OT Colleges :)

[ErinS]

That's my former cp's issue right now. She does not want to go to the best state school because it is truly an extension of where we live. I know this is true because both dh and I graduated from there, although neither of us were from where we live now so it was different for us. I also think she doesn't want to go there because we went there lol but I'm still making her visit it and apply next year when she is a senior.

That's how It is for university of South Carolina where i live. I remember walking into class senior year and a girl saying "Erin? Did you apply to Carolina?! Make sure you put down Patterson for your dorm".... So I didn't want HS pt 2 and selected a different (in state choice) that only 1 other person from my school was going to (and he dropped out). I don't regret it, but I also might've enjoyed Carolina as well. Who knows.

My sister went out of state (but got in state tuition) and she's the only one from her hs there. She has a friend that was so desperate to go to a college that nobody else was going to that she lied about where she was going. Said she'd gone to school in NJ....then got called out on it and said that she went for 3 weeks and then transferred to the college she's at now. Because that's how transferring works....

 

[cheernerd5678]

That's how It is for university of South Carolina where i live. I remember walking into class senior year and a girl saying "Erin? Did you apply to Carolina?! Make sure you put down Patterson for your dorm".... So I didn't want HS pt 2 and selected a different (in state choice) that only 1 other person from my school was going to (and he dropped out). I don't regret it, but I also might've enjoyed Carolina as well. Who knows.

My sister went out of state (but got in state tuition) and she's the only one from her hs there. She has a friend that was so desperate to go to a college that nobody else was going to that she lied about where she was going. Said she'd gone to school in NJ....then got called out on it and said that she went for 3 weeks and then transferred to the college she's at now. Because that's how transferring works....

That's how mizzou is for my sister. There are so many people from our school that go there, 7 girls from our high school all ended up in the same sorority.... She lives across the hall from a girl who went to our school. that's why she didn't want to go there originally, but decided that it wasn't worth it to go to her first choice, Arkansas, and pay twice as much as she would spend here for a pretty similar education. Even though there are a ton of freshmen from our school, she only still hangs out with a couple and hangs out mostly with her choir friends or sorority sisters.

 

[ErinS]

That's how mizzou is for my sister. There are so many people from our school that go there, 7 girls from our high school all ended up in the same sorority.... She lives across the hall from a girl who went to our school. that's why she didn't want to go there originally, but decided that it wasn't worth it to go to her first choice, Arkansas, and pay twice as much as she would spend here for a pretty similar education. Even though there are a ton of freshmen from our school, she only still hangs out with a couple and hangs out mostly with her choir friends or sorority sisters.

Yeah. My 12th grade rationalization10 yrs ago didn't realize that there were 30,000 people there for me to be friends with and I wouldn't have been stuck hanging out with people I've known since 6th grade

However my mom (she went to USC for grad and undergrad and didn't get to live on campus) really pushed me to leave Columbia for college. I think she resented the fact that her mom didn't let her go away for school. So that is another reason I didn't go

Anyway. I loved my undergrad

 

[CheerBank]

Yeah. My 12th grade rationalization10 yrs ago didn't realize that there were 30,000 people there for me to be friends with and I wouldn't have been stuck hanging out with people I've known since 6th grade

However my mom (she went to USC for grad and undergrad and didn't get to live on campus) really pushed me to leave Columbia for college. I think she resented the fact that her mom didn't let her go away for school. So that is another reason I didn't go

Anyway. I loved my undergrad

Exactly. There was a pretty large number of kids from my HS who went to my college but even with living in the same dorm with some of them, I made new friends based on common interests not past geographical location. I've tried explaining that but this coupled with the fact that she does not want to sit in an Intro class with 500 other students, it doesn't look good for our old alma mater.

 

[ErinS]

Exactly. There was a pretty large number of kids from my HS who went to my college but even with living in the same dorm with some of them, I made new friends based on common interests not past geographical location. I've tried explaining that but this coupled with the fact that she does not want to sit in an Intro class with 500 other students, it doesn't look good for our old alma mater.

Now not wanting to be in a class with 500 other people I totally understand. I think the largest class I ever had, had 75 people and that was grad school at USC. 500 people would overwhelm and distract me

 

[krystynakrez]

Exactly. There was a pretty large number of kids from my HS who went to my college but even with living in the same dorm with some of them, I made new friends based on common interests not past geographical location. I've tried explaining that but this coupled with the fact that she does not want to sit in an Intro class with 500 other students, it doesn't look good for our old alma mater.

Now not wanting to be in a class with 500 other people I totally understand. I think the largest class I ever had, had 75 people and that was grad school at USC. 500 people would overwhelm and distract me

My school has about 21,000 undergrads and my biggest class last semester was 275 kids and I was verrryyyy distracted

 

[CheerBank]

Now not wanting to be in a class with 500 other people I totally understand. I think the largest class I ever had, had 75 people and that was grad school at USC. 500 people would overwhelm and distract me

My school has about 21,000 undergrads and my biggest class last semester was 275 kids and I was verrryyyy distracted

This part I completely get. It took me a semester or two to realize that if I sat in the first 5 rows of any larger lecture hall, the number of people around and behind me did not distract me, so that was where I started sitting until I declared my major and my class size began getting smaller. Dh said the large lecture halls killed him as well but he never thought to sit close to the front. Average class size is one of the major things we are looking at when she expresses interest in a school. She definitely does better in general when she can establish a connection with her teacher.

 

[cheermommaRN]

I am lucky enough that my kids college is taken care of. When they were born my dad put away $15,000 for both of them...that was 10 and 12 years ago.
The youngest wants to go to UT Austin to dive. I'm sure she'll have a couple places to chose from but she really wants to be a Longhorn. She has already met the coach and competed at an invitational at their pool.
The 12 year old wants to go to TCU but I don't think her account has grown that much.
I am currently $80,000 in debt for my nursing degree. That was 6 years of school (I had two kids during my time). I also took out loans I really shouldn't have. Now I always tell people...only borrow what you need!

 

[retiredl5cheer]

I am lucky enough that my kids college is taken care of. When they were born my dad put away $15,000 for both of them...that was 10 and 12 years ago.
The youngest wants to go to UT Austin to dive. I'm sure she'll have a couple places to chose from but she really wants to be a Longhorn. She has already met the coach and competed at an invitational at their pool.
The 12 year old wants to go to TCU but I don't think her account has grown that much.
I am currently $80,000 in debt for my nursing degree. That was 6 years of school (I had two kids during my time). I also took out loans I really shouldn't have. Now I always tell people...only borrow what you need!

THIS. I watch my friends take out extra student loans to pay for Christmas gifts or rent the more expensive apartment. Terrible idea. You DO have to pay that money back.

TCU is a whopper of a bill, but the private schools give out much more scholarship money based on academics, so never count it out. Seton Hall gave me $17,000 a year in scholarships and that made tuition significantly more affordable.

And on UT? Justin Tucker was a Longhorn. Enough said.

 

[CheerBank]

I am lucky enough that my kids college is taken care of. When they were born my dad put away $15,000 for both of them...that was 10 and 12 years ago.
The youngest wants to go to UT Austin to dive. I'm sure she'll have a couple places to chose from but she really wants to be a Longhorn. She has already met the coach and competed at an invitational at their pool.
The 12 year old wants to go to TCU but I don't think her account has grown that much.
I am currently $80,000 in debt for my nursing degree. That was 6 years of school (I had two kids during my time). I also took out loans I really shouldn't have. Now I always tell people...only borrow what you need!

That is lucky - and so smart of them to do so. We started 529 accounts for all of our kids when they were little (it's a NYS college savings account where the contributions are not taxed as long as they are used for college) so fortunately we do have some $ set aside for all of them. My parents also just starting gifting the grandkids a little $ with the stipulation that it goes right into their college funds.
Our biggest issue right now is the value return of the school she chooses for undergraguate (she wants to go to med school so it's going to be a long haul for her). If she goes to a private school, there needs to be some value behind the name as opposed to going to private for the sake of not going public. I am a product of the SUNY and CUNY systems (state and city unis of NY) and came out of graduate school with my Master's and no loans. Dh had loans but they were not insurmountable and we paid them off within 5-6 years. We keep joking with my Director of Services at work that we are going to have her and her friends who all went to private colleges form a group that we are going to book speaking engagements for at the local high schools - "Why You Should Listen to Your Parents and Go to State Schools So You Are Not in Debt for Years to Come".
I think with programs such a nursing school and any graduate level degree that leads directly to a career, high costs of programs cannot always be helped. But especially if you know that your field of choice is going to involve graduate work, you have to choose your undergraduate school wisely to make the whole process more affordable. I have a good friend who went to CUNY undergraduate and then joined the Air Force so that medical school would be paid for.
No one should be drowning in debt when they graduate if they can help it and I think at age 18, many kids don't see the long term picture when they choose a school.

 

[cheermommaRN]

Another perk of living in Texas is they have great in state grants for good grades. Cp is a straight A student and participates in Math Olympiads and student council. We just got a letter from her teacher that he suggested her for Algebra 1 in 7th grade. That's a high school class. When she found out she missed the Duke Early talent program by mere points she got ticked off.
Little diver has more difficulty with school but since she has started diving it's gotten better.

 

[ErinS]

I am lucky enough that my kids college is taken care of. When they were born my dad put away $15,000 for both of them...that was 10 and 12 years ago.
The youngest wants to go to UT Austin to dive. I'm sure she'll have a couple places to chose from but she really wants to be a Longhorn. She has already met the coach and competed at an invitational at their pool.
The 12 year old wants to go to TCU but I don't think her account has grown that much.
I am currently $80,000 in debt for my nursing degree. That was 6 years of school (I had two kids during my time). I also took out loans I really shouldn't have. Now I always tell people...only borrow what you need!

Yeah I'm in your neighborhood with debt from my undergrad and grad. Sometimes I get overwhelmed and frustrated about it all but then I think of the alternative...and I deal. I do have the public service loan forgiveness so as long as I work in the public sector or teach they will be paid off sooner.....but on the flip side I don't make as much money as I would if I went back to academic libraries. It's like six of one, half a dozen of the other.

I've always said that if I won the lottery my only concern would be paying back my friends student loans. If I only won 1 million dollars, I can guarantee you that 900,000 would go to my friends loans.

 

[retiredl5cheer]

That is lucky - and so smart of them to do so. We started 529 accounts for all of our kids when they were little (it's a NYS college savings account where the contributions are not taxed as long as they are used for college) so fortunately we do have some $ set aside for all of them. My parents also just starting gifting the grandkids a little $ with the stipulation that it goes right into their college funds.
Our biggest issue right now is the value return of the school she chooses for undergraguate (she wants to go to med school so it's going to be a long haul for her). If she goes to a private school, there needs to be some value behind the name as opposed to going to private for the sake of not going public. I am a product of the SUNY and CUNY systems (state and city unis of NY) and came out of graduate school with my Master's and no loans. Dh had loans but they were not insurmountable and we paid them off within 5-6 years. We keep joking with my Director of Services at work that we are going to have her and her friends who all went to private colleges form a group that we are going to book speaking engagements for at the local high schools - "Why You Should Listen to Your Parents and Go to State Schools So You Are Not in Debt for Years to Come".
I think with programs such a nursing school and any graduate level degree that leads directly to a career, high costs of programs cannot always be helped. But especially if you know that your field of choice is going to involve graduate work, you have to choose your undergraduate school wisely to make the whole process more affordable. I have a good friend who went to CUNY undergraduate and then joined the Air Force so that medical school would be paid for.
No one should be drowning in debt when they graduate if they can help it and I think at age 18, many kids don't see the long term picture when they choose a school.

The best solution is to move to Georgia and get your kids on the Hope Scholarship.

 

[CheerBank]

The best solution is to move to Georgia and get your kids on the Hope Scholarship.

I highly doubt that is in our future although former cp would definitely not mind going to school in Atlanta! What is the Hope Scholarship?

 

[ErinS]

The best solution is to move to Georgia and get your kids on the Hope Scholarship.

My sister goes to a state school in GA. She got in state tuition thanks to the Academic Common market. If she maintains a 3.0 for her freshman and sophomore years she will get the Hope scholarship. She had a 3.8 so it may work out for her.

The lottery scholarships in SC aren't as beneficial as they are in other states. That's why so many people here graduate in the student loan struggle