So, this college thing... [advice needed]

[tahukanuva]

So, I'm a senior in high school, and it's getting close to crunch time for college applications. I think I have a college picked out (University of Tennessee at Knoxville), and I qualify for a state scholarship of $4,000 a year. I made a 31 on my ACT first try, and I plan on taking it again. The problem lies in my grade-point average. A couple of years spent not caring at all and, even when I do care, a complete inability to remember to do assignments have pretty much killed it. I'm not sure yet how much aid I'll receive from the school (It costs ~$20,000 a year btw) so I'm not sure if I need to prepare myself for taking out a loan. Since a lot of you are either currently attending college, or work at one, I thought you might could help.

[RID Scourge]

I don't know a lot about loans, but if you talk to your college's financial aid office they should be able to help you get it sorted.

Colleges usually are very eager to help people afford their schools. Mainly because it would look really bad if they turned someone away, and that person went on to be a very brilliant mind.

There's a saying that goes something like "No one can say they didn't go to Harvard because they couldn't afford it".

If you're forgetting to do assignments you may want to see if they have any sort of program that will help you to make positive study habits. Regardless of how much aid you get, if you're not performing academically you won't be there long.

A good idea would be to either get yourself a planner and make a habit of looking at it every night before you start your homework.

Another idea comes from a friend of mine. He used to get one of those desk calendars and hang it on his wall, and at the beginning of the semester he would take his syllabi and write "[Whatever Assignment] due today" on the calendar in the space for the day that the assignment was due.

Good luck.

[Warcry]

I didn't realize you were that young (although now that I type that I'm 90% sure I've said exactly that at least once before to you).

(It costs ~$20,000 a year btw)

That's ridiculous. I don't think I paid that much in tuition over five years of courses.

So I guess my advice would be "move to Canada".

Seriously though, how much of that $20K is tuition and how much is for things like a dorm room, food and the like? If you can swing it, finding a school that you can attend without having to move cuts a big chunk out of the cost of going to school.

Also, I wouldn't worry too much about getting lower grades in the first few years of high school. If you can pull off good marks in your last year it'll increase your GPA, and from my experience they look at your grade 12 numbers closest of all.

[Blaster]

So I guess my advice would be "move to Canada".

Law School is about that much in Canada.

Sup, McGill.

[Transformer Kamen]

If you have an idea of what you want to study, there may be scholarships aimed at specific majors, or other miscellaneous scholarships. My high school had a big book of scholarships in the guidance office; you may want to see if your school has one of those for the latter, and explore UTK's website for the former.


Also, some unsolicited advice, even if you manage to cover most of your tuition fees, buying books will likely be your next hurdle. So here are some money saving tips that helped me.

1) Avoid campus bookstores if at all possible. In my experience, even their used books were overpriced.

2) Find out from professors if you having the newest version is essential. Often, new editions make only minor changes from the previous version. Older versions can usually be found dirt cheap on sites like Amazon.com

3) For literature courses, make use of the University and County Libraries.

4) Unless you know you'll be needing them again, sell all your books at the end of the semester. Again, use Amazon or a similar site rather than campus buyback for the best deal.

5) SAVE YOUR RECEIPTS!!! In some courses (generally, science courses in my experience), the book is redundant. If you can tell the prof. is basically going to cover the book verbatim, then return the book.

Hope that is somewhat helpful.

[Warcry]

Law School is about that much in Canada.

Sup, McGill.

Law school <> first-year university classes, though.

There are some schools in Canada -- mainly law school, medical and dental schools -- with astronomical tuition, but on the whole tuition is a lot cheaper here than down south.

[Jim]

So, I'm a senior in high school, and it's getting close to crunch time for college applications. I think I have a college picked out (University of Tennessee at Knoxville), and I qualify for a state scholarship of $4,000 a year. I made a 31 on my ACT first try, and I plan on taking it again. The problem lies in my grade-point average. A couple of years spent not caring at all and, even when I do care, a complete inability to remember to do assignments have pretty much killed it. I'm not sure yet how much aid I'll receive from the school (It costs ~$20,000 a year btw) so I'm not sure if I need to prepare myself for taking out a loan. Since a lot of you are either currently attending college, or work at one, I thought you might could help.

Gosh, I recall the panic I felt when I went to college on paying for it. In my case, I went to a State School (Temple University), which assured that the rate would be pretty good. Regardless, the amount of aid you get was dependent on various factors from the FAFSA. Thankfully (or not?), my family being working class, I received quite a bit of Aid. In PA, I received 4 years of Grant money from PHEAA and Pell and had to get a Subsidized Stafford Loan. Stafford loans are king of the hill IMO that are subsidized. When in school the US Government pays interest while you attend classes and you get a 6 month grace period after you graduate. There is also flexibility for hardships with repayment that a private loan will likely not offer. Unsubsidized loans will compound interest while in school, which sucks.

As for the cost, I always recommend making sure the school is what you want. When I went to Temple (started Fall 2000), I opted against living in Residence Halls etc. I needed to make it as cheap as possible. When I think back, I really wish I had completed two years at a Community College and transferred over, I would have saved A LOT of money, but alas! Whatever balanced I owed resulted in me working my butt off at a Student Worker Job, but I made it. First college graduate in the family, something I was very proud of.

There are lots of scholarships online. If concerned, you should considering contacting the prospective school's Financial Aid department and asking them about grants, scholarships, etc. You wouldn't believe some of the BS grants that exist that you can get. And don't look at any small amount as worthless, especially if you're going to a school that costs 20,000$/year -- every little bit helps. Additionally, I would recommend avoiding paying tuition on credit cards -- high interest rates make that small payment HUGE after a few months. Additionally, if you get refunds, don't piss them away on junk. Just to share a story, my friend whiz'd MASSIVE amounts of refunds which were LOANS on junk -- DVDs, Bike, Video Games, going out, etc. He did that for five of six years -- the last year was free because his mom got a job at the university. Regardless, his loan debt EXPLODED to somewhere in the tune of 35,000$. If you eliminate all the wasteful spending that could have been saved, it might have been 10,000$ less debt... Ah well, as he said to me when he graduated a few months ago -- "That's future sam's problem." Well, that six month grace period is up in another month -- uh oh...