I actually don’t know if it( not the jesuit one, the conservative Catholic one) is on the brink of closure but it fired hundreds of employees and has a sub 20 million endowment
Tell you parents if they don’t want you living at home, then they should pay for you to live away. Forcing you to take in debt is quite unreasonable.
I really trying to tell them that. Any advice to convince them? I hope one or both of those schools will let me back in. Should I say my situation has changed? That I need to commute?I wish I took the sat for a third time, the last time I took it was in June '19 and I have learned a ton of math since then. Its nuts where I live, I know someone taking out the whole cost of a 75k/ year school and I thought that was normal.
The college you committed to - if I’m guessing right - is included in the book, “Colleges That Change Lives”. Despite what you’ve been hearing/ reading, it can’t be all bad if it’s receiving that kind of praise. You could give it a try and transfer if you don’t like it. An opportunity is all about what you make of it, not what others say about it. That would give you time to continue the dialogue with your parents and consider other options together.
I also like the earlier suggestion of boarding at the Jesuit college (Scranton?) for a year and then commuting for the final 3 years as another alternative.
I know a top student who got into all of the schools she applied to, but then her parents told her they couldn’t afford any of them. They scrambled at the last minute, consulted with a private college counselor, and found a top college (Kenyon) which covered almost all of her costs. She went there and had a great 4 years. A counselor might be able to do the same for you. I would think that this type of service wouldn’t be too expensive, and could end up saving you money in the long run. If there’s no one locally, counselors like The Koppelman Group provide their services remotely, which is probably what the local counselor is going to do anyway these days.
Buyer’s remorse is a hard thing to cope with. We all go through it with many decisions in life. In many cases, the regrets are overblown and the positives are overlooked. Good luck.
Never ever accumulate student loan debt in excess of your expected first year salary.
Even better to limit total student loan debt to one’s first year expected earnings after taxes.
A large undergraduate student loan debt burden will limit your opportunities to attend graduate school, to buy a home, to marry, and to have children. If the student loan debt is large & burdensome, then you may be unable to secure a federal government security clearance which may be a job requirement.
I actually had a great inexpensive advisor outside of school throughout the app process. Sadly my parents were not upfront all of my restrictions until after I applied, toured, etc. My parents will not let me say that certain things to this advisor. I don’t have a problem with cicl. I was so excited for the college process and such as a teen. And this is a mess. I would love to go to the Jesuit school, but my parents are telling me that I need to go away and broaden myself. They said 100k is nothing, Flagship grads owe 140k ,etc. And then take on 100k in the process…
You know that’s not true. $100K in student loans would be over $1K/month in payments, every month, for 10 years.
Around 65% of undergrads take out debt and the average debt of that group upon graduation is $30K. Just because your parents know people who have made these choices, know that it is not the norm. “Everybody” is not doing it.
Publisher is right, that kind of debt will impact your life is so many ways. Whether you can buy a house. Attend grad school. Get married…seriously, some people won’t date others with significant debt…that’s how crippling a burden it can be.
Can you still talk with the advisor you used? This time telling them everything?
Do not sign on for $100,000 of student loan debt for any of the schools on your list.
Probably okay for Harvard, MIT, Stanford, CalTech & a handful of other super elite undergraduate schools, but not okay for your list of schools.
Also, if $100,000 is nothing, then why don’t your parents pay for it upfront rather than taking out student loans ?
This is your life & your future. If you are going to pay for it through student loans, then it is almost 100% your decision as well.
Yeah I most likely will speak with the advisor. My parents think I’m delusional and lazy for not wanting to owe. Community college around here is crazy expensive too. Its making my parents hostile because they don’t get the difference between debt amounts. Constant arguing.
Even in states where student loan debt is on the high side, it is typically much lower than $100k: https://ticas.org/interactive-map/
Note: you can click on a state to see what each college’s typical student loan debt levels are.
Consider taking a gap year. Work & study for a retake of the SAT. Increase your standardized test score, then apply to schools which offer scholarships based on one’s SAT / ACT scores & high school GPA.
I’m sorry you are going through this OP, it is stressful I’m sure.
Do talk with the advisor…would they be able to speak openly with your parents? Perhaps show your parents some of the replies on this thread?
Maybe you should show your parents the responses in this thread. Then they can see that it’s not just you who thinks $100,000 in debt is unreasonable.
For the record, even thinking about taking on that amount of debt makes me nauseous.
Do colleges accept sat taken after high school graduation? That might be viable idea, I basically prepped to the hilt when I took it (no tutoring though).
All of the schools you listed (except for the one on the brink of closure) are good schools, but I don’t think any school is worth $100,000 or more of student debt. Yes, I know it isn’t that unusual for parents in Pennsylvania to cosign large loans and sometimes expect their kids to pay them back. However, if your parents don’t want you living at home now, will they want you living with them for years after you graduate from college? You would probably need to do so with that much debt. You really have no good options if your parents won’t let you live at home. If you can talk them into letting you commute, Scranton would be the best option. Juniata is also an excellent school. Are your parents planning to contribute anything at all, other than interest on the loans? If they can’t afford to pay anything on an upper middle class income, how can they expect you to pay back large loans as a new college graduate?
As far as the savings goes I have about 3k saved from my own work that I want to put toward the cost but they won’t let me contribute that much. They want me to have lots of fun. They might contribute 1-2k per year but they are planning to cosign everything else. They are telling me to go get job if I can’t handle the financial sacrifices of college. I got my permit a while ago but they did not teach me how to drive until this year so I am not sure if I will be competent enough for my license by August.
You need to speak with your counselor without your parents present so that you can be straight with that person.
The amount of debt your parents are thinking of having you take on is ridiculous. How did they get the notion that it is normal? Who have they been speaking with? Where did those parents find the loans, and how easy has it been for the kids to pay the loans off?
The Covid-19 situation is going to be a lot worse before it gets better. Most colleges are making plans to be online in the fall. Some are already discussing cancelling the fall terms entirely. So chances are wherever you would enroll, you still will be studying on a laptop in your bedroom at home. In that case, it makes best sense to choose the cheapest option (nice Jesuit College), and then when/if the dorms do open up one day, move onto campus.
Right, if your parents think $100K is nothing, tell them to pay it. Tell them many other adults think that. If they think you should have fun, tell them to pay for it. It’s put up or shut up time for them, and you can show them this thread.
so you withdrew all your applications already? why rush the process if you are so unsure? also, hard to give advice not knowing which school you chose.
Jesuits offer a great education…so does UDel and Syracuse.
My advice based upon your thread, is don’t take any financial advice from your parents. Not about paying for college, buying a home, retirement planning, or buying lunch.