Hi,
I am a student who is currently looking to transfer to a new university.
A little about my situation, I’ve completed my freshman yeah with a 4.00 GPA in my schools honors college while playing a division one sport. Unfortunately, I will not be able to return to the team for next year leaving me in a big financial issue. After my first year I only owe $5000 in student loans, however I am planning on attending law school and am worried about excessive debt. My current school is out of state and without the athletic scholarship it would not be worth the level of education to take out large loans to continue there.
With that being said, I am from Pennsylvania which has some of the highest in state tuition in the country and offers no tuition reciprocity to any nearby regional states. My parents make enough to not qualify for any federal aid but not enough to substantially pay for my education nor my sister who is about to start college too. I am willing to work and work a lot to make my dream of completing law school happen.
If anyone has any suggestions or past experiences in a similar experience I would really appreciate hearing back!
Since your current university is unaffordable without the athletic scholarship, and you don’t have anything lined up yet for the fall, there is nothing wrong with planning now to take a year off. During that time you can sort through your options.
Talk with your family and determine what they truly are ready, willing, and able to pay. That is the figure you need to focus on. Dig through this forum and the Financial Aid Forum and put together a list of places that have reputations for awarding good aid to transfer students. Also, look at the CC to State U pathways in PA, and see if any of those could work for you.
Wishing you all the best!
Don’t dismiss federal aid. If there are 2 of you in college, you may qualify for some aid, even if it is only subsidized loans or SEOG.
Are you planning on playing your sport at another school? There are some great D2 schools in PA and you might get some merit aid or athletic aid, might be able to use the PA grants. Just try to stack all the awards you can. Look at West Chester, Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg. There are also a few privates that may be a good match, with athletic aid and merit, like Seton Hill.
@twoinanddone…excellent suggestions. Solid schools with solid athletics. Less debt so law or graduate school remains a possibility…particularly with likely fewer job possibilities after Covid 19. I think this approach should make sense to most of the current and potential college students out there.