By rhymehoardhh - 05/03/2016 01:41 - United States - Garland

Today, I received a big scholarship. I was ecstatic, until I looked up the cost of tuition at that university. I still need $120K. FML
I agree, your life sucks 21 562
You deserved it 2 378

rhymehoardhh tells us more.

I submitted this FML because it felt like that moment when Miss Colombia had her crown stripped from her after two minutes, due to misjudging that the bulk of my tuition would be paid. However, I quickly got over it because yes, this was from a private university and there are many other options. Although this university is one of the top in my intended field, I will likely be attending a local state university at a fraction of the cost instead, cause it's just not worth it. Thank you so much for all your advice!

Top comments

Time to pull up the student loan applications, or see if you qualify for need based financial aid. University in the US is expensive. Expect to pay around $200,000 for a four year private university. It is cheaper for state schools. It is great that you have a partial scholarship. I am 4 years out from medical school and in my residency training, and I have more than $287,000 in student loans to pay back ...

Yup, college is expensive OP. Keep looking for scholarships though, it's helped me lessen the cost of tuition. Best of luck at university OP! :)

Comments

There is really no surprise how expensive college is. It's pretty straight forward. You knew(or should have made an effort to find out) how much it was going to cost when you applied!

This is why USA students are moving to some European countries for free tuition. Oh & they normally don't force you to take classes that have Nothing to do with your degree, unlike here.

Yeah I've heard that European education is more specialized. That would be nice.

Ah, the beacon of the free world. If you're white, christian, male and rich, that is.

Education in USA is high way robbery. And then there's no guarantee you will get a job in your chosen field. You might be better buying your own business rather than spending your life paying back a student loan. At least in your own business you may be working long hours at first but the money will come in and you will reap the rewards

I submitted this FML because it felt like that moment when Miss Colombia had her crown stripped from her after two minutes, due to misjudging that the bulk of my tuition would be paid. However, I quickly got over it because yes, this was from a private university and there are many other options. Although this university is one of the top in my intended field, I will likely be attending a local state university at a fraction of the cost instead, cause it's just not worth it. Thank you so much for all your advice!

Obviously, the choice is up to you OP. Although, if I can add some insight, student debt is probably one of the worst things you can have. I'm drowning in my student debt and if I could go back and change how I did things, I would in a heartbeat. The less debt you rack up now, the better your life will be when you get to be my age (which is only 23, but it also sucks cause I'm still young). Again, if you have your heart set on that school, I would go for it. But if not, going to a public school isn't going to cause you any deficits, so long as you get a degree honestly. Keep your head up OP, and I hope you can stay out of debt unlike me!!

Would it be possible to go to another school to complete your generals and then transfer?

Hey op! I go to marquette, finding scholarships is nice but there's always some debt! As a very expensive college, they offer some scholarships through the school, have you tried looking to see if they have anything to offer? Congratz on a big win!

What's the difference between a state and private college? Aren't they the same degree at different price tags?

Quite literately. Mostly you are paying for the name.

Yes. The degree is the same. The private schools give you a fancy name on which to rest your laurels. It also offers fancy-schmancy networking, which may help get you a job or some other benefits somewhere in your career. Public schools offer the similar network at a much more down to earth price. Otherwise, the degree is the same.

Most private colleges are a lot smaller, so the student teacher ratio is less crazy. The private college I went to had a student: teacher of about 15:1. Most state colleges are closer to 50:1.

Shay_Shay97 23

And I though my tuition was going to be bad. Sweet Jesus.

Here's a few tips that can really slash your tuition costs: Private scholarships are numerous, and if you apply for and get enough, it'll chisel away at that cost a lot. You could get a generic Associate's degree at your local community college, which is bound to be really cheap (my local CC is both highly rated and costs ~$5k/yr). In some cases, they may have deals with full universities regarding acceptance and tuition (that same CC has agreements with several schools to have guaranteed acceptance and tuition costs the same $5k that the CC costs, which is insane). If you do end up getting a loan, try to get anything but a student loan, as they charge abysmally high interest (mainly because the government decided to subsidize loans, so the loan company has literally 0 risk). It's actually cheaper to take out a mortgage than to take out a student loan, so if your parents are willing to co-sign on the loan, might as well make it a cheaper loan. Your school's honors program might come with financial benefits. At the very least, you should get better housing and priority class selection. One of the colleges I applied to accepted me into the honors program and that would have taken off $6k from my yearly tuition (and my merit scholarship was only $2k, and colleges wanted me because I lucked out and did very well on my SATs), so it's worth looking into.