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Paying for college.
Jast
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I'm going to college next year and I'm wondering how to pay for it. The school I want to go offers a few scholarships, and I figure I could get about 2000 dollars, but the rest is up to me. My mother can't really pay for college, so I'm going to have to get through at least the first year. I want to try to get through school without too much debt and I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction. The cost per year will be about 10,800 dollars. I'm really interested in what good federal loan interest loans to get.
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Right now my loan through FAFSA is around 6% I believe.
:edit: I take it back, FAFSA applications just have to be in by June 30th.
And if worse comes to worse and federal loans don't pan out, don't be afraid of getting private student loans from a bank.
The other option would be becoming a state resident wherever you end up going -- though if you're going to school in your home state, the whole of my post here is irrelevant. :P
This is quite true -- I wouldn't recommend it unless you were really desperate to get the cost of school down, but even then, it'd be a stretch. An exchange program is much, much easier.
oh man rotc is a sweet gig. tuition paid for, 400 bucks a month, sweet sweet gig.
You could take a year or two off and sign up for AmeriCorps VISTA (see americorps.org). You can get some interesting and serious work experience this way. Kill multiple birds with this stone by choosing to serve in the state you want to go to school in - your relocation costs will be covered and you can probably establish residency for in-state tuition after serving there for a year. You make just enough each month to pay cheap rent and basic bills, and after completing a year, you can receive $4,725 credit to pay off student loans (you can do this up to two times). The credit is good for at least 7 years. And some schools also partially or fully match that amount, giving more bang for the buck.
GT: Tanky the Tank
Black: 1377 6749 7425
An 8 year commitment equals out to 4 years active duty, 2 years reserve time and 2 years active ready reserve. This means 4 years of actual service, 2 years of the whole weekend warrior thing and then 2 years being hte bottom of the barrell last resort behind everyone else. You can negotiate the hell out of your contract too and probably get rid of the 2 years reserve time.
Summary of the below post: Don't make a military decision based on money unless it is THE ONLY option. Make a military decision based on your belief in service or your interest in the military.
This sort of comment pisses me off. This is exactly what the recruiters want you to believe. In big flashy letters lots of money is offered while promising almost no interference in your life as a "normal college student." As someone who went through the entire AFROTC program, exiting one month before commissioning, I should fill in some blanks here. Read the whole post (and my point to writing this) before bashing it. And don't try to correct me unless you KNOW what you're talking about. Key point here: Active-duty/Guard experience DOES NOT mean you know how ROTC works. It means you know how life after ROTC works.
Spoilered for length:
In Army ROTC, the scholarship process is less competitive and much less dependant on your major. This is because Army needs people a whole hell of a lot more than the Air Force. The basic time committment is also greater with the Army; in addition to class and Lab, you will have more "in-field" practice drills than the Air Force might have. I can't speak to the Navy ROTC and Marine ROTC programs in this post as my experience with them is limited to none. I imagine based on experience Navy ROTC will be similar to Air Force ROTC, and the Marine program will be its own beast.
The rabbit hole goes a bit deeper. On face value the recruiters will tell you "sure it's only a two-credit hour class your first two years and a three-credit hour class your second two years." Bullshit. A large factor in deciding what you get to do after graduation is decided by your Commander's ranking of your class. Want to stand out and get a high ranking? Guess what: you're doing extra shit. For some, this is great news because they love the program, the people, and what they're doing. For others, they felt like they were being forced into a greater committment than they signed up for. Guess what else? In most branches, you will be doing physical training as a group twice to four times a week, and depending on the program it may well be at 6am.
Last of all is the discipline issue. In "most" schools, if you get caught drinking underage, or in many cases even smoking weed, you're not going to get in THAT much trouble (especially the first time). However, in ROTC (just like the real military) you have to report ANY interaction with the police, even if it's only a warning. Underage drinking turns into a HUGE deal at this point. For many this isn't a problem, but if you're going to college with the express motive to party your brains out, understand that while underage you will be at risk the whole time. And there is none of that "college experimentation" crap.
Now all that being said: my experience with the AFROTC program, on the whole until the end, was great. I met a lot of great people, did all the extra shit, got good grades, the full monty. I am NOT using this post to bash military service or recommend people against going ROTC/Guard. But I am saying in the STRONGEST terms that getting involved solely because money is behind it is a bad idea. Over the past year I have spoken with numerous people on the subject, and recommended them either for or against signing up based on what they want to do, and why they want to do it.
One thing: most of these programs DO allow you to try the first year free of obligation (even with the scholarship, if you get it out of high school). So you can get a taste of what I'm talking about and see if it's for you. Also, the Guard route is DEFINITELY the best road to go in terms of money. Just understand that being in school won't save you from a deployment. One of my friends did get picked up midway through and had to take a year off, and hasn't regretted it one bit. I would have hated having to do that.
PSN: TheScrublet
Also you've got a year to try to get scholarships. Do your best here; every little bit helps.
PSN: TheScrublet
Yay for being poor!