p>

4

<p>Attending school part-time for free, while you have enough money to live on plus other benefits (retirement fund? medical/dental/vision insurance? paid vacation? paid sick-leave? anything else?) sure looks good to me. If your day job and classes aren’t overwhelming, you could pick up a second job part-time to help your parents deal with the loan sharks.</p>

<p>What likelihood is there for career advancement at your current job? That needs to be taken into account too. A year from now if you were to receive a promotion, what could that salary and benefits situation look like? That could change the possibility of the amount of help you can send your parents.</p>

5

<p>Sadly, my financial issues have impacted my grades in certain classes. I have been rejected by the Columbia Engineering school already, two and a half years ago. They banned for from reapplying for three years. I can reapply to Columbia Engineering again for Fall 2015 and risk being rejected and banned again or I can just apply to Columbia GS, which is much easier to get into. Engineering school would provide full financial aid but GS wouldn’t. So I’ll have to either keep my job or take out a lot of loans of I decide to attend GS part time or full time, respectively. Life hasn’t been easy for me and it has impacted my grades. I wish admissions committees would understand that.</p>

6

<p>If you are staff, and can take classes for free, you need to find out what restrictions there are on your course selection. Go have a chat with the engineering college, and find out what you can take now, and whether or not improved grades in those courses will get you into the program you want.</p>

7

<p>You won’t be able to get private loans without a f/t job or a cosigner, so you can right away eliminate that. I think you should keep your job. You can keep the job while gaining skills and either leverage into a job more related to what you want, or another job at some point after you have at least a year. You can spend time until you can take classes in the fall at GS either doing a formal class that you pay for or self study. After you take a year of classes at GS reevaluate. You will have 14 credits to show what you can do. If working out cuts into class and study time, then that is a choice and you will just take longer.</p>

<p>Here is a story, the guy does have the degree but not in CS and here was his program to get self taught and become a Facebook engineer.
<a href=“https://medium.com/@donpinkus/when-are-you-too-old-to-become-an-engineer-31db0fdca554”>https://medium.com/@donpinkus/when-are-you-too-old-to-become-an-engineer-31db0fdca554&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

8

<p>A lot of people have not been able to finish college because of finances or illness, or life that happens. It’s not just you. Admissions committees do understand, but the schools only have so much room and financial aid for students. If you plan on finishing your degree, then finish it with as little debt as possible. </p>

9

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<p>Based on my previous analysis, it’s better to keep your job and get the degree part time. You seem a little depressed, negative and down on yourself. That’s really a mistake. The past is the past. You should realize that from now going forward, you have set yourself up beautifully to build an excellent and lucrative career. You just need a little more patience and focus on your studies not on your parents. Shoot for As. Once you have that career, you are more likely to be in a good financial position to help them, but you must persevere and focus on the prize and not get distracted by them. You are in the driver’s seat! You control your own future!</p>

<p>Good luck. </p>

10

<p>All of you guys are so kind and awesome! I’ll consider all of your responses. I still have a few months to decide. Thank you so much!</p>

11

<p>You DON"T have a computer degree so you are NOT going to be getting a computer job for twice your current one. What you HAVE right now is a job with benefits and privileges to take free courses at one of the top schools in the country. Unless you get an offer a lot better than that, you should stick to it. Sit down with a counselor and find out what your course allotments are with your benefits and how you can get your degree with the relevant courses as quickly as possible. You don’t need a CS or engineering degree necessarily to get started in the software/computer field. My son got there with a BA in math/econ taking some computer courses. Now he has tuition reimbursement benefits at his company while earning a very good salary and having full beneifts, and can go for a master’s in the field if he should so please.</p>

<p>So for right now, you deal with what you have and look for better. You don’t have that “better” right now. As for family pressure to send money, I’m sorry you are in that predicament. I know a lot of folks in that situation. You need to figure out what you can budget to send them, and that is that. Tell them you are need the rest to live yourself.Easy, i know for an outsider to say, but it’s the bottom line truth. You can let them drag you down and not only will they be in trouble but you in dire straits. </p>

12

<p>Four years will pass in the blink of an eye. I vote for staying in your current job and taking the free-tuition/part-time route to a BA/BS degree. Definitely consult an academic adviser to plot your reqs and all options toward your degree. Also, start NOW participating in the CS professional associations in town. </p>

13

<p>I found out that I have no restrictions on my course selection at Columbia. Thank you all for your kind words and advice. I think I’m going to go part time and take the free credits. I’ll keep my Columbia job, after all, thousands of people applied for my position, and most of them even had degrees, but I was chosen and hired after a two month long background check that could rival the FBI backgrounds checks! I won’t let my family push my around and pressure me. I’ll help them, when I’m able to. Thank you once again, everyone! You were all VERY helpful and helped me gain clarity. Have a great Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays!</p>

14

<p>Have a great thanksgiving - and congratulations on such a good decision!</p>

15

<p>That’s a very good decision. You have a chance for stability with that job and it never hurts to have that on your resume even if it is a non computer job at the moment.</p>

16

<p>Thank you once again, everyone! I most sincerely appreciate everything! Happy Holidays! :slight_smile: </p>

17

Guys, I got accepted to the Columbia GS for Fall 2015!! My job at Columbia pays my tuition! :slight_smile:

18

Wow!!! Congratlations!!! Best of luck OP!

19

Congratulations!! That is terrific news!

20

Congratulations! Columbia GS is a great school :smiley: