College Tuition! WHY?!

[BonjourMika1990]

The cost to go to college is outrageous... I'm sure it's worth it, but in the next four years, I'll have to keep applying for scholarships and I have no choice but to take out loans. The colleges that I want to attend are not cheap. I didn't get into NYU this year, but next year I hope to tell you all differently:wink2: That'll than be 50,000 a year... not to mention this year's expenses at Columbia in Chicago : about 30,000 I believe:shocked:

 

So, I'm asking all of you about your experience with the tuition costs...What are things that you've learned? What's the best way to go about this????

 

 

I'd love to hear about your experiences!

[Diana]

That's insane, why the hell is it that expensive?!

[stephaniedy2k1]

:shocked:Wow thats seems alot of money!

 

Here in the Uk it has cost me £1250 a year in university tution fees.(im at uni for 3 years)

 

I was lucky because i started university before the government introduced a new system for working out tution fees, which i think are a lot more money now.

 

Its also cost me less because i decided to stay at home and just travel each day (an hour and 15 journey) so havent had to take out loans for living costs.

 

Good luck, i havent enjoyed university at all and have found it a really hard time, but i think it will all be worth while when i start teaching in september, only a few months of uni left!

[Cassiopée]

You should come study in Canada. It's quite cheap. It's even cheaper in Montreal, about 2000$ for 2 semesters.

[cath85]

:shocked:Wow thats seems alot of money!

 

Here in the Uk it has cost me £1250 a year in university tution fees.(im at uni for 3 years)

 

I was lucky because i started university before the government introduced a new system for working out tution fees, which i think are a lot more money now.

 

Its also cost me less because i decided to stay at home and just travel each day (an hour and 15 journey) so havent had to take out loans for living costs.

 

Good luck, i havent enjoyed university at all and have found it a really hard time, but i think it will all be worth while when i start teaching in september, only a few months of uni left!

 

that's because you stayed at home, the fun part is about living far away from your parents in a cool city lol

 

You should come study in Canada. It's quite cheap. It's even cheaper in Montreal, about 2000$ for 2 semesters.

 

or come to france, I only paid 250 euros for this year

[wasabi_tea]

Here in the Uk it has cost me £1250 a year in university tution fees.(im at uni for 3 years)

 

Lucky! It's costing me £3000+ per year, and I'm on a 4-year course too >.O

 

the fun part is about living far away from your parents in a cool city lol

 

Absolutely! As much as I love my parents, it's been so nice to have a place all to myself - I'm free to do whatever the heck I want! Plus, if I get bored, I can just hop on the Tube and go somewhere cool, which is not something that I can do back in my boring little hometown.

[dcdeb]

You're scaring me, Melanie!

 

Seriously, I can't believe how much tuition costs have increased since

I went to school (in the dark ages, when dinosaurs still roamed the planet...)

 

And now my son is just two years away from going! We've been lucky to

put aside enough money that I hope, HOPE, he won't need to take out

loans... and honestly I don't know what he'd qualify for because of

our income -- we're in that middle area: not fabulously rich, but not

too poor...

 

Wish I had some advice to offer -- instead I'll be reading to see what

others have to tell YOU!

 

dcdeb

[annabelle]

:shocked:And I thought I was paying a lot for my studies!

 

Here we have some weird, unfunctional system, where some have to pay and some don't have to. Those who have to pay should mostly be people who already work, but of course it's not like that, because I don't work but I have to pay for it anyway 'cause that was the only way to subscribe to my college. Long and complicated story. Well anyway- those who have to pay, pay around 2000 € per year. That's for study only, you don't get any books, living, etc for free.

 

You should come study in Canada. It's quite cheap. It's even cheaper in Montreal, about 2000$ for 2 semesters.

This is one of my biggest dreams. I would love to go to Canada to study there.

 

that's because you stayed at home, the fun part is about living far away from your parents in a cool city lol

I wish I could experience that 'fun part', but I study in my home town and the prices of apartments are so darn expensive that I cannot afford to move away.

[stephaniedy2k1]

Lucky! It's costing me £3000+ per year, and I'm on a 4-year course too >.O

 

 

 

Absolutely! As much as I love my parents, it's been so nice to have a place all to myself - I'm free to do whatever the heck I want! Plus, if I get bored, I can just hop on the Tube and go somewhere cool, which is not something that I can do back in my boring little hometown.

 

Its cause i started before they brought in the whole top fees thing, i was the last year to start that still qualified for the old cheaper system, its rediculous how much money it costs and it keeps going up thank god i ve nearly finished!

 

I did think about moving out it probably would have been a lot more fun, but just before i started uni a few huge things happened in my life and i just didnt think i could cope with moving away on top of all that, i needed my family around me at that time and they needed me too.

[Romis]

I feel strange when I read about this...some american countries, like Colombia or Peru have the same system than USA. I don't know if it's better or not, but if you pay for it it must have a lot of advantages!

 

 

I've heard that Canada has a great level of education...because most of the people have the possibility to study. Here only the 5% of people goes to uni, and some people still not finished secondary school

So, it's like paradoxical: education is free, it has a good level, has good reputation, but it's still difficult to do a carreer because the basis of education and other things people need fail. And I think everybody who's a professional now wants to live in another country...

 

Hope It's understandable, you don't know how much difficult is to say this in english.

 

One thing is sure: Melanie will be able to go to college because she's really intelligent and the effort that she puts to learn and be better makes her deserve it You'll find a solution for the other part of the problem

[mandilambi]

I really don't have advice to give, other than telling you that loans are pretty much a must. Sometimes I wonder if it's all worth it. :-S

[BonjourMika1990]

Aww Romis how sweet of you:blush-anim-cl:

 

Thanks to everyone for their advice... It really is a daunting thing to think about... but as long as I keep furthering my education I should be able to pay off loans in the future...Eventually, I wanna go for a masters in something...the higher the education, the more money you can make (atleast that's how it's supposed to work out)

 

 

IT's good to have support where alot of us have the common problems with money and tuition.

[xBillyBrownx]

Are you serious?!?!?! That's mad!! At the AUC (which is the best and most expensive uni in Egypt) you pay a maximum of 60,000LE which is 11,000$ per semester (so 22,000$ per year)...

[lollipop_monkey]

 

$50,000 per year? For a four year bachelor's degree, I presume?

 

That's ludicrous. Don't. Just don't. Let's assume that you get half of that in scholarships - that's still leaves $25,000 per year in loans. So you graduate with $100,000 owing in student loans?

 

If my math is right, please, PLEASE think twice about this. You don't want to get out of school carrying $100,000 or even $50,000 worth of debt. And aren't you looking at majoring in English or some other Art? That's a lot of debt even if you're getting a degree in neurosurgery. You'll have to live with your parents until you're 40. And buying a house? So not happening. Not to mention trying to go for a Master's degree while you're already stuck with all that debt.

 

I know NYU has a certain appeal, but unless your parents are willing to give you tens of thousands of dollars toward your education, it's SO not worth it.

 

I'd seriously, strongly recommend you consider less expensive schools in your general area, or even seriously consider looking outside of the US. Here are some links, just off the top of my head that would give you a decent education, and a bit of a taste of some other culture as well - and for a lot less money.

 

McGill University - Montreal

 

University of the Arts - London

[PhotoJenic]

My college gets quite a bit of money but they're waaaaay in debt now. The professors that are leaving aren't getting replaced yet they're building onto a building just to make it bigger. Why not save the money you ask? I dunno. Our school doesn't really think. They've also bought two huge flat screen tvs for over $7,000. Smart right?

 

The college I'm going to next school year is over $60,000 but that also includes the $5,500 camera that was originally $12,000, our insurance to use a $22,000 camera, a lot of our materials and our house/apartment. Thank goodness this is only 10 months long because I couldn't afford 4 years of that!

 

I heard in some places over in Europe college is free? (If so I should have gone there )

 

Other than that, all I have to say is thank goodness for loans.

[Guest]

It's insane. Especially because the college I really liked is a local university, but it's actually MORE expensive than HARVARD. How absolutely ridiculous.

 

My sister went to business school, which I believe cost about... $18 thousand for a year and a half. I really want to go to nursing school, and there's a local school that I can be enrolled in by the end of this year, and it'll cost like... probably around the same as my sister's business school, except I'll only be going for a little over a year at first.

 

And trust me, I'm not trying to sound like a brat, but my parents make too much money for financial aid. And it's not even that they make more than anyone else, it's just that when my grandma died she left us her house (they said it's worth about 300k) and stuff like that. So it's just so completely stupid. It's not like we just have $300k lying around, but because the house/farm was worth alot, they said it's pretty much impossible for my sister or I to get any help.

 

[rilo8913]

It's horrific how much tuition is nowadays... of course there are some ways to avoid paying the exact estimated tuition at the private ones. They inflate it a lot based on assuming you'll go for the highest price dorm, lots of personal costs, etc. If you're frugal you can decrease the cost by a few thousand (I know, not too much, but any bit helps). For example, if you end up going to NYU your sophomore year, you can request lower cost housing [or even considering renting a studio or something with friends, which would be less than dorming costs (and probably nicer anyway) if you split it between a few people, haha].

 

Like Sarie mentioned, federal financial aid is totally useless if you have any expected family financial contribution (as determined by the FAFSA). And if your parents have a job that basically includes you. Especially at the schools with low endowments for student aid (like NYU), you're barely allotted any money and are thus strapped with the endless loans...

 

I would just say to keep looking out for scholarships, either local or national ones. That's what I'm doing. I'm totally desperate. Even if the scholarships have "small" award amounts, they'll start adding up if you keep applying and actually win some of them. I've been a witness to what it's like to have huge student loans and it's really not pretty, so I'm trying my hardest to avoid taking out as many loans as my own financial aid package suggested.

 

P.S.

Before everyone starts to panic who's unfamiliar with US colleges, not all of them cost that much. You can go in-state to school in Texas, for example, for a fifth of the projected cost of NYU (it's like that with most public universities, and lots have even lower tuition than that). And then of course there are some private schools that give out massive scholarships if you have a good academic record.

 

It's really up to personal choice whether or not you want to sacrifice economic freedom to go to a dream school. I had the opportunity to choose between a few schools that were significantly less expensive, but I went with the one that gave me probably the least amount of aid because I want to go there, be in a certain environment, and I feel it's worth it for what I want to do and achieve in the future. I know other people who turned down their top choices because of the money issue but I didn't want to do that. That may sound stupid. *sigh* But I felt like I'd been given the opportunity now and I wanted to take advantage of it. Obviously I may sound a bit too idealistic, but I've also witnessed way too many people regretting not going for something big that would've made them happy. So... I saw my chance and I've decided to take it because you only live once. Some people say it's not worth it, but it's really up to you.

 

Oh yeah and also, DO get a job if you can. I'll be doing that. I even spoke to one guy who's currently a student where I'll be next year, and he holds down 3 jobs to help pay tuition/living costs on top of schoolwork... however he still seems to be having the time of his life. He inspires me

[BonjourMika1990]

Ooo thanks for the advice Rilo! I'm definatley willing to do whatever it takes to pay for college...loans are a given, but the sweat and tears will only make me a stronger person...

 

You have to pick the college that you like the best...for me, there was no way that I was going to settle...so here we are.

 

I can't think that I won't be able to pay the loans... I have to KNOW that one day I'll be sucessful because of the education that I got... and with that sucess will come money... and the higher the education that I get, the more I'll receive... I have to think of the best possible scenerio, otherwise fear and financial woes will dictate my life and how I perceive my dreams... I always said that I would make the dreams and wishes a reality...and I have done so thus far...some dreams take longer to pass, but that doesn't mean it won't happen.

 

So, whatever it takes, I'll have to find a way.

[rilo8913]

Ooo thanks for the advice Rilo! I'm definatley willing to do whatever it takes to pay for college...loans are a given, but the sweat and tears will only make me a stronger person...

 

You have to pick the college that you like the best...for me, there was no way that I was going to settle...so here we are.

 

I can't think that I won't be able to pay the loans... I have to KNOW that one day I'll be sucessful because of the education that I got... and with that sucess will come money... and the higher the education that I get, the more I'll receive... I have to think of the best possible scenerio, otherwise fear and financial woes will dictate my life and how I perceive my dreams... I always said that I would make the dreams and wishes a reality...and I have done so thus far...some dreams take longer to pass, but that doesn't mean it won't happen.

 

So, whatever it takes, I'll have to find a way.

 

Yep, I've been using the same reasoning myself. Here's to making it a reality!

[AKateisaKate]

$50,000 seens to be the most of the most, you know? I'm gonig to Emerson, which like NYU is a private school Tuition there is also pretty high, $40,000. But then again, there are many really good schools whose tuition is around $7,000. Probably less.

 

But if you really want to go to a school like NYU or Emerson (I understand where you're coming from Melanie), scholarships are key, I think. I applied for soooo manny, and they all help. I've gotten a few back now. They add up, even the small ones. My mom has a friend with five kids going to college, and she's definitely applying for loans.