All college costs went up, what do I do?

I checked my college's that I want to early decision to financial aid calculator, and it is 17,000 more per year than it said before. My family can't afford this. All of the other colleges I checked also increased by at least 5-7000. At this point my only option is OSU, which is STILL a shit ton of money WITH scholarships. What in the hell do I do? I got perfect grades, 99th percentile SAT score, worked my ass off with extracurriculars, got national placements, and I am currently being held back these colleges' brilliant idea to change their net price calculator ONE MONTH before the early decision deadline. Anyone have ideas? Parents won't allow CC. I'm just so angry. If I had been born a few years earlier I could've been able to afford most of these schools.

34 Comments
 

BC was going to be my one of my schools because I had a really good shot of getting in, but it’s now 58k a year. I pretty much can go OSU (still would be very expensive, but still less expensive than my state school), Williams, Dartmouth, Harvard, or Princeton. The rest obviously are a completely crapshoot as to whether I get in.

 

Hey man, I was in a similar position to you coming out of hs. Had no idea what I wanted to do either. Had full rides for football, but decided to play at a much more expensive school that was very good academically. All in all I bet on myself and right now things look great. If you have confidence in yourself. Take out that loan and go kill it in school, get a great internship and then secure that FT offer. Just believe in yourself, bc when your back is against the wall you’ll come out on top.

 
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Think Ivy is worth the loans. OSU is not. You should definitely have some safety schools, where you know you’ll at least have half of the cost covered. Personally, I go to a smaller state school. Best decision I ever made, debt free and swimming in cash. Can be beneficial to be a shark among fish. Instead of a shark among sharks.

 

I have safeties that would give me a ton of aid (ASU/Bama/etc), but OSU places better in the area I want and is way closer.

 

If you get into an ivy, then just take the loans like everyone has been saying. Otherwise I would try to convince your parents to do CC. I transferred from my local cc to an ivy and it is very achievable, especially with a resume like yours. Best of luck

 

I’d take a full ride at a 20-50th ranked school and network a lot to get into banking. I come from a non target so maybe I don’t fully understand the network / opportunities from ivy leagues. I placed in banking from networking and keeping above a 3.9 gpa. I look at some of the kids in my banking class who went to some bigger schools who paid over $100-$150k for their schooling while my school was paid for through pell grants and scholarships. It would be hard for me to stomach to work a whole year of banking hours just to pay off undergrad loans instead of investing. Just a thought.

 

Apply EA to decent state schools; e.g Maryland, Indiana, etc. I was in the same boat as you, and after I applied I got considered (and eventually picked) for a full ride. Automatic scholarships are only a piece of the pie, there’s tons of other random ones too.

 

As someone who's been around the block a time or two: I know your parents aren't happy with it, but I wish I had knocked out my basics at CC first and transferred. It also helps your application to a four year university. So long as you have a good GPA of course. Second, take loans to go to a good school. Don't fall down to some prestige chasing, chase internships/work experience, There's nothing wrong with OSU (and I say this as a UT grad) because if you get those internships, that matters more ultimately. I know it sounds crazy right now, but once you have the work experience stories to speak to and a good track record? No one cares about where you went to school except you.

The poster formerly known as theAudiophile. Just turned up to 11, like the stereo.
 

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