How can I afford out-of-state tuition?

Archive State Forums
1

Hello,

I am a current high school rising senior in Florida. My parents originally paid for the Florida Prepaid College Plan (4 year univ) and insist that I will stay in Florida. They continuously say to me “Your college is paid here, you will stay in Florida.” However, my dream is to go to school in Massachusetts. My top choices in Massachusetts are the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Boston College, Boston University, Clark University, Eastern Nazarene College, and Western New England University. I intend to study to become an architect or go into a pre-med program. I will be full-time dual enrolled my senior year of high school. This means that all of my classes will be taken at a local community college so that I can earn college credit while still in high school. I’m not sure if this will help with the cost of college or not. I have a 3.6 UW GPA and a 4.88 W GPA. I volunteer regularly, am a member of NHS & NSHSS, and am currently involved in a nationally-recognized financial literacy club. My SAT and ACT scores were not very high, but I intend to study hard this summer and retake the SAT in August. I also have accumulated 24 college credits from dual enrollment classes during my junior year. I have the support of many people (adults) encouraging me to go to school where I want to go. They informed me that this is MY decision, not my parents. I need to go where I will be happy. I am very unhappy in Florida. I love New England and everything it has to offer. I do not want to spend the next four years in Florida. If it helps, I have tons of family in the Worcester area who can allow me to stay with them to avoid the high costs of room and board. (This would only work if I attend a college in the Worcester area.) How can I afford the cost of out-of-state tuition without racking up huge amounts of debt? If my parents are unsupportive, what do I do? Please do not try to discourage me from going out-of-state. I know the more realistic thing to do would be to stay here, and sure, I will still get the college experience in Florida. But I know, if I don’t do this, I will regret not following my dream.

2

If you are planning on medical school I would go to undergrad in Florida and save some money you don’t want to wind up $500,000 in debt out of medical school

3

Simply put, you probably can’t.

Room and board is ballpark $12,000 per year.

But tuition at Holy Cross is $25,000 Per Semester…so $50,000 per year. Plus fees, books, and so on.

Unless all those people urging you to go to school in New England have started a GoFundMe page for you, I’m not sure how you can possibly make this work.

I think your parents would be fine with you following your dream, they just don’t have a spare $200,000 to pay Tuition for the next 4’years, particularly when school in your home state looks to be free.

If you plan to fund this yourself, where will you get the money for medical school?

I think you should revise your dream to becoming a doctor, and not worry as much about the geography of becoming one.

4

You ask us not to encourage you to stay in FL but that is the sensible answer given your situation. And your parents do have a say if they are writing the check. There is no way you can come up with $30-60,000 per year on your own to attend school in MA.

See what FL schools accept your dual enrollment credit. See if DE plus AP gets you a year of college credit and then you only have to live in FL three more years. You have the rest of your life to live somewhere else.

I would love to run a 4 minute mile. Heck at my age I would love to run a 5 minute mile. I can post on forums all day long and there is nothing anyone can tell me that would allow me to run a 4 minute mile despite my determination or training discipline.

5

“I have the support of many people (adults) encouraging me to go to school where I want to go. They informed me that this is MY decision, not my parents. I need to go where I will be happy.”

Are these many people willing to pay for your college? If not, then this is simply horrible advice.

6

It would help if you can answer the following questions:

  • Can the money in the prepaid college plan be used outside of Florida, or will you be penalized/lose it?
  • The Massachusetts colleges you list are all private, and most are very expensive - do you have enough to cover the cost for 4 years? If you’re planning on med school, you don’t want to go into it with undergrad debt if possible.
  • Have you checked into whether or not those schools would give you credit for your dual enrolled classes, which would reduce the number of classes you need to take at those schools?
  • Are any of the many adults encouraging you to follow your dreams prepared to help pay for your schooling? It’s only YOUR decision to the extent you don’t need financial support from your parents; otherwise, you have to expect them to have some say.
  • How did you pick that list of schools, other than that they’re all in the Boston/Worcester area? They are all VERY different schools (WPI is technical, the others aren’t. BU is huge relative to Clark. Holy Cross is Catholic. Clark is super quirky, BC is really preppy). On the surface, it doesn’t seem really well thought out.
  • Most importantly, have you actually had a calm, mature conversation with your parents, explaining how you feel, and understanding their concerns? Are they worried about the money? Do they not want you going so far away? Once you know what they’re concerned about, you can try to reassure them.
7

I will regret not following my dream<<<<

You are already ahead of most kids with college paid for. You should archive this post and in 4 yrs thank your parents profusely. As medical school is unlikely for the vast majority of high school juniors who say that out loud, focus on the here and now. If your ACT/SAT isn’t worth mentioning in a numerical fashion, that is where you can put some energy. Do understand too that those credits are not necessarily transferable.
You can go OOS by leaving home, getting a job and paying your own way.


[QUOTE=""]
How can I afford the cost of out-of-state tuition <<<

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You can’t.

8

I think you need to sit down with your parents and find out exactly what the rules of the pre-paid account are.

http://www.myfloridaprepaid.com/using-your-plan/using-your-benefits/

9

And living with family u will miss out on a huge part of college life

10

Holy Cross, WPI and Clark are residential campuses. If you lived with relatives and commuted you would be the odd person out. Also, do you know what a 26" snowstorm with wind chills of -20 degrees feels like?

11

Figure out how you can use your 529.
Next: rethink your list. Your college choices are all over the place and don’t make any sense. Read up in these colleges and select those that are relatively similar.
Are you a bit or a girl?
Have you run the npc on each if them? What’s the results?
Why Massachusetts?
There are lots of states that aren’t Florida nor Massachusetts. Many will give you merit aid if you have high test scores.
No matter what you do, apply to Florida universities. The state is huge and there are significant differences between the panhandle, the central corridor, and the Miami area, just to cite three obvious regions with very different cultures. Not to mention college cultures : There are huge differences between non-academic minded FGCU and intensely academic Wilkes, between Republican stronghold FAU and quirky NCF, between UF honors and UWF… Add Eckerd, Rollins, Stetson… And you really have something for everyone.
Now if you want history, museum culture, snow, sleet, no stand-your-ground laws, etc, you’ll find that in plenty of states and cities in the north, from New England to the Midatlantic to the Midwest. Some may even have financial aid or merit aid to help you ‘escape Florida’.
Have a plan A, B, C.
I get that you may not like Florida but you need to make a plan and you need to include Florida schools in that plan.

12

@MYOS1634 Beat me to the punch. As I was thinking about my earlier reply, I wanted to hit the size of FL as well. Where are you in FL? I would say there are least four if not five subcultures in FL with colleges in all parts.

And ditto on weather. It’s one thing to visit in the Fall. It’s another to be slogging it out in February or what’s worse to me, in April when my body says Spring should have arrived and yet it’s still cold.

13

“I intend to study to become an architect or go into a pre-med program.”

Undergrad in Florida, graduate / medical school in Massachusetts. These programs are expensive, you need to be careful with your university dollars in order to minimize the debt that you will be left with after you are done.

“what’s worse to me, in April when my body says Spring should have arrived and yet it’s still cold.”

Actually it is late May right now, and today is cold in Massachusetts. Tomorrow, who knows?? I still wouldn’t use the weather as a reason to stay in Florida (up north we can add more clothes when we are cold, down south there is a limit to how many us old guys want to take off).

“How can I afford the cost of out-of-state tuition without racking up huge amounts of debt?”

You probably can’t. If you do rack up huge amounts of debt, it will haunt you for a long time and will prevent you from following other dreams down the road.

“if I don’t do this, I will regret not following my dream.”

You can’t afford it. Massachusetts will still be here after you get your Bachelor’s degree (and there will still be lots of excellent graduate schools).

“No matter what you do, apply to Florida universities. The state is huge and there are significant differences between the panhandle, the central corridor, and the Miami area, …”

Agree.

14

Can we look at the numbers?

School in FL-- I’m assuming that the Florida Prepaid College Plan covers tuition only, not room and board. So 4 years x $13,000 per year= $56,000. Add in, say $1000 per year for travel and books, and it still costs $60,000 out of pocket.

Now let’s look at school in MA: I’m choosing Holy Cross from your list simply because I already did my homework and found the tuition:

4 year tuition: $200,000
4 years room and board-- I’ll pretend that the cost of living is the same as FL, though it’s absolutely not: 4 x $13,000 = $56,000

Travel: let’s assume it’s the same as NY to FL-- which I doubt- and that round trip at Christmas is ballpark $500, $250 in September and $250 in May-- and that you’re not coming home for Thanksgiving, spring break, your sister’s Sweet 16 or Grandma’s heart attack: 4 x $1000= $4,000 Let’s add in $500 for books

Wardrobe: I’m guessing you don’t have the kind of clothes that are a necessity for MA winters. Let’s lowball and say $500.

So far, I’m at $261,000

OK, well over a quarter of a million dollars for you to attend school in MA-- where is that money going to come from?

Your parents could sell their home, but then where would they live? And where would you come home to over those breaks?

Your parents could forego their retirement savings, and work well into their 80’s.

You could possibly take out a quarter of a million dollars in loans, but you would spend the rest of your life paying it back-- and then what would you do for medical school?

Those people urging you to follow your dream… they don’t by any chance have a spare quarter of a million dollars to give you, do they?

15

This is a really tough one because a student needs to be highly motivated in order to complete their studies in a challenging environment AND needs to be realistic about how they can pay for this. You must have both pieces of the puzzle to complete the educational picture. There are many reasons why some bright young students do not complete college.

  1. Please find out what happens to the 529 money if you do not go in-state. Do you loose all of the money or can an amount equal to the in-state public school cost be used toward the out-of-state private school costs?
  2. Put some more effort into learning about career directions and associated majors. Your choices are all over the board, but interdisciplinary thinking is also a good thing. Write down your favorite courses and match them to fields of study. Eliminate your favorite course and do the exercise over again. Eliminate your third favorite course and repeat the career matching exercise again.
  3. Take your career nominations and find schools with degrees that fit you nominations. For example, if it is medical find out what a day's work really entails. You could major in organic chemistry and wonder what you would do if med school was not in the cards. You could pursue biomedical engineering and find a career with a BS or go to med school. You could do what a niece did, become interested in genetics and pursue a career in a new field by hanging around Boston genetics labs. This new field is just blossoming.
  4. Make an effort to find the best programs FL has to offer by including Florida with some Boston area options as you do your research. I would be surprised if Florida did not have some very good choices.
  5. The more expensive a college is, the higher the demonstrated financial need. Holy Cross proudly boast of meeting ALL the demonstrated financial need of their accepted students. Schools like Tufts and BC MAY do the same. WPI gives some merit money. WPI is not Holy Cross, but both have premed options. This is where your secondary career choices play a big role in your selection of colleges.

This process will help you to tune-in to a college you can really get excited about and that is a step which leads to a successfully completed college career.

I am not Catholic but I did attend graduate school at BC. My undergraduate work was at WPI and I took a course at The College of the Holy Cross. It is not some hilltop monastery with the monks kneeling on stones at 5 AM. The Catholics have a great system of academically solid institutions of higher learning with a wide range of social and economics mixing.

Tuition monies are available to graduating medical students in many rural areas across the country. How about working in Aroostok County Maine where it is really cold in the winter. Graduates must work in these rural areas for some fixed number of years. They go to Cape Cod to warmup. There are some small towns in FL where my Maine neighbors hide out every winter BUT they do return home for the beautiful Maine summer.

Good luck and remain calm! Your parents probably do care about you!

16

ROTC is another answer. But please don’t do it if you aren’t interested in serving the Active Duty committment.

17

I know one student who used ROTC to fund his BS and ended up with a PhD in biology which was funded by the US Army. I have a grand nephew who turned down West Point and took an Army ROTC scholarship at Georgetown University because the academic program better fitted his academic interests. The Army is paying his costs. He wants to mix his Mandarin language interest with MI. He has an interest in the military.

This is not the right idea for everyone.