There have been a number of threads that made me ask this question, so I thought I’d start a new thread about it. Who is it, exactly, who cannot attend a reasonable college without going into significant debt? By a reasonable college, I mean a four-year institution that will provide a reasonable range of educational opportunities for a motivated student.
It’s not the persons who are high achievers and who are able to obtain merit money at many good schools. It’s certainly not the rich. I’m not sure it’s middle-income people, either, if they are willing to attend in-state schools. Are there some states where this isn’t true? Perhaps it’s poor kids who don’t have the stats to get merit money, and who live in states where there isn’t much need-based aid for in-state attendees?
Note that this isn’t about being able to attend the college you’d prefer–it’s whether you have a low-or-no debt option that’s reasonable.
I think that those who are middle or low income with “ok stats” who ALSO don’t have a 4-year college that they can commute to after they finish at a CC…have it the hardest.
Or kids with a non-fungible list of academic requirements- the major MUST be neuroscience, not a chem major who takes a lot of psych and bio classes; the major MUST be International Relations, not an econ major with a heavy dose of political theory. In my neck of the woods, I find that these kinds of kids are talking themselves into a boatload of debt- because the local, non-flagship branch of our state university doesn’t have a broad set of academic offerings, and the directional colleges in my state (which are former teachers colleges) are strong in one or two highly vocational departments but pretty weak elsewhere. And the possible merit schools may or may not have the identical major…
Or middle income parents that have two kids back-to-back and never saved a dime for college.
In the case of one set of dual income middle class friends that opted to send both kids to a state uni three hours away, the mother remarked that they’d taken awesome vacations over the years but never saved anything for college. She called me after she received their award offering from the uni and asked me about the difference between student loans and PLUS loans. I assume they are funding with PLUS loans.
But I’d drop this option under the heading of “bad choices”.
I talked regularly to the account service manager at my credit union and she said she has to borrow money to send her kid to nursing school. I’ve never heard the name of the school, obviously I’m not in nursing. But I think it’s more common than you think.
Low-to-middle income residents of states like Pennsylvania which tend to have high in-state costs and poor in-state financial aid may have very limited choices if they do not have high-end academic qualifications (that could get good merit scholarships or admission to good-financial-aid private schools). Note that while the PASSHE schools in Pennsylvania are supposed to be the “more affordable” schools there, they may not have that wide a range of academic programs (e.g. engineering is not easy to find there).
I know it’s common that people do go into debt to go to college; my question is rather how many people really NEED to go into significant debt in order to go to college. I think blossom makes a good point that local, low-cost colleges might not have the major a student needs–but even that is a matter of choice to some degree.
Also, most four year schools with good financial aid do expect some student contribution, whether it be work or federal direct loans or both. Do you mean to ask “who has to go into debt more than federal direct loans to attend a reasonable college?”?
Post #9, Yes but I was surprised that her kid didn’t think about the low cost UC but I’ve heard the amount is about $30k per year for a school that I never heard off.
@DrGoogle What would be a low cost UC for that kid? One that the student can commute to if he can be admitted into it? Is the $30,000 this kid is paying the total cost of attendance including dorming per year?
Total cost for a Pennsylvania resident to attend a PASSHE school – that’s bureaucratese for “public former teacher’s college” – is currently around $30,000 per year (including room and board, which often has to be included because they tend to be in isolated, rural locations). They have very limited financial aid available for middle class families. They are the affordable four-year public option in this state. I’d say that constitutes a requirement that middle class families borrow. It’s tough to save $120,000 per kid while they are growing up…
I think there is a good UC that offers nursing within commuting distance. I didn’t get it that the amount includes housing or room and board. Perhaps these schools guarantee fast track to a job within 2 years. She did say she will help her kid pay back the loan when the kid graduates and has a nursing job.
@DecideSomeHow, I don’t know what NSCU is, but how realistic is it to take a full courseload AND work 25 hours a week, all while commuting? That might work for some, but what about engineering and other rigorous majors?
And I don’t know where you live, but public transportation is NOT free for college students where I Iive in suburban Philadelphia (some schools do offer discounts), and we’re talking about an hour commute into the city. Otherwise, you need a car to attend a branch campus or the nearest PASSHE school. Annual undergrad tuition and fees at local publics is:
West Chester ($9400)
Penn State-Brandywine ($20,000-21,000/year)
Penn State-Abington ($20,000-23,000/year)*
Temple ($14,000-$19,000)*
*offers engineering, IST, and business majors
So the only school that comes in at or under your $10,000 figure is West Chester (which doesn’t offer a lot of STEM majors), unless you go the community college route, which isn’t a great option for students who took AP’s etc. in HS, as the course offerings are quite limited. The nearest to me is Delaware County Community College @ $2500-$5000/year.
And the 25/week average is perfectly realistic. During breaks and summers, you can work a lot more and back off during school. Even on campus, NCSU runs about 20k, still possible with minimal debt. So I will defend my own state that college is financially in reach, although recent tuition increases are getting to be a bit much.
@decidesomehow, I think you’re missing the point a bit. North Carolina is a state that has an outstanding public higher education system. There is a broad range of universities, and a strong community college network with a clear articulation agreement to transfer in to state schools. There is less reason to go into significant amounts of debt in NC than in other states - as a previous poster pointed out, PA is an example of a state with a weak higher ed system and high costs even for in-state students. No one is asking you to defend NCs affordability for higher education - the question was are there situations where debt is unavoidable.
Your assumptions only apply to a certain % of NC students - you assumed living within commuting distance of campus. NC is a big state, and there are many rural counties that are not within commuting distance of a 4-year university. And there are many families who can’t even pay $20k/year without significant debt. Students in NC are in much better shape than in many states, but that doesn’t make it a no-brainer for every student in the state to afford a 4-year degree.
Living with your parents is support from parents. Granted, it costs the parents less than it costs for the student to live on his/her own on or near campus, but the cost is non-zero, whether the parents allow the student to continue living there at no charge or expect some monetary contribution from the student to cover the costs.
25 hours per week of working to earn money plus 30-45 hours per week for a 15 credit course load is 55-70 hours per week.