:eng101::eng101::eng101::eng101::eng101:

Just a rant thread. But to make it not spam, post how you paid/are paying for college!

Working?
Financial Aid?
Loans?
:master:ing?

I went to a tech school (~$100/credit) and worked full time. It sucked but I am not in debt!

I'm trying to decide, now that I can breathe some financially, if I want to go into the debt required for a BAS from a 4 year school, or get a dual AAS from a tech school. I'm just not sure how useful the AAS degrees would do me verses a BAS. Most companies seem to want a Bachelor's degree.

Yeah, I decided to take some online classes this semester to help shore up a certification for Education. All I needed was a geography and sociology course of some kind, didn't even have to be a higher level class. Still gonna cost me about 2 grand, plus the extra 400 for the convenience of online courses. I realize this is standard practice, but I don't have to like it...

Merit and need-based financial aid. Went to a school that was around $45k+ for tuition, housing, books, etc. and it only cost about $3k a year for me to go there thanks to scholarships and grants. Didn't have to take out any loans. Would've likely cost me more money to go to a "much cheaper" state university because I would've gotten next to nothing from them. It helped a lot that my school gives out something like $40k average per student per year in financial aid.

Well my stepdaughter is in high school but WA state offers this program called Running Start which allows you to spend your last two years of HS in a community college on the state's dime (well, they pay tuition, we are responsible for fees + books). To get in, you have to pass a placement test and qualify for college-level courses in math & english. She passed so is starting shortly. The books alone for this quarter were ~400 bucks. I think tuition is a couple thousand but I'm not sure. Fees were a couple hundred as well.

I went through a 2 year degree a long time ago. I took out a loan for $14k and eventually paid it off when I sold my house. Had we not made money on that deal I would likely still be paying it off...

for undergrad, I received some amazing financial aid (i.e. my parents)

now that i'm a grad student, the university's paying me to be here!

My parents pay for everything out of pocket. I was able to get a job a year ago so I now pay for everything EXCEPT school, but they still pay the bursar bill. Had to go to a state school so they could afford it (but this is where I needed to be anyway).

Currently I'm paying all out of pocket, working full time and cutting back to part time student, but I also happen to live in a city with a college so my tuition is considerably less than what most others pay.

This is the first semester I've had to take off from school and work full time so I can save some money up for the next semester. Sucks having to stretch out my college education to 6 years, but i won't be in debt for the next 30 years either.... seems like a pretty fair trade to me.

Scholarship, a loan (which I paid off...bam!), pell, working full time, and savings. I'm now out with no debt to my name. Pretty good deal for not having my parents help at all!

I worked a lot of ****ty jobs: janitor, gardener, forklift driver, wire puller, minor construction. Worked 40+ a week while in school to pay for school. Often, would work two 25-30 hours jobs simultaneously. I drove a ****ty car (still do), had a ****ty phone, a ****ty wardrobe, and a ****ty computer because I didn't want to get into debt. Got no help from my dad, the feds, the state, or anyone.

But now I have zero debt and a fancy Master's Degree.

Most of it (years ago) was federal financial aid. Now, I paid out of pocket while working full time.

About ~£22k of loans, and that bought a pretty mediocre B.Sc.

I never really had to worry about money, even though I never had a job or support from my parents.

I have a bit of money from my parents, as well as money from interning, so I may be able to do my undergrad degree with out any loans. I might take out a load for my master's though. Hopefully, with a master's degree in electrical engineering, I should get them paid of relatively quickly.

The issue I'm having is FAFSA (grants, federal loans ect) always want your parents info unless you're over 24 years old. Which is and with a dose of

Not everyone has good parents, and its up to 'the financial aid office' at your school to decide if you deserve to get the override? Pfft... how are these people supposed to know if you're still suckling on the parental teet or not?

Scholarships, Loans, Parents, Inheritance.

Loan and job.

If it wasn't for scotland having standardised fees, I wouldn't be able to afford university.

Finland has free schools (though you do pay for your books), which is quite awesome IMO, it gives everyone a chance to pursue high education if they so wish.

I went to a community college. Grants covered 100% of my tuition & then some. However, I took out a loan for my final year of school ($6000) to help with living expenses. I paid 8x my loan minimum amount each month ($600) & use my tax refund to pay it off in about 6 months.

I'm hoping to go back to school soon. I'm a bit worried about the price of tuition & the stability of my current job.


If you're going to go, go. Don't waste your time with an AAS, especially if you're going to be looking for a job in the IT-industry. Unless you really know some people, you're going to be competing against people with Bachelor's degrees & more on-the-job experience.

What's killing me is books. My parents pay tuition and fees, which ain't cheap, but these books are ridiculous! At least my school is the center for basically all of the training and text books in my field, and everything is written, published, and stored on campus....so those are at least somewhat reasonable.

Well I hope I can get a loan for my soon to be $10,000 yearly tuition... FML. Maybe find some other aid.

$9,200 or so for this semester. This is after a $1000 scholarship deduction and a $1750 loan.