Debt Dumpers 2026

[DanceDisney23]

For all you who have kids heading to college soon, I stumbled across an Instagram account called Collegeinhighschool. Apparently there are a number of classes you can test out of at a lot of different colleges for $25 to take the class and if you're happy with the score it's $400 to solidify the grade within that school. I haven't looked toooo far into it because my oldest is just now 10, but it's definitely something I'm going to keep in the back of my mind since we considered dual enrollment type of situation in the next 6 years or so.

Is that the same as Clep?

Our high school offers dual enrollment with a number of colleges around here. DD is dead set on staying close to home, so that would be nice. But she’s also only in middle school. Who knows where her path will lead her?

 

[barkley]

Is that the same as Clep?

Our high school offers dual enrollment with a number of colleges around here. DD is dead set on staying close to home, so that would be nice. But she’s also only in middle school. Who knows where her path will lead her?

dh was the king of the clep tests i couldn't believe how many classes his university allowed students to clep out of, granted it was all general Ed stuff which I thought/think is a waste of time for most freshman/sophomores when they could concentrate on their actual majors (as a high school student I would have killed for the running start program our state offers-'do my last 2 years of high school as my first 2 years of college all on the state's dime? yes, thank you-sign me up now').

 

[Tygerlilly]

Is that the same as Clep?

Our high school offers dual enrollment with a number of colleges around here. DD is dead set on staying close to home, so that would be nice. But she’s also only in middle school. Who knows where her path will lead her?

As far as I looked into, which isn't super far, I think it is? But I saw you can start taking them as young as 13. I don't think my daughter will be ready to start anything in the next 3 years, but I'd love nothing more than to knock out the annoying Gen ed classes before she even steps foot onto campus as a student.

 

[CGB]

She is a national merit semifinalist and if she gets finalist then a lot more scholarships open up to her. She’s on the small scholarship hunt now so USC and Yale are her top 2, USC gives merit and Ivies do not. USC tuition is surprisingly more expensive than Yale however and board in SoCal is more than New Haven. She wants to be in the entertainment industry so USC is the best choice for her due to the connections to the industry it has. I’m sad because it’s so far from FL but she’s fiercely independent so I’m not worried about her. If she stayed to go to a state school instead she would literally get paid to go to school with a full ride scholarship with extra for books and supplies too.

I'm glad the college discussion came back up because I wanted to reply to you. Our son was that kid and I knew he could pull a full-ride. When it came to college I encouraged him to apply to his dream schools, but I also insisted that he apply to a couple of our local universities. I knew he was thinking about the Ivies, so I told him to pick one. He chose Yale. In total, he applied to 7 schools (yes, it was a lot paying for application fees & sending ACT scores). Yale contacted him and he interviewed with a local alumni. Apparently, they decided he wasn't a good fit. (Yale's acceptance rate is one of the lowest of the Ivies.) The dream colleges didn't really offer much money. The local universities invited him to interview and then offered the most: the public offered a free ride and the private offered a vice-presidential scholarship (about 50% tuition). In the end, he chose the local public's free-ride on his own. After his undergraduate years, he stayed for his masters while working as a paid graduate assistant. In the end, he earned two bachelors and a masters with no debt. Today, he's really happy with the college choices he made. And I'm really happy with his career and financial standing.

I wish the best for your daughter. It's a really exciting yet stressful time of their lives as they make their choices.

 

[princesscinderella]

do they at least get a guarantee that they will be retained year to year of the program? I ask b/c I had some friends get into some well respected performing arts degree programs but despite what grades you received it was up to the department if you were deemed 'worthy' enough to continue each subsequent year (lousy for those who didn't get accepted a subsequent year only to find out that a number of their credits were non transferrable to where they ended up to finish their degrees)

The degree she wants is business for the cinematic arts so no auditons needed as it’s not a performing arts degree. The process some of her friends are going through for musical theatre degree programs is insane with all the auditions they are flying to in addition to the application process. Some of the arts schools don’t have recognized accreditation by traditional colleges and it’s not really explained to the kids. It can be a lot of money wasted that’s for sure if they find they hate the program or degree path after two years.

You also mentioned the 2 year head start program where you get an AA and last two years of HS at the same time and we just applied for this type of program for my youngest. She doesn’t love school as much as my other two and if she can get a head start on college she is excited. We will know in March if she admitted to the program.

 

[princesscinderella]

I'm glad the college discussion came back up because I wanted to reply to you. Our son was that kid and I knew he could pull a full-ride. When it came to college I encouraged him to apply to his dream schools, but I also insisted that he apply to a couple of our local universities. I knew he was thinking about the Ivies, so I told him to pick one. He chose Yale. In total, he applied to 7 schools (yes, it was a lot paying for application fees & sending ACT scores). Yale contacted him and he interviewed with a local alumni. Apparently, they decided he wasn't a good fit. (Yale's acceptance rate is one of the lowest of the Ivies.) The dream colleges didn't really offer much money. The local universities invited him to interview and then offered the most: the public offered a free ride and the private offered a vice-presidential scholarship (about 50% tuition). In the end, he chose the local public's free-ride on his own. After his undergraduate years, he stayed for his masters while working as a paid graduate assistant. In the end, he earned two bachelors and a masters with no debt. Today, he's really happy with the college choices he made. And I'm really happy with his career and financial standing.

I wish the best for your daughter. It's a really exciting yet stressful time of their lives as they make their choices.

I’m really hoping the right choice shines through for her. My husband went to UM and would love to have her go there and she could live on campus but still be close by vs the other side of the country. So far the privates haven’t offered a ton in the way of scholarships but there’s also a thing with national merit if she is picked as a finalist where if you name your top school and they participate with NM then it opens up different scholarships so we are in a limbo right now. Thanks for the good wishes

PS. Go Canes!! Hope the win the championship this year.

 

[Twilghtsprkle]

they will let a freshman commute that distance? that's great! when my oldest went to our local state school there was no freshman requirement to live on campus but then it changed. we have allot of commuter students (rural) and I remember a big kerfuffle with parents of incoming freshman complaining about the maximum distance the university would allow a freshman to commute from (in order to waive the living on campus requirement which is just a huge money grab on the university's part).

Yes. You can commute as long as you live within 60 miles of the campus. So that covers most (all?) of the state.

Good luck to her! But I hope she applies to other schools too. It’s tricky putting all your eggs in one basket.

And she might be surprised to find out what some privates will pay in scholarships.

She will also apply to CCSU, but that one should be an easy in. There’s always the option of going there for a year & then trying to transfer into UCONN. And pretty sure she’d only get merit scholarships. So we’re trying to stay with state schools because there’s enough cash to pay for that with her inheritance so she graduates with no debt.

 

[LoveDaisy]

Yes UCONN is in state. It’s commutable (40 mins) so no room and board. Anywhere out of state would require room & board.

Bonus daughter #2 is a sophomore at UConn. I could not believe how competitive it is now, it was my safety school back in the day! Good luck!