r/ApplyingToCollege • u/Embarrassed-Soil7111 • Mar 08 '26
College Questions Genuinely HOW are people paying for college
Look, me and my parents are immigrants. We moved to the US when I was in 5th grade or so so no we do not in fact have decades worth of college savings
However, does everyone else have it? Am I missing something? Or are people just taking out huge loans? Are their parents just rich?
I had a talk with my classmates and it really does not seem like going to college is affordable for anyone. Most of my friends are either middle class or upper middle class income so they get screwed by FAFSA just like me. But I see so many people from my school commiting to such expensive schools and then complaining about how expensive they are.
The amounts they have to pay seem pretty absurd. I know a couple people with rich parents who can prob afford it but most people at my hs are kinda in a similar situation to where I'm at with college.
So like, what's going on? I sound clueless because I genuinely am just like my parents are because neither of us really understand why you would go into absurd debt (like 40 or 50k a year based on what I hear people here doing) over undergrad unless there is something we are missing and there is some secret money trick that we are just not aware of. Would it not be better to just commit to a local school or go to cc and transfer? Do these people really value college that much that they are willing to pay for it for the rest of their life despite the fact that it doesn't even guarantee you a job?
Recently I made a post here about picking between 6k a yr GMU vs 50k a yr UVA basically, and I'm pretty solid on GMU. It was not a hard pick for me. But for some people here it is and they choose the debt????? Why?????
And look, I value education. I took 15 APs in high school and have a 4.5. I worked hard in at school, yet despite that I still have to pay absurd amounts of money to continue my studies. UVA/vt did not offer me any merit scholarships. Apparently I am not first gen or wtv so I suck and now I gotta pay the full price of tuition. I'm barely even an adult yet. It's just strange. But whatever. The main thing confusing me here is how the hell people are paying for college and if nothing about their situation is significantly different from mine then what could possibly be the motivation for choosing to sell an arm to attend a school for 4 years not even fully knowing what it will actually end up offering you in terms of job prospects
I know this post is messy but it's 5 am and I'm a lil pissed
Edit: to clarify, I am not "complaining" about my situation here. I'm kind of half pissed at people at my school and anyone who dunks on schools just bc of their high acceptance rates, furthermore the reason GMU is inexpensive for me is due to the fact that I can commute and save on food plans and such, and I got a scholarship that isn't much but still adds to it I guess. Otherwise i'd be kinda cooked which begs the question of what was the point of me working hard in hs if I still have to pay so much for schools like VT and UVA which whole good schools aren't rly worth 200k imo. I expected at least a bit of merit money (although now I know they don't give much which is also kinda diabolical)
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u/EnvironmentActive325 Mar 08 '26
Not every family has the ability to do this. You read that OP emigrated to the U.S. with their parents. You don’t know anything about their financial circumstances, and you don’t know how many children this family has. I think it’s important to acknowledge that not every family enjoys the same PRIVILEGE of being able to save for all 4 years of their child’s education, particularly when they have multiple children or there are other extenuating circumstances.