mysterl33

I really don't know where this should go as its both financial and transfer but I'll post it here..

So I recently got a bill from my college and realized its much more than I can afford. I know I can take out loans but I really don't want to graduate and have loads of loans to pay off as i am attending a private institution which does not give much aid.

I like my college but the price is just too high and I didn't really do that well either my freshmen year. I was never really good at school.

So before classes start in fall, it looks like these are my options.

1. Take out a loan and just keep attending the college
2. Transfer into a Community college for 2 years then transfer to a state college.

what would you do in this situation?

Selk21

I'd reccomend that you go to CC. As you said you GPA wasn't that great. Talk to you advisor at school about the situation. From their he/she could help you with taking courses at CC, then once you do some time there, you could come back to your current school. I'm sure when you reapplied and mentioned why you left and are no re-applying you'll get back in. Plus it may be an opportunity to have a change and work on bringing your GPA up under less pressure.

dorky24

In my opinion, choose the choice that will allow you to go to a better college. If the better college means paying more, it wouldn't be all that bad. Most people pay off their tuition loans by around 26 to 32 years. You still have a long life ahead of you

annikasorrensen

I think to get good advice from the forum, you need to list more details. Namely, your Freshman GPA (how bad was it?), approximately how much debt you would have to take on in order to finish your degree at your private college, and your actual degree and/or career path options.

I would advise someone who is a music major or education teacher (starting salary 25K or less in some states) to be very modest about student debt at graduation. I would advise someone who is a computer programming major (starting salary of 60K in some states) to be modest in debt load. I advise all people to think seriously before maxing out on student debt.

It should also be noted that the vast majority of careers do not require a degree from a "name brand/ivy/private/top 50/etc" college. For some careers, it isn't even looked at. Some careers don't even need a college degree at all.

Knowing nothing at all but your bare bones post, however, I would suggest Community college followed by state college. Other details revealed might have me leaning in a different direction, though.

Annika

mysterl33

i guess i should've put more detail so here you go.


Freshman GPA: 1.5/4.0
Debt: Freshmen year my parents took a 20k loan and I took out 8.5k loan
Degree: I want to pursue pharmacy so was going chemistry/pre-pharm to get all the pre-req for pharm school.

Selk21

I really think CC is the way to go right now. It'll give you a chance to regroup and improve your GPA. I mean you'll still getting a degree from w.e college you go to in the end. Chem/pre-pharm may be a hard CC major. I don't know much about it, but I'm guessing it involves a lot of labs. Maybe something you can't get at a CC. But 28.5k in loans for undergrad for one year? That really nails the CC opinion. You shouldn't dent yourself that hard for undergrad. Your looking between you and your rents around 100k by the time you get out of undergrad. It's really not worth it. Like I'm going from Arizona State to Southern Cal but for my major the avg USC grad gets 12000 a year more and I'm only going to pay a few thousand more. The other thing you need to think about is unless you find a way to get better grades, you may not get into a grad school. Then you'll be eating that debt for a long time. Def talk to your advisor and find out if you can maintain your major path while at CC. If it's a yes, then 100% CC. Unless your going to an Ivy I just don't see a reason to go that deep in debt.

fouxdufafa

I would reccomend going to cc. You'll save a load of dough, and often times cc's have programs that make it really easy to transfer into state schools!