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A number of companies provide tuition assistance for their employees.
This. I'm in grad school at ASU and working full time. My employer is paying about 98% of the tuition. Going to school while working might take a little longer than going to school full time but at the end of it all, I'll have the exact same degree without the debt.
The other ideas that were great in this thread - to go to an in state school, or get your Associate's from a CC first, then transfer for the last 2 years.
Student loans are, for most people, an incredibly bad idea. About 20 years later my husband is still chipping away at his, hundreds of dollars each month. I would never let my kid get saddled with student loans unless it was for an exceptional circumstance like med school.
the Barrett Honors College is a prestigious honors college (top five in the nation). I guess I could look into private colleges, but, something Ivy League could apply here.
Even better. I think you should take your accomplishments to better schools and see what opportunities you have there. Private schools are cheaper for good students. Ivy Leagues are very difficult to transfer into at the undergraduate level, but it's worth a try. There are so many schools that you can get away with paying less for that will look much better than ASU on your resume.
The gov deems parents responsible, until the child reaches the criteria for declaring as an independent student.
There are ways around that. Not to mention, the government is only involved if you require their money. I know. I have TWO children in college. I probably know the ins and outs of college finances like the back of my hand.
Our children don't qualify for financial aid, however, they received tons of scholarships and grants. We subsidize what we can/when we can as long as it's reasonable. Their jobs take care of the rest of it.
Check it out -- $10 an hour * 2040 hours a year -- $20400 a year. It's easier to get a loan if you have a wsy to pay it off also. Not living in an expensive dorm -- even living with parents saves a lot of money.
I guess people are against community college, its a great way to get a degree, and secure a full/part time job. That way your making 12/hr+ while finishing your Bachelors that's what I'm doing. I will be graduating with around 15-20k debt, not bad for two degrees.
I used to want to go to ASU but not anymore. The way I look at it is this:
Grand Canyon University has a really good Nursing and Teaching program. That's all they are good for.
Arizona State University has a really good Business program.
University of Arizona has Pharmacy/Science.
Northern Arizona University has Entrepeneurship/Restaurant/Political Science program.
Each state college has a strength and a weakness. Doesn't matter which state, it is up to you to find the college with the best program for your field of choice -AND- that is affordable as possible. A part of me originally wanted to go to New Mexico Community College after high school because NMCC is one of the cheapest community college in the nation @ $1,500 a semester for out of state students (back in 2006), but I was stopped by my parents. I would've gone that path and then get a Bachelor's at any other school in the nation.
But I didn't go that route lol. Instead I went straight for a BA degree in a for-profit school that can't be traced anymore supposedly. I am now starting over by going to Glendale Comm. College. This time around I'm smart about it. Go to GCC, graduate, work for a few years, then transfer to a state university with one of the best programs for my field (that's affordable). In my case, that would be University of Texas in Austin. Since my husband is from Texas, it'd be easier for him to get in state tuition, and also, according to their website, I'll only need to live in Texas for one year before I'm qualified for in state tuition. Talk about cost savings.
I guess people are against community college, its a great way to get a degree, and secure a full/part time job. That way your making 12/hr+ while finishing your Bachelors that's what I'm doing. I will be graduating with around 15-20k debt, not bad for two degrees.
I think the reason why people don't discuss community college and working while going to college a good thing is because the impact it has on education. It's very difficult to transfer from a community college to a good school. In my area (NJ), the good schools (Princeton, Penn, NYU) take a very small number of transfers (Princeton takes none)... so you're stuck with schools like Rutgers, TCNJ, etc.
Then there's the entire thing of the quality of education at community college. Most community colleges are more like high school than college in that they use a single textbook, and have exams on the material rather than focusing on the research, debates, and conferences.
It's one thing to have two degrees. It's another to have a solid higher academic education.
There was a post in the college section of the site which shows the limitations of working while going to college:
"On average, if you're taking classes that you won't struggle in, you can work:
56 hours/week if taking 0 credits
47 hours/week if taking 3 credits
38 hours/week if taking 6 credits
29 hours/week if taking 9 credits
20 hours/week if taking 12 credits
11 hours/week if taking 15 credits
2 hours/week if taking 18 credits
Anything more than that, you risk the quality of your education. This assumes that you live on campus and don't have a long commute."
I don't understand people who believe that their parents are responsible for their college education. You dropped out because you wanted to or you just didn't want to find any other options because there are TONS of them available. You got stellar grades and there were no scholarships available? No grants? You couldn't work full time and go to school part time while paying your own way through school? I have a friend whose daughter right now is entering her freshman year of school and she has piece mealed scholarships, grants and her own money from her job to pay for her college education. A $500 scholarship here, $1000 there, $250 here... NOTHING is going to get in her way of getting her education. She's taking charge of it and it appears she's going to be successful.
Why haven't you transferred to a cheaper school? $20000 and you're only 1/4 of the way there? Ridiculous. Find a nice state school where you'll be an in state student. Get a job. Start to act like an adult and pay your own way through life. If you quit school you'll have no one to blame but YOURSELF. It will be absolutely no one's problem but your own. Since you're already 20k in the hole for YOUR education, you may as well finish the course.
I agree with this post. My parents, as sweet and loving as they are, have horrible credit and were unable to finance my college. So, I took out loans, lived in apartments with roommates (not dorms), worked full time (while taking 15 credits) and finished with $40k in debt- but with a degree to show for it. I took the loans out in my name- and I was only 18- I don't think I even had any credit cards/ credit built yet.
OP- Are you able to take out loans in your name? Since you are willing to work 80-100 hours/week per your post, I would think that you could do what I did.
1. Work 40 hours/week (maybe retail so you could work weekends and have 2 week days off to study). My work schedule was 9a-6p mon, wed, fri, sat, sun. Then I had off from work tue/thur so those 2 days I buckled down and studied, studied, studied! Would be at the library 9a-9p (in between classes)
2. Take 15 credits a semester (so you can still count as 'full time' student and can keep getting loans)
3. Finish!
You can do it! One of my roommates went to Arizona State (and completed his bachelors at the age of 35) after he worked many years in the military and later in Arizona he worked at Go Daddy where he was paid $65k without a degree.
I think the reason why people don't discuss community college and working while going to college a good thing is because the impact it has on education. It's very difficult to transfer from a community college to a good school. In my area (NJ), the good schools (Princeton, Penn, NYU) take a very small number of transfers (Princeton takes none)... so you're stuck with schools like Rutgers, TCNJ, etc.
Then there's the entire thing of the quality of education at community college. Most community colleges are more like high school than college in that they use a single textbook, and have exams on the material rather than focusing on the research, debates, and conferences.
It's one thing to have two degrees. It's another to have a solid higher academic education.
There was a post in the college section of the site which shows the limitations of working while going to college:
"On average, if you're taking classes that you won't struggle in, you can work:
56 hours/week if taking 0 credits
47 hours/week if taking 3 credits 38 hours/week if taking 6 credits
29 hours/week if taking 9 credits
20 hours/week if taking 12 credits
11 hours/week if taking 15 credits
2 hours/week if taking 18 credits
Anything more than that, you risk the quality of your education. This assumes that you live on campus and don't have a long commute."
Not sure I believe the tiers you posted. I worked 40 hours/week taking 15 credits. It can be done. I graduated with a 3.3 GPA, which isn't stellar and would have been better had I not worked at all, but work experience is pertinent for Marketing/Advertising field so I took that risk (and glad I did). It's all about time management. Some people do not have the choice to just work 11 hours and take 15 credits. I had an apartment to pay (as dorms were far too expensive and a waste of money).
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