can I afford life

**Ben@3DHD** · 09-18-2015, 07:55 PM

Jr College is a Smart way to go money wise. 4 year at a University leaves people in massive debit. 2 years of each is much cheaper.

You will also get just as good an education from a 4 year State College vs a private collage. The only difference is prestige.

Here in California, we have a Cal State System and a UC System. The price is 3 times higher to go to a place like UCLA and UCLA compared to Cal State University Northridge or San Diego State University.

.1% of jobs may not be as obtainable because you went a less prestigious school.

**Nabors** · 09-18-2015, 08:36 PM

Just an example, my dad says he's seen a lot of Dr. Engineers and Master Engineers who have no idea how to turn a wrench and would rather hire somebody with "less" school and more life.

But take what I say with a grain of salt because I'm maybe a couple years older than you. There's still a lot of decisions that my parents make sure I do and know why I do.

The majority of the people here have been through it and can give you better long term advice.

**asianisafish** · 09-18-2015, 09:50 PM

Thank you everyone so much for the advice. It really means so much to me. I come from a decent highschool. Majority of the students are low income and the behavior is not the best here. Elgin Illinois to be excat. I love this town but I want to pursue physical therapy. I kind of lazied my way through highschool and I'm not sure if I'm mature enough for a 4 year university. I want to become a physical therapist in the end but I'm scared by the school and loans. I have also looked a little into the ROTC as a way to help pay for college, in return I would give a few years into military service. Has anyone have advice on that? ECC has a PTA program for 2 years as my anatomy teachers daughter went there and got a PTA from tECC and says it's a great community college. Both medical science teachers at my school also went to ECC so it can't be that bad. They tell me it's great option for students like me who didn't do the greatest in highschool but want to further their education.

**wing commander** · 09-18-2015, 09:54 PM

My Asian stepson listened to me and went to community college while he cut grass 50hrs a week to pay for classes.The first classes were at night only. Next he got released from his test with me and I got him a job at the local supermarket bakery for better flexibility of study and class hours. After graduation of community college he transferred his studies to a Bachelor Degree, then a Master Degree at FIU which is a state school in Florida.The master was about $34,000.00 that was paid by the bakery job. He now will enjoy his life at PWC doing financial work. His Asian mom wanted him to be a doctor, lawyer, dentist...... but he listened to me and did what he was good at. Now mom is happy and he has zero debt and should be off to a good start. While he was in school she did not allow anything but work and school.......but the bad stepdad told him to get a girlfriend when he was 26 and now he is married to a Masters 4.0 graduate and doing just fine. So listen to your parents but respectfully let them know not everyone needs $150,000.00 to be happy. I only graduated high school and have had 32 successful years in bussiness with a nice income and retirement nest egg. Stay focused and before you know it you will achieve your goals!
P.S. His first year of community college was only English Grammar classes to learn how to read, write, and speak English correctly. Good luck.

**asianisafish** · 09-18-2015, 09:59 PM

Thanks. The thing I'm worried about is my academics. My high school is not a hard school. It's pretty laid back. There was not a lot of pushing to better yourself. Many of classmates don't even plan on going to college. Alot of students don't even want to learn and it took an effect on me in school and I coasted through and barely passed my classes. But my junior year and currently my senior year I got a girlfriend. So I am trying to push myself to be better and raised my grades a bit. I want to educate myself better but with all the people surrounding me, it's hard to push yourself to be better when no one even shows up to class.

**TheAverageMan** · 09-18-2015, 10:13 PM

Get a student loan, and put it on the stock market on a 2 year option on a monopoly company like Intel, Nvidia, Berkshire, or Visa. Cash out in 2 years, pay off the loan, and reuse the rest for the next 2 years of schooling.

**AGOatemywallet** · 09-18-2015, 10:46 PM

Originally Posted by Ben@3DHD

You will also get just as good an education from a 4 year State College vs a private collage. The only difference is prestige.

I made a collage once when I was in kindergarten. I also traced my hand and made it into a Turkey!

**wing commander** · 09-18-2015, 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by asianisafish

Thanks. The thing I'm worried about is my academics. I want to educate myself better but with all the people surrounding me, it's hard to push yourself to be better when no one even shows up to class.

Time for a social cleansing, your friends are not going to pay your future bills.

**dcjredline** · 09-18-2015, 11:57 PM

Please do not listen to people who tell you that a loan and Debt is OK. WORK YOUR BUTT off to do what ever you want to do and PAY for it. Debt is NOT good for you. I know Visa, Mastercard, and American Express advertise alot and make you think it is. You don't NEEEEEEEEEEEEED a car payment, you dont NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED student loans. You can buy a $1000 car in cash, save a typical car payment of $400 a month (I'm being VERY conservative here as ALOT of you know) for 10 months and step up to a $5k car. Save that payment again for another 10 months to buy a really nice $10k car (yeah I know 4000+5000 is only 9k but I'm sure if you came to my house looking at my 10k car and had 90 $100 bills Id sure consider it) then in HALF the time most people are into a car payment book your driving a PAID for $10k car. Just think where youd be in the 6-8 years that "normal" people pay for a car payment???????

**EliteDetailing** · 09-19-2015, 12:54 AM

I wish I knew where I read about this, but recently there was a study about how most people are better off starting to work or a business right after high school. College is not for everybody. While I did go to college, I actually started my business while I was at school, while at times it is rough I'm still glad that that's the route I took.