Either that 45% number for no help is high or I seriously need to check my privilege.
I knew my situation was somewhat rare, but I didn't know it was 9% rare.
I knew my situation was somewhat rare, but I didn't know it was 9% rare.
I wish I could have just enjoyed college without worrying about food, gas, and keeping a roof over my head.
Working to pay for all that as a science major was no easy task. I cut corners and sometimes took too many credits to graduate in a timely manner.
It wasn't Animal House or Legally Blonde.
I find it depressing that a promising student, who has gained entry into a college like UCSD with good grades in math and basic CS, is struggling to afford to continue. We live in a state where multi multi billionaires lament the shortage of highly educated engineers (who are essential to their billions), but this guy has to drop out because he's having trouble balancing paying the rent with a very rigorous curriculum.
Even with working every summer, every Christmas break, and through 3 of the 4 years while at school, I still had to miss many classes to pick up extra shifts at work (thankfully only a handful of courses are strict about attendance, so my GPA only suffered by about ~0.3). And I still came out with the "average student loan debt" of about 22k.
Unfortunately, despite how "smart" I am. I was too retarded to see what a mistake the life sciences were and I'm still working on that debt.
College is a scam if you're at least decently intelligent. It's an 80k stamp.
We've setup 529's for the kids, but it won't be enough to cover the full cost, even for a Cal State school.