I currently pay 23k to go to the University of Redlands. Around 6k of that I take out in loans, and the remaining amount my parents do monthly payments to pay for my tuition. I am a psychology major with a tentative Computer Science double major/minor. I want to go into Human Computer Interactions as a field, that or the FBI (which I know is a huge reach and wouldn't be applicable until I'm 25, lol). I've been considering transferring because I've been being told that 24k is still a lot of debt to be in as a Psych major, especially since I'm not particularly considering going to grad school. I'd consider it if it were the best option for me at the time. I'm fluent in ASL so I could also just be a sign language interpreter after graduating since I will have taken the required uni courses and will 100% pass the test with ease.
I will not dorm, so any colleges I'd transfer to would have to be within a 30 mile radius from Norco. i.e. Cal Poly Pomona, CSUF, UCR, etc.
I do not particularly want to transfer, nor do my parents want me to, because at all those schools both of my majors are severely impacted and will likely delay my graduation. Also, because I am already networked really well at my current school. I'm going on a years experience of being a research assistant, and will likely work this job until I graduate if I stay, so I will have 3 years of experience that will definitely benefit me in getting into a psych or computer science (probably analytics) related field. My school often has very good internship opportunities (a scout is coming from Facebook to recruit on Thursday from our CS department) and I feel as though it is definitely worth the price, to me.
However, I still have a nagging thought in my mind that despite all these pros, the debt is still a gigantic con. I know that 24k is below the average amount, and I will definitely be paying that down by working over the summer/through the school year anyways, but is it worth it for me to transfer? If I did, I'd likely have to take loans out for the entire tuition since I wouldn't get merit aid from a UC or a CSU and my parents wouldn't help me pay for tuition that low.
↧