Ja-Ia
How to handle high tuition rates for an out-of-state student?
I plan on transferring from a community college to a university. However, I am unsure as to how to transfer my credits and making sure that everything that I have done until now aligns. I am also concerned about the high tuition rate and how to compensate for it. For example, when I should be taking loans and when I should be changing some life choices and how often I should be making those decisions to pay for tuition.
#tuition #outofstate #savingmoney
3 answers
Chris Amenell
Chris’s Answer
Hi Ja-la. I was in this boat. I transferred to a few different colleges during my road to graduation. It was truly disheartening to sit with a counselor and see that person just cross off classes I had taken. Many of my science classes did not transfer to the school I ultimately graduated from. It's good to know you have identified credit transfer as a potential issue to manage
Community college is great! My friends who stayed and received their AA degree did not have the same issues with credits not transferring that I did. You may want to start with a visit to an academic counselor on campus. I'm sure they will have a good idea of how to transfer credits and what might not transfer over.
In the end it all worked out for me, but losing those credits did add another semester to the journey.
Gloria Ortiz
Gloria’s Answer
I have had the same experience as you have. What I found is that you need to do a little more research to be sure that the transfer can happen. So I would say that if you can, go to a four-year university that accepts your credits. That may mean choosing a school that you did not consider attending. That was what I did. I went to the four-year school that allowed me to graduate the fastest in a field that I wanted a degree in. It was not the degree that I had originally anticipated, but that is okay. I have learned that having any college degree is better than not having one. It took me 17 years and five majors to learn that. Get a degree, the major is sometimes not relevant to the job that you end up getting and loving. For some hiring managers, getting any degree shows that you are able to make a commitment and follow through. Sometimes that is all an employer is looking for.
As to costs, I would again consider thinking about the four-year university that you can afford without going into great gobs of debt. In very few cases does going to a particular university get you a job. Instead, the fact that you have a degree and your particular skills and talents play a much larger role in if you get hired. Also, consider trying to a get a job where your company offers tuition reimbursement. This is a great way to defer costs.
Gloria
