Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
1) Do well in high school
2) Research the best college for you that offers what you want to study, where you want to study etc and that offers you the best financial aid package
3) Go and live on campus cut the cord and experience college to the fullest in terms of interests outside of class be that sports, clubs whatever
4) Major in something you love and that interests you
5) Follow your passion after graduation and realize you will likely change paths, careers many times over and the better prepared you are for THAT, regardless of your major, the easier you will adapt and thrive...
I take objection to the view that all colleges are expensive, but this obviously depends on where you draw the line between valued at the right price and overly valued. Private school costs are kind of hard for me to justify. When you get a full time job, you're going to be tied down with constant payments on loans. Personally, as a rising sophomore in college, here is my advice.
1. As someone else already mentioned, take high school seriously. Not only in terms of grades/ GPA, but score high on the SAT (take it three times if necessary), and try to enroll in a lot of AP classes and attempt the AP exam (they're not that hard). Case in point, I got a 4 on the English Literature exam and I have always been horrid at interpreting poetry and my writing is not that good.
2. Do your research when applying to schools and try to have a general idea as to what you're going to major in. Pick a school based on location, financial aid, academic reputation, etc NOT how big of a party school it is or if a lot of your friends are going there. Also, going to a community college for two years is not a bad idea.
3. If you are able to, COMMUTE to college. Dorm one year if you want the "experience", but it's not all that according to some of my friends.
I currently attend Rutgers and tuition is around 7,000 a semester and I commute. Scholarships cover like 2,700 and a federal grant adds in another 1,000 or so. That leaves me to pay 3,300 which I make at my part-time job so I don't have to take out any loans.
My school also offered me a work-study job so that allows me the opportunity to earn money that I allot for books, car insurance, gas, and food.
Luckily, I live at home because if I didn't, I would be forced to take out a loan to get through school. But, if you can stay at home and there is a way to commute to school, I think it's foolish to not only take advantage of this, but also find a job and attempt to pay off school without the assistance of government loans. Interest rates have been set so artificially low, which boosted the demand for college and which has set the price for college up (what you're seeing now). Sometimes, it's best to let the markets of supply and demand come to a natural equilibrium, but I digress.
Punch line, as with all things in life, there are alternative methods to make college affordable, whether it be going to community college or dealing with a 30 minute commute as these present-day choices/sacrifices will ultimately benefit you in the long run.
For Boston University, what most would consider a decent school, definitely popular enough that they would offer most of their students little to zero aid:
Major in something practical.
Attend a community college for two years, live at home
Transfer to some local university, live at home if possible
Graduate with minimal debt in four years (some majors like engineering take an extra year)
There's nothing worse than attending some big bucks school to major in some "softology" and ending up with gnarly student loans. Even not attending college is worse assuming the person acquires a skilled trade such as electrician or plumber.
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with community college, there is real, tangible benefit to being on campus as well. My daughter could live at home and commute and would save 4k a year in subsidized loans, that will be 20k by the time she is done since she is double majoring. That being said, last year she was able to do work study for a researcher whose odd hours would have made it impossible if she was commuting. That turned into a paid summer internship and an all expense paid trip to a research conference in Brazil, whose networking value is priceless.
Sure she could have saved a few buck (very few when you factor in the summer internship) but the networking value she has gained by being on that big university campus is priceless and we won't know the true worth until grad school. Based on the people who are already asking her to apply to their programs I suspect she is now going to get a very good fellowship. So ultimately, spending that "extra" cost to live on campus is going to save significant money when it comes to graduate school.
That being said if a student will not take advantage of those opportunities, than your plan might save them some money.
My kids high school graduating class has three students attending Boston College this fall. There families will not qualify for financial aid at any college that they would attend, and they can afford the full tuition price :O. All of them are going in with a lot of AP credits, one of the girls has applied for advanced standing and will graduate one year early (I don't know about the other two kids).
It's sure an expensive college!
She shouldn't count her chickens before they're hatched.
According to the Common Data Set, Boston University gives financial aid to 92% of it's students (met their need) with an average package size of $37,655. That is hardly "little to no aid". The Common Data Set is a report all colleges are required to file outlining their admissions practices, results and financial aid information if you are not familiar with that.
$30K of the 'aid' we were offered was in an unsubsidized Stafford loan and Parent Plus loans. Officially they met our need and could report it as such. Not exactly the same as the schools that offered us a $25K scholarship or the $22K grant.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
