r/collegeadvice

I’m Middle Class, and I’m in the grey zone of not rich enough to go to college and get little aid. I do have the GI Bill but will only pay for a year (maybe even less due to family issues). I really, really don’t want to take out loans and am willing to do just about anything to not take them out. I’m not exactly the smartest so I’m not sure if I should even apply to the ones offered by the University. I’ve applied to multiple scholarships to no avail. And right now looking at around 1-2 (possibly more) years of college that I will have to pay out of pocket (\~35K a year).

I’m considering going to a cheaper college than transferring, or just going straight to the college of my choice ( University of Oklahoma or Oklahoma State, Spring 2027(I’m not sure if that matters)). I’m not completely sure of transferring since I know it’s hard and a majority of students never end up transferring.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated, I’m very desperate and stressed out about this, thank you for reading!

I heard community college offers make certificate programs and associates degrees but usually people transfer to a university because it's cheaper to take classes at community college. But like is it fine to get an associate degree and find a job and maybe from there pursue a bachelor's degree.

So I have been presented an opportunity to dorm at my university which is a 30 minute car ride from my house for an extra $5,100 per year.

My scholarship covers basic housing room (no AC, no elevator, smaller room), although I ended up in honors dorm and have to pay up $200 extra per semester due to the nicer accommodations. The thing they require me to cover is food, around $2,100 per semester, which I’m not going to lie is highkey expensive for what you get. It is a 12 weekly plan, 200 extra currency at university.

As of currently I would be at the university Monday to Friday, come back Saturday and Sunday to work at my job near my house since it pays fine and work is decent. (Also am pre med so it is a place I plan to get my clinical hours through)

My mother keeps asking me if I’m sure that I wanna dorm there and it’s starting to hit me. I run the math today from scratch and it turned out to be a decent difference, without dorming and meal plans per semester cost is around $2,000, as compared to with meal and dorming around $4,600 a semester, turn that into a year that’s $4,000 as compared to $9,200 and across 3 years as I’m planning to graduate early due to having enough credits as is, $12,000 vs $27,600. That’s a lot of money and I know I’m in a decent spot as compared to some others but it is still pressure and financial stress, 400 a month vs 950 a month payment.

What do you think? As I stated I’m a premed so I also have labs I gotta be at, prob clubs and the scholarship also requires some meetings every now and then.

hii so im moving out in a month and i don’t have anything besides my iphone lmao. i have two options that have a pretty good price but i can only choose one for this year and i’m not sure which one i should get. i’m majoring in languages so that means mostly learning the structure of the language a lot of reading essays and exercises. some of my friends say ipad for note taking others macbook because you can do much more on it. i need some advice about the pros and cons and what do yall recommend
thanks in advance!

I spoke with upperclassmen who regret not negotiating their first job offers rather than simply accepting them. I was shocked to hear that, as I believed entry-level employees were supposed to take any offer they receive. Now I wonder if negotiating skills should be acquired long before one graduates. If you negotiated your first salary effectively, what helped you muster up the confidence to do so, and what would you advise someone who is afraid to ask for a salary negotiation?

So I’m getting ready to start applying to colleges and could really use some advice/recommendations. I’m pretty open to a lot of different places, but I live in Connecticut and I definitely want to go out of state so I can experience something completely new.
I’m mainly looking at the East Coast, the South, and Texas area. I don’t really want to go all the way across the country, though so no where really past Texas.

Here’s what I’m looking for:

Around a 3.5–3.6 GPA (3.6 at the end of junior year, but my overall GPA will probably be closer to 3.5 because of freshman/sophomore grades)

Test optional because I didn’t do great on the SAT

Preferably D1 sports, especially somewhere with good football games and school spirit

Greek life because I’d really like to join a fraternity
A fun/active social scene, ideally a party school

Planning to major in Finance

Good internship and job opportunities after graduation

Ideally near a city or somewhere with good access to one (so finance jobs could reach out to me)

Most importantly, I don’t want college to put me into a ridiculous amount of debt. I’m trying to keep the total cost for 4 years under ~$160k

I’m not really looking for one specific type of school. I’d be open to a big state school, private school, college town, city, etc. as long as it fits most of these things.

I’m also trying to balance having a really fun college experience with actually getting a good career after graduation, so schools with good business/finance recruiting would be a big plus.

What schools would you recommend I look into or apply to? And if you went to one of the schools you recommend, I’d love to hear what you thought of the social life, Greek life, football/sports, and career opportunities.

I’m trying to decide between a Lenovo idea tab 11” or an iPad Air 4th gen and up w/apple pen. Wanted to get an idea of what people think the best tablet to use to take notes with. Trying to stick to the 200 dollar range and right now the Lenovo idea tab 11” is going for 200 new from amazon. Thanks.

Hi guys! so like the title says, I am going to college in the near future and need advice from people who are in/recently out of college. I have anxiety and insomnia because of it, and I use one of those blanket animals to help me sleep. It's not big at all, but would a roommate or friends who come to my dorm think it's really weird to have one? For reference, I'm going to a private liberal arts school. Thanks for any replies :)

What are the best life hacks to share with college students? Or what are some basic life 101 hacks?
Things that aren’t typically taught but are good to know as you become an adult.
Things from laundry, cooking, to budgeting or even social skills.

I plan to work jobs that don't require degrees, but would still like one just in case. Should I study something in humanities?

I am about to enter my freshman year of college on the pre-med track. My parents are unfortunately pretty toxic/abusive but quite wealthy. I believe I am on the verge of getting disowned by them and my entire life I’ve operated under the assumption that I wouldn’t have to worry about educational finances because they would be funding them. However now it is becoming an extremely real possibility that I’ll go homeless. Honestly im seeing struggling financially at the expense of their comfort more appealing and I kind of just want to ditch home myself. I am not sure what to do the university I will be attending in a week is very good but is 58k/yr for me. Also I heard you can only take a max of 5.5k student loans a year. I am wondering if I can transfer into a lower ranked school with good aid as I did quite well in highschool with my sat score especially. Or join the military but I don’t think I have the physical capability for that. If anyone could offer advice I would really appreciate it. Thank you

During my third year of college, I struggled immensely with my academics. Along with some mental health issues, the stress of trying to work, focusing on school, and having a social life really drained me. These factors led me to fail one of my classes. I have the option of staying with my retail job throughout my fourth year, but a big part of me wants to just grind my academics and enjoy these moments with my friends. Fortunately, I was smart this summer and saved up a ton of money from my current job. Now that the school year is about to begin, I have enough to give myself a decent weekly allowance for the next eight months. I am still on the fence about the whole thing.

I see two downsides that come with choosing not to work this year:

1. I will not have a huge pile of money saved up once next summer comes around.
2. There will be an 8-month gap on my resume. I hope that employers next summer will be forgiving since I do still have over a year of retail experience and only stopped to focus on my education.

On the other hand, there are positives:

1. I can really prioritize my academics, especially as I approach my last two years (I stretched my degree across five years).
2. I can put more time into the clubs I'm in, which are relevant to the career I want.
3. I can spend more time with my other college friends, most of whom don't work during the year.

I am very torn at the moment. My parents suggested that I could do volunteer work while at school, as it would allow me to build some meaningful experience on my resume to make the gap look less severe. I know that not every college student works during the school year, including most of my friends, but I just don't want to make a decision that will negatively impact me later on.

For spring it is looking like unless I want to take more summer classes I need to take physics 1 and chem 2 in the spring so that in 2029 I’ll be in med school. If I take those 2 classes and there respective labs, and take an easy class such as world religion do you guys think that would be too much?

Hi everyone! Recent HS graduate, soon to be doing community college in the spring semester(figured I’d work a little before heading back in to the school game) & was wondering what kind of computer would work well to use? Any advice will be greatly appreciated:)

Hey everyone. I’m 24 and starting college this fall as a freshman. I graduated high school during COVID, kind of fucked around for a few years afterward, and never really got the traditional college experience. I’ve always wanted to go, though, so I’m finally doing it.
I know I’m obviously not going to have exactly the same experience as someone who starts at 18 or 19, and I’m actually curious how much of a difference the age gap makes socially.
I’m generally pretty comfortable talking to people and I do well socially when I’m out, but I’ve never really had to build a social life in a college environment. I’d like to actually make friends, meet people, go to things, and just be part of campus life rather than treating school like somewhere I go to class and leave.
And yeah, I’m single, so I’d like to flirt/date and meet girls too. 😅 I’m not trying to be the weird 24-year-old hanging around freshmen specifically — I just want to meet people around my age and have a normal social life while I’m in school.
I’m also going to community college, so I’m wondering if that changes things. For anyone who started college a little later than most, what was your experience like? Did you feel noticeably out of place, or did you eventually realize the age difference wasn’t that big of a deal?
Any advice for making friends and getting involved socially when you’re an older freshman would be appreciated.

I am a dad of three teenage boys. I am from Germany originally. All of my kids were born in the US and are dual citizens. I always considered them studying in Europe at public universities for low cost. My wife is American and did the typical 4 years undergraduate degree in an out of state college (in the middle of nowhere college town). She would rather have them study here, in state. We were late to saving for their college education. My oldest will have $30k at most available in his 529 when he starts.

I think it would be a great experience for them to study abroad and rather supporting them cost wise on living there and 2 flights back home a year, than paying some mid tier state college and dorm live in our state.

I am looking for opinions from those who have considered such or experienced both.

Interested in applying for psychology major and going further than bachelors, So far the only thing i don’t like about SDSU is the lack of a proper college town which I think would be pretty important to me as I heavily value social opportunities but am not a party person. Would it be reasonable/possible for me to do the first 4 years at ucsb then after that go to sdsu? or is that just gonna defeat the purpose of connections made in the first 4 years.