i just finished my freshman year at Syracuse University. Right now, I am taking out about 30k in loans per year… I would like to transfer our of Syracuse because not only is it expensive but I do not like it. Boston University is my dream school, and I got in. However, it is going to cost the same as Syracuse… I will be over 100k in debt after I graduate, and I also have to go to grad school (looking to become an occupational therapist). I am not sure what to do… I do not know if it is worth it. I don’t know if I should apply to some other schools, maybe some easier ones to get more merit money? I also love James Madison University but I am too late to apply for the fall, so I would go to community college in the fall which I really do not want to do. But even JMU will cost me 25k in loans a year… I do not like any of my state or city schools (NY). I am very torn. Any advice?
Oh please. You don’t like ANY of the many public universities in NY where you could,get your undergrad education for much less money?
You need to rethink your priorities. Do you want ALL of this undergrad debt…and then debt for grad school for OT? That could,easily $200,000 by the time you are done. You are NOT likely to get any free money for an OT program.
Find a way to save some money on undergrad…so that you will be able to get your grad degree.
Personally, I think you aren’t looking at this from a financial standpoint…and you need to.
I think you already know the answer to your question. Having to take on that much debt means your current school is too expensive for you. You need to find a much less expensive option even if it isn’t your “dream” if you want a college education. The reality is that the “dream” should be earning the degree (even if it is from a school you don’t prefer) rather than some media idealized version of a collegend “dream.”
I graduated from Syracuse, teach at JMU, and have quite a few family members and friends who have graduated from BU. All great schools, but not worth that kind of undergraduate debt, particularly with graduate school for OT on the horizon.
Where in NY state are you from? It might be a good plan to move home for a year and take CC classes, or a gap year while assessing which in-state public schools offer the degree background you are looking for in order to move forward with your long range goal of being an O.T.
There is very little merit aid available for transfers. What is your EFC?
Your other thread says you want to major in communications. I wouldn’t take on $100k+ of debt, especially for a communications degree.
We have plenty of great schools to choose from in NYS. How much can your parents pay per year without borrowing?
Your current school is not affordable to you. If you don’t like any school in NY, you should still go to one (even a CC) for a couple years before transferring to the expensive one. As the debt accumulate, how sure are you to get more loan in the upcoming years?
What makes you think you won’t like any of the NY state or city schools? I assume you thought you’d like Syracuse (otherwise why would you go $30K into debt for it?), but you didn’t. It’s not always easy to know how a school will really be until you get there. So maybe you WILL like one of those NY schools if you give it a chance. It’s crazy to go $100,000+ into debt for undergrad, and even crazier if you need to go to grad school. Who is co-signing all those loans? Will they definitely continue to qualify as that loan balance goes up?
You ask about applying to easy schools where you can get merit money. Most merit scholarships go to incoming freshmen. Many schools don’t have merit money available for transfers, so it’s not going to be as easy to find merit money as it would have been right out of high school. I would forget about dream schools and concentrate on getting your undergraduate degree at a school that is affordable for you and your family. If that means community college or commuting to a local state school, so be it. $30,000 of debt a year for undergraduate is way too much.
You may not like any of your NY state schools, but you will hate your life with. $100K in loans. You know the right answer. Transfer back to a NY state school.
Learn to love your affordable options. This level of debt with unfunded grand school in the future is insane.
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However, it is going to cost the same as Syracuse… I will be over 100k in debt after I graduate, and I also have to go to grad school (looking to become an occupational therapist). I am not sure what to do… I do not know if it is worth it. I don’t know if I should apply to some other schools, maybe some easier ones to get more merit money?
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This is an insane amount of debt.
AND…you’ll need to borrow HOW MUCH for grad school??
How much do you think OT folks earn as newish grads??? Certainly NOT ENOUGH to support those loan payments.
Go to a CC for next year, and then transfer to a SUNY or CUNY that you can commute to from home. You cant afford to borrow much more in undergrad debt…you already have too much.
And who cosigned your loans??? Are they naive?? How do they expect you to afford to pay those loans back?? Can they do math?
Thanks for all the help guys! My EFC is around 7000 and my parents can give around that, maybe 10k a year. I don’t know why I didn’t get more from bu, being that it is a full need school
I do not like syracuse because of its location, it is not near much. A lot of the SUNY school are the same, and many of the CUNY schools are big commuter schools.
BU is NOT a school that guarantees to meet full need. At all. Never has been…and isn’t now.
BU, in fact, does NOT meet full need for all, and many students find they have quite the gap between the cost of attendance and the aid given.
Look…I’m going to be abrupt. You started at Syracuse, and your old threads indicate you wanted to be a communications major. Syracuse has a fine communications school.
Now younare saying you want to be an occupational therapist. Clearly…it’s too late for,you to be in a direct admit OT program…so you need to find out and take the courses you will need to be an applicant to OT masters programs. To be honest, you can probably take those courses at ANY college.
The likelihood of you getting funding for a masters in OT is very small. Most programs have little to no funding. You could,easily spend 50,000 a year on your masters.
And that’s IF you get accepted to an OT program…and you don’t change your mind…again…about majors (which.,.i think is FINE…now IS the time to,explore and try things…and change your mind…as many undergrads do).
BUT you are amassing a LOT of debt.
For,the record…one of my kids is a BU graduate. It’s a great school…but honestly, I don’t think it’s worth $30,000 a year in loans for you to take prerequisite courses to get into OT school.
1- Sit down with a couple of search engines to get a feel for how much Occupational Therapists make in different parts of the country. Compare high cost of living areas to low cost of living areas; look at OT’s who work in nursing homes vs. OT’s who work in rehab centers, etc. You will find there isn’t a lot of variability in salary- it’s not like law where there are partners at big firms in LA or Chicago who are making $900K per year vs. a small practice in Tulsa or Dayton Ohio making $60K.
2- Pull out a loan amortization chart and take a look at the monthly payments on the loans you are talking about.
2-Take another look at SUNY and CUNY. I challenge you to find a single career path in OT that would justify the amount of debt you are contemplating. You may find that the closest SUNY to your house has a lot going for it once you realize that you’ll be living like a student (multiple roommates, no car, no vacations, no fun nights out, no room in your budget for any flexibility) even after you land a good job in OT, for a very long time.
If you are spending 50K plus per year on a Master’s degree… and have no debt from undergrad- then you are looking at a tight budget for 10 years after graduating. Tight- but workable.
Add that to your undergrad debt? You’ll be working to pay off your loans for a very, very long time.
I don’t think you have to be any particular major to be pre-OT…is that right?
Go to your local SUNY or CUNY and stop accumulating debt for undergrad. You’ll have debt for grad school.
There are required courses that must be taken for application to OT programs.
@carolinamom2boys hoping I have the right poster…can you help out with this?
@EA0281 You shouldn’t take much more than 30k of debt for your whole 4 years of college. It doesn’t matter if you do not like your local colleges. The only thing that matters is you complete your degree and not take on more debt. It’s only three years. Your future life will be miserable with large debt. Surely the adults in your life are very concerned.
The net net is this; you are going where your grades and money can take you.
You said that your parents EFC is $7000 and with a little stretching, they can pay 10k. Right now you have a bunch of unaffordable options that is going to leave you with over 100k of debt.
You are interested in OT. You need to see if you can get in to the OT program at Hunter or city college
at SUNY checkout UB or Oneonta. for CUNY look at Hunter which has an excellent program (but extremely competitive) and York (also very competitive)
if your parents make less than 100k/year, you will get free tuition. You can then use their 7k-10k plus your loan to cover the room and board at SUNY.
If they make less than 100K and you attend CUNY, your will get free tuition and then you can use their 7k for books and misc,. expenses graduating with no additional debt.
If push comes to shove look at an OT program at the CUNY CC where you can transfer into Hunter, UB, Oneonta or York when you are finished.
Pick your poison; live with your parents the next 3 years while completing your degree or live with then the next 10 years after finishing college because you will not be able to afford to live on your own and service your college debt.
“This is an insane amount of debt. AND…you’ll need to borrow HOW MUCH for grad school??”
Exactly right. $30,000 per year for four years, plus the cost of grad school, is insane. If you continue to go into debt at this rate, the good news is that OT is sufficiently useful that you should probably be able to find work within an hour’s drive of your parent’s house after you graduate. The bad news is that after graduation you are likely to be living at your parent’s house for years, possibly decades, to pay off your debt. If you eventually choose to marry and have kids, do your parents have enough room to let you all continue to live there indefinitely?
“Pick your poison; live with your parents the next 3 years while completing your degree or live with then the next 10 years after finishing college because you will not be able to afford to live on your own and service your college debt.”
Correct, although it is probably not possible to know whether 10 years will be long enough to pay off this much debt.
That would be a heck of an OT job to pay down all the debt in 10 years.