<p>Hi. I just recently got my GED.
Im thinking of leaving for college and getting a college fund and im wondering if im ready.
I have read A LOT about both going to the college i want and college funds. The career i want to pursue is in the United State and im from Puerto Rico. The only job i want is this one. To study for this job the cheapest is 20,000$ to 25,000$ a year and i will study for 4 years, so thats a total of 100,000$ college debt. Im thinkin of paying it after im done with college and that i will pay around 1,000$ a month. I read that is recommended that i also look for a job while im in college that way when i finish college it would be easier to pay the debt right after i finish college and im going to try and get one. The salary for the job i want is around 50,000$ annually when you start and grows up to 80,000$ over time. I did the math and thats around 4,200$ a month counting paying the college fund which is 1,000$ i will still earn 3,200$ a month and couting rent, electricity, basic cable, cell phone, groceries and renting a car with insurance and gas thats 1,700$ a month. So i will still earn around 1,500$ to save every month. I want to mention that i’m 23 years old and will be living alone. So you think im ready to live alone?
Also i want to know how much harder is college in United State compare to Puerto Rico, because i always felt that the school in Puerto Rico were to easy as i was a straight A student and im a little scare that i will fail my first year?</p>
<p>You asked a lot of good questions, LeavingOne. As far as paying for college debt, the most important thing to do is minimize your college expenses. A good starting point would be to find out as much as you can about financial aid opportunities (scholarships, grants, and if necessary, student loans). There’s a lot of good information you can find online, but I’d also encourage you to see if any of your local colleges (once you move to the U.S. mainland) have any special Financial Aid seminars. If you visit the Financial Aid sections of these college websites they should have upcoming programs prominently listed. Unfortunately they might only put on these seminars a few times a year and you might have to wait a while for the next ones to come up.</p>
<p>High schools also offer these informational sessions, but to be honest I’m not sure if they like people from the general public attending. You can always call and ask.</p>
<p>Another good resource is to schedule appointments with financial aid advisers at a few different colleges you’re interested in. It sounds like you already have a 4-year college picked out, so you can obviously schedule an appointment there. I’d also recommend that you talk to a financial aid adviser at a 2-year community college as well. If you’re a little unsure if you’re ready to jump into college you can start by taking classes at a community college to see how you’ll do. They have ways of determining which classes to start you in based on your high school grades, standardized tests and placement tests. If you need a little bit of remedial work to prepare you for college, a community college is the best place to start.</p>
<p>You may also have the option of starting off your first 2 years at a community college, then transferring to a 4-year university. A lot of 2-year and 4-year colleges work very closely together to develop programs that allow students to transition quite easily from a community college to a university. Tuition is a lot cheaper at community colleges and you can save a lot of money that way. However, because of differing financial aid packages that might be available, it’s possible it might actually be cheaper to go a 4-year university for all four years. For example I have a son who has a full-tuition scholarship at a 4-year university.</p>
<p>As far as working while you’re in college, that’s a good idea for several reasons. The most obvious reason is that it can help defray your college expenses. Also, potential employers like to see that you have a solid work history, and it shows them that you are ambitious and able to manage your time wisely. But you have to make sure that your job doesn’t interfere with your schooling. If you can’t maintain decent grades then it’s wise to cut back on the number of hours that you work. If money is a big issue with you, you might find that you’ll need to attend classes part-time, which obviously means you wouldn’t be able to graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>As far as being able to live on your own, it all depends on your financial situation. All I know is that it’s a time-honored tradition for college students to have roommates.</p>
<p>If you’re interested I’d be happy to send a link to your inbox of an excellent PowerPoint document from our local high school’s Financial Aid Night presentation. It would provide a really good starting point for finding out more about college financial aid.
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<p>You forgot to include taxes, which are high for a single person. If you’d be living here in the 50 states you will be paying both fed and state taxes…which may be new to you since in PR you dont pay those taxes. you would also have to pay fica taxes. so a big chunk will go to taxes.</p>
<p>who is going to be cosigning your student loans?</p>
<p>You have to allow for almost 30 percent in various taxes!</p>