I need serious advice about college and how to get out with the least amount of loans (esp if you've gone/go to a college/university in the US)

like seriously. idk, im getting super anxious as im getting to my senior year, and i know that i should just focus on doing my best in school rn but im just worried about everything, and i want to be prepared the best i can be because every fucking day my parents remind me that student loans are a thing and im like i know please leave me alone i already had a mental breakdown about this yesterday. every time i think i finally know what i want to do my dad comes up with his bs propaganda to try and get me into cs even though cs is literally a traumatic experience for me i never want to go into it and my mom just blindly believes him because she didn't go to school here and is an at-home mom. like please just trust me, if you interrogate me every fucking day obviously its gonna look like im getting nowhere. anyways sorry for this stupid rant but advice juseyo

Quote from bartkun

where are you from again?

if from US then maybe try to find an uni/college in Europe

there are for sure some programs that would allow you to come and study without taking those scary loans like people do in US

yeah, im from the us. im definitely not open to travelling that much so i don't think that's an option for me

Apply for any and every scholarship you can. Not all of them require something major like an essay and $100-$200 can add up to take a chunk out.

Apply for the FAFSA even if you don't think you'll get any grants because if you do have to take out loans, the loans offered from the government have lower interest rates and depending on the field you go into can be totally or partially forgiven.

Quote from dummi

a huge amount of factors are at play when it comes to receiving grants, scholarships and loans. Here is a list of questions to ask yourself:

Are you the first in your family to go to college?

Are you an immigrant?

Are you considered a high academic achiever?

How much money does your family earn in a year?

Does your family receive government aid?

Is a member of your family a soldier or a part of the American military?

All of these will determine grants and scholarships. For me, I'm the first to go to college, I was a high achiever in high school, I'm an immigrant and my family makes less money than average. I got a full ride scholarship by ticking these boxes and applying to many universities to compare the best financial deals they'd give me

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i have heard about stuff like this but i genuinely have no idea who to reach out to figure out what im qualified to get grants/scholarships for. and also i actually did pretty bad in the first half of high school because prioritizing the wrong things and then covid, but my grades are so much better now, so im still really concerned about that aspect of it. i also have good AP scores and an alright SAT score if that helps at all?

Quote from Jichu

Get good grades. Get involved in a few extracurriculars. Find scholarships. Get a good SAT/ACT score. Talk to your counselor as needed. Go to a university that will give you the most money but is halfway decent at least. Plan towards what degree you want that is actually worth something and something you think wouldn't mind doing but that's 100% necessary.

Oh yeah and do a lot of AP classes if you think you can handle it.

ive been on and off with speech since freshmen year, would that help at all?

Quote from Jichu

Also staying within state helps

yeah, that's fs what the plan is. i already know where i most likely will go since ive been narrowing down my options since the beginning of junior year, but im just worried about going into something, regretting it later, switching around, and then just having to give up more time and money

Quote from bartkun

you should be open tho

just fly in and stay

i mean, yeah i guess, but its also for someone who has the confidence to feel alright on their own and be away from their family and friends. that's not really something i want.

Quote from Jichu

There was something called dual credit if we took speech in high school but if I remember correctly that only applied for credits in community college. Community college is also an option as well if you are still undecided on any kind of path.

Also I meant to put not* 100% necessary in my og post heh

yeah, i think there were some dual credit classes i was told about at the beginning of the year, and i thought about it because of the college credit aspect, but then i realized there's no way in hell im ever going to need it and ended up switching it out for like AP psych i think

Quote from bartkun

then ask one of besties to come with you

i'd much rather stay local, as i've mentioned earlier

Quote from Aeicy

don't they have idk guidance conselours that are supposed to help u with this stuff in your school?

yes but these guidance counselors don't do shit to actually help out. ive been trying setting up meetings with mine nonstop because he never reaches back out to me to talk about what im confused about

Quote from bangtan-chan

........i want to help you so bad but i cant bc im not even in high school yet

its okay, you should worry about getting good grades when you're in high school. don't make stupid decisions and freak out when you're right on the edge like me

Quote from bartkun

then don't know how to help

tho maybe you live close to Canadian border and there is cheaper? or somethiing

im not trying to leave my state for college

Quote from Jichu

Did you try to go in person and at least talk to the secretary to see what's going on?

i have but he's literally never in his office and its so fucking annoying because he also fucked up my schedule for senior year and ive been like frantically trying to talk to him before the year ends because last day for course changes is literally june 1st and he was supposed to reach out to me last monday

Quote from Turnberry00

Are your parents not helping you through this process? I don’t mean to be rude, but it seems that way and kind of ticks me off.

I live in the U.S. My daughter is a junior in high school and both my wife and I (mainly her) have been preparing her for college since she was a freshman. College test prep classes, making her do volunteer work and extracurricular activities, etc. She doesn’t have a choice.

ACT/SAT - most colleges still don’t require them after Covid, but if your score is good that’s huge. My daughter actually has good grades, but suspect test scores so we may not even submit them when we apply.

Scholarships/Grants - there are a ton available, you just have to know where to look and how to obtain them. If you are a minority there are a lot of options as we have friends who have been given full rides without awesome grades (several small scholarships).

We’re pretty sure my daughter is going to go to a small univ that is an hour alway from home. She’s an introvert and is intimidated by a lot of people. She will live on campus and still live the college life. There’s nothing wrong with staying in state as it’s usually much cheaper. Also, she doesn’t really know what she wants to do yet so we’ll see. I changed majors three times in college btw.

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i think they do want to help, but then they always say things like i mentioned in the OP, and the fact that neither of them really went to school here helps either...

but your daughter seems really bright, and i hope she's able to achieve a lot

Quote from the101

zuzu, for starters, take a deep breath. There are lots of resources and options out there to help and even student loans can be okay, as long as you do your research heading into them.

For starters, make sure you fill out the FAFSA forms. Depending on how much your parents make, you may not be entitled to much but those grants can be a help, if you are eligible. It can also help determine some scholarships and loans and the website is helpful and can answer a lot of questions. I believe it's usually available in October but it's worth checking out the info ahead of that.

https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa

Second, student loans don't have to be scary. There are a number of flexible methods to repay them and the ones from the government are generally low interest. You can even change your repayment methods - like I started with a graduated plan that had lower payments to start with because I didn't know how my finances would be out of college, then shifted to a more traditional plan. (The graduated plans mean you pay more in interest, so you're paying more over the lifetime of your loan in the long term). The most important thing to remember is that you will have to pay it back so be smart with your money. When I was in college, there was a general tendency to treat it like "free money," but it ain't free. If you stay in school more years, you are collecting more debt so important to stay focused on your school work and if possible, take AP classes now that can transfer over and reduce your college time.

Third, there are lots and lots of scholarships out there, everything from your bank to specific career fields (like kids of bakers or whatever).

Here are a few resources to look for scholarships:

https://finaid.org/scholarships/

https://www.fastweb.com

Just to show you some examples:

https://www.fastweb.com/colleg…ge-scholarships-for-women

https://upakar.org

I know it can seem scary and overwhelming but you're often right to listen to your gut instinct. I had a full ride offer from a school in New England but didn't feel at 18 that I was ready to go to so different of a place and that it would have been very stressful. It's no problem for world traveler me now, but I think I was right that it would have been too much for 18 year old me. Similarly there were some schools I didn't apply to, even though they were encouraging me, because in calculating with my parents, we were worried that student aid might not cover it OR if the student aid fell out during that time, my parents couldn't have covered the costs. (For example, UC schools, my parents could help cover costs to let me finish my degree. Stanford? Nah.)

(For full transparency: I had a VA fee waiver from my dad so was not eligible for the Pell grants and stuff. Great because my fees were paid, not great because nothing else was. I had a few small scholarships and worked a job to cover my living expenses and costs like rent, books, etc, however the fee waiver limited the amount of income I could make , so I also have a student loan. My student loan will be paid off by the time I'm probably about 30).

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this was all really helpful. thank you so much.

Quote from the101

also what do you want to study?

i genuinely don't know anymore. i've had my mind on accounting or economics more recently and doing something with that, but like i said in my OP- my dad... he keeps insisting on computer science when ive told them hundreds of times i can't do it. and then when i find something else that might work he tries convincing me that it won't work and im so sick of it that it makes me want to literally just forget about anything after high school.