So how do you plan to pay for either option?
Sounds like the issue is distance and travel costs - not tuition costs.
Apply and see where accepted and what aid you get. Then figure out overall costs and factor In travel cost and present to your parents. Maybe with good merit aid the travel costs won’t be so bad when looking at the big picture in comparison to other schools. Or it may be a lot more.
However this may be more about distance than money. Maybe they don’t want you so far away. That is a different issue. You need to have an open talk with them about it and listen to their reasoning too.
The OP says in one of their first couple posts that they are paying for everything. So yes, cost is a huge issue. I know the OP does not want to hear it, but both of the schools being discussed are unaffordable.
@intparent I get that the schools are expensive as do my parents, but they’re willing to let me go to New Haven for only 5,000 less than Seattle. New Haven does not give out scholarships as generous as the ones Seattle does so I feel like there would be overlap somewhere causing Seattle to be the cheaper school, tuition wise.
@sam9919 how are you going to pay for your grad school?
So yes, @bfahopeful is right, it’s not the tuition that is bothering them, and I never even said it was. The cost of travel is and the fact that it’s so far away. I don’t know where people got the idea that the issue was because of tuition because I never even mentioned the price of either schools in the original post.
@sam9919 It’s because you said they are going to have to take out loans. That’s a lot of $$$ in loans.
@TheAtlantic I’ve talked to guidance counsellors and college admissions administrators about this as well. They have said that grants and some businesses (depending on where I end up working) will help pay for the costs of grad school. Please know that everything I say and every opinion I have formed isn’t just because I’m some ignorant teenager who is being unrealistic. I’ve talked to many people about funding and scholarships and grants and this post wasn’t made so I could get beaten up and accused of being unreasonable and delusional. I just wanted a few tips on how I could talk to my parents to get them to understand that I have become more independent over the years and feel that moving to a different area wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to me. I appreciate everyone’s concern on money and finances but please understand that I have done a lot of looking around and wouldn’t even consider a school that couldn’t be afforded in the long run.
Do not underestimate the costs of transportation. During our son’s first year at Oberlin, he had 4 breaks, which meant 4 round trip plane tickets. And his trip to and from school at the beginning and end of the year involved several nights’ stay in hotels and inns. Listen to your parents’ concerns, especially regarding finances.
@sam9919 Just for the record, I’m only a year older than you. I don’t think you’re any more or less of an “ignorant teenager” than I am. I’m just gonna say a few things. It’s hard to truly bank on anything, and the less loans your family has to take out at all the better. I’m not at my dream school, but I’ll be debt free and I think it counts for something. Beyond that, factor in the possibility of you changing your career path. You’re gonna want to be at a place where you still have great options to do something else if you change your mind. Going to a school specifically for one major may be bad if you end up changing your mind.
To answer your specific question about talking to parents, here’s a tip. As someone that just got out of the process, occasionally you’re gonna need to make some things give. I live in Atlanta and wanted to apply to ivies (so extremely far away), as well as schools in DC and a few in the south. I ended up not applying to ivies or Northwestern or Rice. I did however apply to my DC schools. I had to convince my parents that there was a specific advantage to being at the DC schools. Because I was interested in law/media, DC offered concrete advantages (internships and jobs directly related to my major, connections, etc.) You’ll need to show your parents that there are unique advantages to being at Seattle U.
Also, I really don’t think you have to major in Forensic Psychology at the undergrad level to be a forensic psychologists. You really only need to have a psychology degree, and you can minor in criminal justice. So cast a wider net on options.
I think you should keep looking. There are programs out there.
There is probably a lot more science involved than you may want. Florida Tech is science oriented. Florida is only 3 hours away from Philly if you fly. Maybe your parents would like Florida better than Seattle.
There is not a single employer of forensic psychologists (other than the military–) who will pay for your graduate school. Your guidance counselor is wrong on this point.
You can join the military and qualify for GI benefits and major in anything you want- so yes, the military will pay for this degree. You can go to West Point which is free and then once you are done with your mandatory military service, you can use the money you didn’t spend on undergrad on grad school in forensic psychology.
But you are not getting out of UNH with a BS in forensic psychology and getting a police department or other law enforcement agency to pay your way through grad school.
You have been misinformed.
You are looking at close to or over $100K in loans just for undergrad. That is way too much, especially for that career. You will not find anyone willing to pay for your masters, either. You need to look at cheaper options.
My sister is a forensic psychologist. People earlier in this thread are right to say that you absolutely do not need an undergraduate degree in forensic psychology, or even psychology for that matter, to be accepted into top graduate programs. She went to a local state U for dirt cheap (Sam Houston State), majoring in Criminal Justice, then spent 6 figures on grad school. I would go somewhere far cheaper if I were you. If you’re going to be the one paying you could end up with 500k in loans. It may not be as shiny as Seattle, but you can get a Psychology degree anywhere, and the name of your school or degree is not going to hold you back in grad school admissions.
Edit - Also, intparent is right to say that for THIS career, having 6 figure loan debt is absolutely horrible. It’s bad enough for people that are engineers, but you will never be able to pay back those loans on the salary you’ll be making. My sister makes absolute garbage money for someone with an advanced degree, and even she’s doing very well for someone in her profession.
Informative page with links to resources:
Do not underestimate the need for someone close to you in case of an emergency.
We insisted that our kids go to college within a 3 hour drive of our hose OR within one hour of a close friend or relative. It was not negotiable. Period. And there would have been NOTHING our kids could have said to make it negotiable.
They both had plenty of options…large family, and many good friends.
DD totally understood when she had emergency surgery two weeks into her second term senior year. At 7 a.m. on the opposite coast. Our good friends were there immediately, and a close relative was there as well. There was no way I could get there for this emergency. And believe me, when you are hospitalized, you need and want someone there to listen and advocate for you.
Sure…plenty of kids go to college where they know no one. But that was NOT something we supported…at all. And boy were we glad.
John Jay in NYC has forensic psych BA. It’s a CUNY with rock-bottom tuition cost.
If you take a gap year and work or intern in NYC, you could go for a pittance. The cost of living plus tuition would prob be lower than what it would cost elsewhere.
In state is about $7K
OOS is about $16K
Housing ranges from $13K to $22K for the most deluxe
Range is $20K to $29K about tuition + housing= a lot less than the other schools
OOS range is $26K - $38K
It’s a bargain even without the gap year.
Plus internships in the NYC legal system.
I would also like to point out just how difficult of a job this is, mentally and emotionally. My sister worked at a place that houses various forms of schizophrenics, sociopaths, psychopaths, etc. and gave them group therapy. Once she was pinned up against a wall by her throat by a man with schizophrenia. It took about 30 seconds for the techs to arrive. A lot of people with degrees in forensic psych are working in the criminal justice system, in direct contact with criminals. You can be spit on, assaulted, verbally abused, and just generally see and hear things you do not want to hear on a regular basis, sometimes daily. Keep in mind you’re doing all of this while not being paid well. It takes an incredibly tough person, in every sort of way, to do some of these jobs. It’s highly eventful, and can be incredibly rewarding, but I’d strongly urge you to consider if this kind of job sounds like something you could handle. I know for a fact I couldn’t do it. And on top of it being dangerous, it can be absolutely soul crushing if you’re not prepared for some of the things you will hear on a daily basis, or seeing the same people over and over again if you work in the criminal justice system.
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While loans would be taken out in their name, it would be 100% my responsibility to pay them back, as well as paying for some travel expenses
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The OP has said that SHE will be responsible for paying back the big loans her parents would take out.
Absolutely no need to get the undergrad in particular major.
“you can get a Psychology degree anywhere, and the name of your school or degree is not going to hold you back in grad school admissions”
True, but you can gain an advantage by doing research and writing a master-level thesis as part of your BA, so that grad schools see that you already know how to do research and write about it. It might be easier at schools that require a thesis of all undergrads, where it’s built into the curriculum.