Worth it for the "go away experience"?

I know it is the age old question. But I’m so torn between saving $25,000 or not. I’m currently enrolled at a CC and am definitely transferring to a different school next fall but am not sure if I should commute and spend $30,000 on 4 years of schooling or $55,000 for 4 years and go out of state. I guess I just want to hear others opinions on the topic.

You won’t be living free if you go to the $30k school, so there will be some additional costs (to someone, maybe your parents?).

You don’t say what the benefit of going OOS is, other than just going to get away. There may be a compromise of staying instate but living at the school or going to another school that is on the other side of the state, away from your home town.

Is this money you have or debt?

@gearmom I honestly could not tell you…my parents are not too honest with me

Remember that applying and deciding where to attend are two separate steps. It’s ok to wait until financial aid or scholarship offers are available to decide. It may also be a good idea to keep looking for options that are between 30,000 and 55,000 for you.

Going away" doesn’t have to mean “going out of state.”

Choose a state school with dorms. Room and board will probably cost you an additional $12-$15K per year-- but some of that will be money you would have spend commuting, and money your parents would have spent on food for you.

Apply to a variety of instate and OOS schools. You don’t have to commute to your instate college - pick a university far enough from home and live there.
What major would you have? Have you completed pre-reqs for the OOS university?

Your parents aren’t honest with you? What does that mean?

You have a lot of threads asking about OOS schools and how to get money to attend one of them. I don’t think you can afford OOS residential college unless your parents contribute. If they won’t say what they’re willing to pay, I’d assume it’s zero.

Can you commute to the Univ. of IL? Tuition is ~$15k for state residents. You can take a federal student loan, but you can’t borrow much (the loan is only $7500/year as a junior and senior), so even with the student loan you’ll have a gap of ~$7500. If you work summers you can probably earn ~$3k. That leaves a ~$4500 gap just for tuition (not counting travel expenses, books, or spending money). How are you paying the ~$5k/year cc tuition? If it’s a Pell grant, that would cover the rest of the tuition. If your parents are paying out-of-pocket, ask if they’ll continue to pay for your last 2 years.

You can’t really compile a list of schools to apply to (esp. as a transfer) until you have a budget. If your parents aren’t willing/able to pay, I think your focus needs to be on IL colleges.