Hello, I am a MN junior who is graduating a year early and unfortunately had this decision approved last minute, limiting my options to these three schools. However, I know I cannot wait a cycle and I think one of these three schools is the right choice for me. Financially, I have 295k in college savings intended to be split between me and my brother. I am also planning on being a CPA so some of these funds will need to be allocated to a master’s degree or graduate degree of some sort for me to meet credit requirements. My major for all three schools is accounting and I plan on applying to be in the honors program at ASU next year. As for price, ASU would cost me $50k/year including living costs, UH Manoa would cost me $45k/yr with living costs factored in, and Pasadena City College would cost $10k for tuition with living costs not included. I chose these schools because of weather and location and another concern of mine is being able to meet other people which I fear I would not be able to do as much at PCC. ASU I think would be nice for having the traditional college experience but the price makes me a little nervous. UH would be great as I really like the location but I have a similar price fear with that college.
Why not start at your local in-state community college and then transfer to a university, perhaps a lower cost in-state public?
Unfortunately none of these universities are affordable. You can afford about 30k per year, which is nice, but well below what these 3 cost. (You can only take 5.5k in loans for freshman year).
I would second the idea of exploring a local CC (I hear St Paul College is excellent) or any state university still accepting apps then transferring to UMN. Check to see if UMN Morris or UMN Duluth still accept applications because it’d maje rhe transfer smoother.
I doubt Pasadena CC is 10k if you’re considered OOS, which you’d be unless your parents live in CA. Checjt hat they’ve nor billed you as an instate student.
If a merit scholarship is important for you to be able to afford college, you’d need to not attend college at all and work since the best aid usually goes to freshmen.
Perhaps look into universities that offer a 5th year for free which would pay for your 150 credits in Accounting.
Depending on your stats, there may be universities that would be affordable thanks to scholarships (merit or need based aid).
Can a student just take additional courses at a low cost community college to get to 150 credits if they do not have enough after completing a bachelor’s degree?
AFAIK some allow this but it’s not recommended. The idea is to have more advanced, relevant coursework that will help with CPA certification, not an extra year of introductory classes.
Beside more work in accounting, another option for students who have lots of DE/AP credit is to get to 150credits by double majoring in 4 years, taking accounting/business relevant, advanced coursework in their last year alongside courses for their 2nd major.
I’m not a specialist so some may have more comments.
Why are you graduating early? MUST you graduate early, or can you stay in high school for another year?
In your other thread you indicated that the budget was about $35k for tuition, room & board College List Help For a Junior That Wants To Go OOS (MN resident, 3.9 UW GPA, 33 ACT, <35K, Accounting).
In a different thread you indicated:
Is it that your grandparents don’t think that Arizona State or U. of Hawaii are “worth it” and are not willing to cover the remaining costs? Or was there a misunderstanding?
In both of your threads I provided lists of schools to consider (post from your first thread, post from your other thread).
Essentially, it appears as though you don’t have an affordable acceptance, at least if you’re wanting a “traditional” college experience. There are colleges, though, that are still accepting applications that have the potential to hit the budget. Do you want us to look for any?
Pasadena City college tuition costs for Non-residents is $46/semester unit plus $400/semester unit as a Non-resident. If you take around 15 units/semester then that is $6690/semester or $13,380/year not including additional student fees/health insurance or housing/food/transportation/school supplies etc….
Part of the reason I am graduating early is to leave MN so that would feel like I’m taking one step forward to go two steps back. Especially since it means I have to stay in state for another year at the very least. I do know someone who enrolled in MN community college online and then moved to FL so I guess I could do something similar to that.
If I transferred my first year of college would I be able to get any merit aid? I do have decent stats (3.9 UW GPA, 4.3 W GPA, 33 ACT) so I think I would be able to get some merit aid if it was available and I could show my high school information. I really do not want to have to go anywhere local so even if it is more costly, I think it would be worth it for quality of life reasons.
For your first question, I am graduating early for mental health reasons and I really do not think it would be best for me to stay in high school or in MN for another year. For your second question, my grandparents can still do that, I just can’t really quantify what money they could provide unlike my college fund where I have an exact budget so I didn’t include it in my post.
If you start as a freshman, I think there are a number of colleges that would give you significant merit aid, and colleges that meet a $35k budget that you would be happy to attend could be found. Doing it as a last minute search two months before school is about to start is unlikely to yield the best results (though not impossible to get any results).
Have you thought about taking a gap year? I’m unsure if Americorps is still funded, but doing something like that in a location away from MN could be a way to get away from home while having time for a more deliberate college application process.
Or consider either community college or a gap year in a state where you can gain residency on your own. The one I know could work would be Utah, since they have a clear path to residency for students. You could either work for a year in SLC and apply to UofU as a first-year, or do a community college transfer pathway. Herriman Campus | SLCC
UofU has strong business programs and a great honors college, and the in-state cost would be in budget.
There may be other places where you could do this, but I don’t know of others off the top of my head.
It doesn’t make sense to rush into a situation that’s going to exhaust your college savings before you can graduate, and all three of your current proposed options fit this description. Even if community college in California were affordable (which it probably isn’t because of the cost of living plus OOS differential), you can’t become a resident, so what will you do when it’s time to transfer?
Another gap year possibility could be a “super-senior” year abroad, where you’d live with a host family and do a year at a high school, with students your own age. This would further enhance your application, and you could apply to colleges while there. It’s rather late to be looking into this but it might still be possible. https://www.afsusa.org/study-abroad/#afs-nav-faqs
I see that Western Carolina University is still taking applications, according to the NACAC list of colleges still taking applications for this Fall.
They have an accounting major and their OOS cost fits in your 5 year budget.