Young Catholic Looking for College Advice

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Other than a tiny number of rich people, I don’t know anyone who attended college at the undergrad level without loans and/or financial aid, including dozens of engineers (my spouse and I were both EEs). If you’re worried about debt, consider a state school for your state.

Debt is how the USA runs. It doesn’t mean you have to rack up an excessive amount of it, but you are going to have limited options if you refuse to incur any.
 
Friendly_Stranger said:
I get a feeling that this place reeks of groupthink.
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I am not sure what that means, but I can assure you that you will find here a number of Catholics who are well educated and passionate about their faith. If our clinging to that which was handed down to us by the Apostles makes us guilty of “groupthink” than so be it.

If I am in the boat with Jesus, then it does not matter if I drown!
Friendly_Stranger said:
Is there a way I can deactivate my account? Of course, somebody is going to twist and distort my words, but people on this forum love to do that for some reason.
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I am not sure, but you can certainly edit your settings to prevent notifications, so that you can ignore CAF much more easily.

Then you might want to pray about whether you are wanting to shut us out because God is trying to speak to you through us, and you don’t like what you are hearing.
 
If you’re still reading this, a lot of engineering programs have coop programs where you spend some time in school and some time working in the field. You get paid for the work time and, of course, gain experience in the field. Google engineering coop programs for more info.
 
There are also military tuition payment programs, although that comes with just as many risks as student loans.

Edited to add: All this said, I would not advise jumping into 4-year college for any person who does not have solid academic background–either good high school grades or good community college grades. And that goes double for a harder major like electrical engineering.

You’re already in community college?
 
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Friendly_Stranger said:
There’s just this problem: somebody is going to pay for the costs of dorm life or renting living space to live outside of classes.
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Does this mean your parents are paying for everything else? All you have to pay for is your dorm or apartment or living expenses?
Friendly_Stranger said:
Financial aid, scholarships, and college loans are out of the question.
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Fill out the FAFSA, fill out all of the scholarship applications that you can, research work study at the University, research co-op opportunities at the University through the engineering department, look at the military, talk to the university housing department about roommates and other options to keep costs low, Look at university housing jobs such as residential adviser.

Filling out the FAFSA is important. This is the gateway to all financial aid. It doesn’t mean you have to accept the aid/loans, but by filling out the FAFSA you will see what you are eligible for including any grants.

Money for college comes in these forms: free money that you don’t have to pay back (scholarships and grants), money you earn (work), money you are given by family (parents), and money you borrow (loans).

You can minimize expenses through roommates, by working and going to community college and saving up to go to the four-year school, by taking classes online, by testing out of classes through assessments to reduce the number of credits you need to take at the school, therefore reducing your costs.

Talk to the housing department, the financial aid department, and an academic counselor at each of the universities that you want to attend.
 
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Financial aid includes grants which you don’t have to pay back, and includes scholarships which, again, you don’t have to pay back. If your goal is simply to not take out loans you will need to build a nest egg and use grants and scholarships to cover the rest. There is literally NO reason to not accept these things. Grants run from a few hundred to thousands of dollars per semester for students. And if you spend 40 hours a week for a month applying for scholarships–everyone that you are able–you’re likely to walk away with thousands of dollars.

You can also look at very low-cost options for gen-eds…like CLEP. There are other places that allow you to earn “regular” college credit typically between $100-$300 a class. You can also look at nontraditional models, like Western Governers.

Also, some student loan debt can be VERY helpful to your future. They add to your credit history. My husband had student loans and he paid them off faithfully. When he went to buy a house (about 7 years after graduating with 11 years of debt payment history…8 college and 3 as he then had a credit card) and he had a credit score in the top 10% because he had no debt. This means that he was able to get a MUCH lower interest rate (the lowest available). I have a very, very high score, too. My friend who had never taken on debt (parents paid) had a much higher rate. Debt is the way America works.
 
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I don’t blame you but commend you for your reluctance to take college loans. I postponed going to university and instead enlisted in the military. After my four years of active duty were up, I then went to university. My parents let me live with them at home while I attended university to keep cost of living expenses down and my state university waived my tuition fees due to my GPA. I used the GI bill to pay for the remaining costs. I also got grants and fellowships to augment my income.

I graduated with no debt.
 
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My cousin did just that. He also majored in Electrical engineering and now works for Apple.
 
Irishmom2 said:
Loans are how many, many people that really want to go to college do it. Maybe you should reconsider that route.
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Speaking as a bankruptcy attorney who has seen it time and time again . . .

I am so glad that my last three daughters agreed with me that getting out without loans is more important when where they go.

Unless your talking Ivy League law school, and will work the 100 hour weeks in the fancy law firms until they’re paid, or perhaps engineering and have already recalculated the repayment schedule and can actually do it in 10 years, they wreck lives.

Speaking as an economist, the easy availability of loans is the primary reason for soaring tuition. Regression models show that something like 80% of each additional loan dollar and 90% of each additional grant dollar just get absorbed in the tuition increases they enable.

hawk
 
dochawk said:
Speaking as an economist, the easy availability of loans is the primary reason for soaring tuition. Regression models show that something like 80% of each additional loan dollar and 90% of each additional grant dollar just get absorbed in the tuition increases they enable.

hawk
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Speaking as an educator, it’s not the primary experience. Willingness to take on debt for the extras is. Students want fancy single room dorms with ensuite bathrooms, manicured grounds, extensive sports teams including “unprofitable” ones, professional advisors (rather than have it be part of a professor’s duty), Michelin star dining halls, extensive “free” on campus healthcare and mental health available, clubs up the wazoo, concerts, celebrity guest lectures, etc.

In order to compete colleges have to add more stuff. The cost is driven up and up because students don’t want discount colleges. They want the full experience.

A large part of the debt issue is that outside of majors that have no ability to pay back is that even with a good job many young adults have no idea how to live within their means. My workplace was many young adults in their mid to late 20’s earning 45k+ and living paycheck to paycheck because they got electronics, had a nice car, got a fancy apartment and ate out constantly. Granted I live in an HCOL but I made significantly less for most of my early career and still managed to pay it off early. Mostly becuase I was focused on paying it off.

I’m not saying it’s a good idea, nor would I advise anyone today to do it, but it’s far more complicated than just the availability of loans.

Today, I would recommend that students do CLEP (not AP) and then do a 2+2…two years at a CC and 2 years at a traditional 4 year. Some CC’s are now doing a “1” +2 + 1 track with high schoolers or people with a lot of credits they transfer in. Those programs are AWESOME because they mean only one year of intense study at a 4 year.

Edit- If your local CC dosn’t offer the 2+2 program you want, (as it’s usually the CC and the geographically closest college/uni) many can be done online and then you can rent a cheap apartment at the participating uni 2 years later.
 
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You have no idea how much of your financial aid package would be loans if you don’t file.

Most schools make scholarship applications require FAFSAs to be filed, so the schools can make determination of need based aid.
 
Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
In order to compete colleges have to add more stuff. The cost is driven up and up because students don’t want discount colleges. They want the full experience.
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Speaking as a professor’s wife who has lived nearly her entire adult life in the college orbit and has been involved with programming, another aspect of it is that colleges want to provide wholesome and educational entertainment, so that there are options other than the Animal House lifestyle.
 
Xantippe said:
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Xanthippe_Voorhees:
In order to compete colleges have to add more stuff. The cost is driven up and up because students don’t want discount colleges. They want the full experience.
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Speaking as a professor’s wife who has lived nearly her entire adult life in the college orbit and has been involved with programming, another aspect of it is that colleges want to provide wholesome and educational entertainment, so that there are options other than the Animal House lifestyle.
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Yep. Being a party school is “out”. Colleges would rather keep students safe and happy so they stay enrolled. The top 4 year retention rates in the nation sit at 80%…with most at a historic norm just north of 60%. To remain solvent school have figured out they need to keep them there all 4 years. Keeps mounting recruiting costs down.
 
Can you get the degree you want where you are at now? If so, how much longer until you complete your degree? I understand that you feel like you are missing out right now. But life doesn’t end when you graduate from college. If you are set against taking loans, you may need to find other ways to feel fulfilled in the short term.

If you absolutely want to make the other colleges work, can you look for another job? Can you go to school part time and work full time?
 
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I will readily admit that undergraduate loans are very different on my side of the Atlantic (you pay back a proportion of your earnings once you earn above a certain amount) but I do consider my student debt worth the experience of meeting,

Catholics my age
Older Catholics who know how to minister to young adults
Other Christians who we had a good relationship

Ordinary Parish churches in my experience aren’t great at this and I would probably have lost the little faith I had if I had stayed home.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Other than a tiny number of rich people, I don’t know anyone who attended college at the undergrad level without loans and/or financial aid, including dozens of engineers (my spouse and I were both EEs). If you’re worried about debt, consider a state school for your state.
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I know a few Americans who studied in Ireland as it was cheaper than studying in the US. Dunno if that helps the OP at all.
 
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