Why Turn Down Free or Low-Cost College?
Understand the financial benefits of considering a CSU or UC… you could graduate with ZERO debt!
College debt is an ever-growing problem for adults in the US. The strain debt places on students upon graduation can follow them for years, even decades to come, making financial freedom A LOT harder to gain. Here are some things to consider when looking at colleges based on where your GPA is at and your financial options.
HIGHLY CONSIDER ATTENDING A CSU OR UC IF:
You have a 12th grade student and their GPA is not 3.8 (unweighted)
1300+ on Math and Verbal on the SAT
Your family income is less than $40,000 with a family of two
Your family income is less than $56,000 with a family of three to four.
WHY? CSU and UC cost essentially nothing out of packet for this group of students.
The additional costs vary from $12,000 per year to $55,000 per year if your student does not attend a CSU or UC. This usually translates to a total of 4-5 years of college debt between $40,000 to $250,000! This is a debt that we have seen change parents' lives, careers/jobs and even marriages over the years. As leaders in West Angeles COGIC, a church that is committed to uplifting the community from the inside out… this causes us GREAT concern.
You will notice that we said PARENTS' lives and not youth's. That's because due to a change in the Student Loan process during the Federal Administration (in 2010), the only practical alternate college loan is a Federal PARENT LOAN. In fact, due to the change in Federal Student Loan policy, it's now illegal for private companies and nearly all banks to offer alternate student loans.
Therefore why should or would a parent take on debt when a CSU or UC would have offered ZERO debt?
Certainly, we have heard many answers to this question over the years, but usually it revolves around students not wanting to go to school "in state" and parents who feel compelled (for many interesting and understandable reasons) to give the student their "dream schools" since they worked hard in high school. However, students should ALWAYS get the school they earned with their GPA and SAT — not the one they WANT. Hence, students and parents need to understand that if the student's GRADES were higher, his or her choices would have been wider.
Another reason parents reject the ZERO DEBT option is that they feel erroneously that the educational option away from UC or CSU is SIGNIFICANTLY better. However, over the years, we have had equal numbers of students successfully start their careers and lives in state and out and all different types of colleges.
There are other reasons I have heard such as race, pressure from relatives and lack of understanding of cost before agreeing to attend, but our only point is be sure you understand and address the increased cost before your youth picks a college.
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish."
— Jesus in Luke 14:28-30