(USA) How to advice my friend that her plan is likely to be a disaster?

Planning

My friend who is currently an undergraduate, applied for a Interview for a Private University, the required amount was 120K.

In here I noticed one of the problems, the price of the University.

With the help of the thread I made a couple days ago (which barely got any views due to it being posted really late at night, I was able to talk to her, in a shorter version I told her the following, below:

*First things first, the major issue I see here is the cost of the university, 120K is too excessive for any degree and or university, even Stem degrees.

Secondly Apply for as a in-state student status, it will make your tutition cost a lot less (you need to be living in the state for at least a year)

Thirdly, you should apply for FAFSA and maximize your grants gains from it, you may be able to squeeze about 6K a year, provided you aren't making a decent income.

Fourthly, Avoid living on campus its almost always more expenisve than commuting, find a parttime job off campus is better than work study since work study jobs usually provide terrible wages.

Are you an undergrad? - Her answer: Undergrad What degree(s) are you pursuing? Her answer: Dental Hygiene, bachelors.

How much will tutition cost you in the college you applied for? -120k for 2 years.

Have you borrowed money before? - FAFSA (2000 Per semester, none for this year)

Why that specific private university? -- her answer: its EDA compatible and almost all dental hygiene jobs require EDA.

Is that what you want to do, Dental Hygiene, can you switch your major and thus apply for a cheaper university? -- Her answer: I don't know what I wanna do, Dental Hygiene is the most boring thing I know of but it seems to be stable enough, I don't know about changing majors but its possible if I find out what I want to do, if it works out I plan on working within the Military as a Dental Hygienist.

Why don't you go to community college - her answer: I've already done this the past 2 semesters

How long have you been in California - her answer: 5 Years.

What are your current difficulities with your current Private University plan and Funding? - Her answer: My father dosen't want to sign that the FAFSA 120K Loan will be repaid because we are having family issues.*

I've also provided her with the website below to help her find cheaper universities: http://www.collegecalc.org/lists/california/most-affordable-in-state-tuition/?view=all

However she seems demotivated to look into more Universities, she mentioned that she checked a "lot" of them and they were for the most part the same price (120K or more), which I got a hard time believing since I think she didn't mention to them she was an in-state student nor a Citizen, plus according to the website above and statistics on the University of California page, the average price is a lot cheaper, especially for in-states.

tl;dr My friend is probably gonna ruin her self financially, is still awaiting her private university interview results (the university of which will cost her 120K for 2 years), applied for a boring degree, and seems demotivated to apply for a different university which may be cheaper if she follows the beneficial options she has, and I don't know how to change her mind or motivate her to pursue it, perhaps I should just drop it and let her carry on with it, the reason why it may be a disaster is due to the price of the University, the amount of loan she is going to ask for from the government/FAFSA, and the degree not being something she's looking forward to.

Posted Jun 3, 2017, 4:42 PM UTC · edited

07
Loading comments…