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!

 

[piglet1979]

Ohio must be very different then other states. Almost all of our schools are not competitive to get into. We do have way too many colleges in our state. We have we have 6 colleges and 3 community colleges within driving distance. Recently we have had 1 college close close and 2 not too far away that merged into one.

DS applied to 12 schools in Ohio and got into all of them. His GPA and test scores were fine. Above average but not spectacular. He really wanted to go to a state school that was about 2 hours away but it was too much when it came to room and board so he ended up going to a private school in our town because it was cheaper. He lived at home his first year and this year rented a house with 5 others. I love having him close and glad that he still got the college experience of being on campus (the house is on the campus just not part of the school). He had several classes done before starting school because of the level of math he took and all of his AP classes. I don't think he had a full year done but every bit helps.

DD started college when she was a sophmore in HS. She didn't do it aggressively but took about 2 classes a semester or and still took some classes at the HS. She applied everywhere, including Penn State and John Hopkins (she wants to be a pediatric hospitalist so that kids won't feel the way she did with doctors ignoring her. She has low antibodies and was sick all the time and no one took the time to see why. We didn't find out until last year about the low antibodies.). She didn't get into any of the bigger out of state schools. She did have a great GPA but she struggles with the tests so the scores were just ok. She did get into all of the ones in the state though. She choose to go to the state school that is close. The plan was that she was going to live at home because it was cheaper but instead she moved out and is living with a friend. She pays very little for school and will have no undergrad loans. THis was her goal since she new that she would rack them up in grad school.

I also work for a local non profit that is a college access program as well as giving out scholarships. I work in the scholarship department. My biggest advice is to apply for all the scholarships as they can. Look at the college, local to your city as well as national ones. College Board has a list, Scholly scholarship (Sallie Mae) also has a list. There are many more places as well. Coca-cola has a scholarship as well that is pretty big. Apply even for the smaller $500 ones. They add up and (at least for around here) we can't get students to apply for these or even the $1000 ones. They are saying it is not worth their time. So these are sometimes easier to get. I don't work as much with getting into colleges. Our advisors in the HS do this. There advise is to apply to a stretch school or 2, a few of the middle ground ones and then a few safe schools. Don't count out private schools because of the sticker price. They tend to have more money to give out. DS got over half of his in scholarships from the school. Between that and living at home it was cheaper then the state schools he applied to. One of my employees went to a private school on a full ride and states schools she would have had to pay some.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Almost all of our schools are not competitive to get into

I think it also depends on what type of college you're looking into. Things like a more broad liberal arts college vs more specialized colleges and even with liberal arts colleges what exact one.

My sister went to Cornell University (although only for 2 years before being sent home due to depression) and it was either that or Rolla she wanted. She had a full ride to one of our major universities in our state (although I understand why she didn't take it). Cornell and Rolla have different admissions considerations than the other school she got a full ride to.

Both my husband and I went to what is considered the flagship college of our state. While the admissions may not seem overly difficult the programs within it can have rigid parameters. My husband went for aerospace engineering and I went for psychology. For psychology you have to complete certain courses before being admitted into the department of psychology (you have to meet with an advisor who signs off on your admittance it's not automatic at least it wasn't then) and typically that is done in your late sophomore/early junior year due to the courses in particular psychological statistics which is often done late sophomore/early junior year. Plus they had a lot of gen ed classes to take for psychology including Western Civ which could only be done at the sophomore and up level (I think they have since removed Western Civ as a requirement). My husband's school of engineering had different qualifications as well but he was immediately admitted into it. The rigors of aerospace engineering are IMO for sure harder than psychology but the way the programs/majors function at the same college are very different. It was easy to get into the college but I still had to do work and later on in my time there in order to get into the department for my major and then graduate with my major. For my husband getting into the school of engineering while he was in high school required more stringent effort at that time. Otherwise you're considered "pre-engineering" if you aren't directly admitted into the school of engineering at that college.

Personally for me I took French courses in high school for college credit (which means I was a college student at the community college technically but didn't take classes there yet), then the summer before my freshman year at college a math course at the same community college (actually being a college student there) both of which gave me a leg up on credit hours allowing me to enroll in courses at an earlier date and then in between my sophomore year and junior year of college I took my biology lab and course at the community college (it worked better with my schedule and with what courses I wanted to take at my main college plus of course it was cheaper). This type of dual college situation (high school credit and courses taken) isn't uncommon in my area.

 

[barkley]

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.

these are such great options for those who are college bound. there's also things in the works local to us wherein programs are being developed with the local tech school to offer a similar set-up but it would permit a student who wants to go into certain trades or professions that don't require degrees but specific certifications to do a similar 2 year program, on the state's dime to complete in the 2 years prior to high school graduation.

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

that's great! the whole thing of our state's universities deciding to require freshman to dorm came up after the state re-hauled the tuition costs a few years prior to COVID. tuition had gotten out of control at the state schools so there was a successful push by the lawmakers to lower and then cap costs with very moderate and reasonable cost of living increases. the universities started looking for money grabs and what better way than to require your entire incoming class to live in your overpriced campus housing that has fees out the wazoo that are NOT regulated by the state

in between my sophomore year and junior year of college I took my biology lab and course at the community college (it worked better with my schedule and with what courses I wanted to take at my main college plus of course it was cheaper).

I did the same with some classes evenings and summers. it was easier to get into them, less expensive and in many cases were taught by the identical professors that taught at the universities (with the identical curriculum and materials). in later years, talking to some of my former high school classmates who went to the big name schools (uc Berkeley, Stanford and uc Davis) those profs taught their day classes at they were surprised to hear that those of us who studied under them at the community colleges actually got to speak with them and get assistance b/c they always had grad students who handled that where they attended.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I did the same with some classes evenings and summers. it was easier to get into them, less expensive and in many cases were taught by the identical professors that taught at the universities (with the identical curriculum and materials). in later years, talking to some of my former high school classmates who went to the big name schools (uc Berkeley, Stanford and uc Davis) those profs taught their day classes at they were surprised to hear that those of us who studied under them at the community colleges actually got to speak with them and get assistance b/c they always had grad students who handled that where they attended.

In our cases the professors are not normally the same and the materials may or may not be the same. I think there's a difference in people talking about night school and taking courses at a community college. Those aren't the same things. And the college I went to (the 4-yr one) also had summer classes it just wasn't as low cost or as many courses offered then.

I worked 40 hours during summer (and often the same amount of hours during the school year) and took courses at the community college. Indeed part of the reason I took the biology lab at the community college was because the one offered at my main college was on Saturdays during the bulk of the day (the lab at the main college was 5 hours long once a week vs split hours twice a week at the community college)...that was my prime working time in retail so that wasn't going to be as advantageous.

The math course and the biology and biology lab courses were done during the M-F week time and during the day, normally morning-mid morning to early afternoon.

Our community college is an actual college it's not a place where people just use it as a night school (you can take evening courses but it's not what its purpose is).

 

[LadybugsMum]

I'm going to stick my head in the sand about college for a bit since my twins just turned 12 and are in 6th grade.

I just had a conversation with another company about a job and it sounds like I'll be doing some meets with other team members in the next week or so. It was a nice convo and I'm interested in going to the next step.

I've also got the fit interview this Friday with the client. This is my preferred job at the moment; so I'm hoping it goes well.