Debt Dumpers 2026

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

our community colleges were colleges as well. back then one offered at least one program that resulted in a bachelor's degree and I think they've expanded to include a few more now. the community colleges (I had 3 within reasonable driving distance) offered night classes in primarily general ed and excellerated general ed summer classes (science and lab for 4 hours/5 days a week and whack it out in half a quarter). the cost for doing a summer class was 25% what the university charged, and as far as the night classes went-as a freshman or sophomore at the university you were at the bottom of the list to sign up* for classes so they were often filled fast so if the same prof was teaching the same transferrable class at the community college it was a no brainer to take it there. I clearly remember taking my general Ed bio class/lab from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. one summer (then heading off to my job).


*when my oldest went to college I remarked about how nice it must be to not have to stand in a looooooooooong line stretching outside and around an admissions building with your school's class catelog for that particular quarter in hand scribbled with all your notes on what class to take if you could'nt get into another and then subsequent options if those classes were also filled.

I understand I was just trying to set the record straight. To me sounded like it was being utilized differently than how it is in my area. At least according to their 2024-2025 school year 61% were there to get their degree or certification, 27% were intending to transfer their credits elsewhere.

As far as signing up at least at my alma mater it went by credit hours not by year in college. That's why dual college/high school student or dual college credit or taking summer classes, etc could give straight out of high school a leg up at least here because their year in college may say freshman but their credit hours may not put them in that range. Some courses like I said the Western Civ were not open to freshman, typically psychological statistics was done as a junior but it was just a 300-level course so you could do it earlier (realistically with other courses like Psych 101 you wouldn't do it as a freshman since a pre-req was Psych 101 to get to Psychological Statistics). The only course I can think of for the classes I was involved in that I know was popular that would get scooped up every time unless you had enough credit hours to be considered in the senior year range was intimate relationships (a psychology course I think because people assumed what the topic would be) but the main issue is the professor who taught it only taught it one semester per year a common enough situation when you started getting into more specialized courses.

My husband had a different experience since his was more micromanaged in what courses he had to take, he did have to take a few gen ed courses but much much less than me. And it wasn't the same situation as needing to vie for a spot in a particular course. His classes were already very small.

One thing to note though for anyone considering the community college route to get gen ed or other courses done is make sure they transfer. Majority around here will transfer especially in my immediate area with reciprocal agreements but it doesn't mean for every course.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm almost halfway to paying off my phone - can't wait to get that stupid $25.74 back each month LOL

I might be one of the few people that wish for contracts to be back. My phones were either free or $50 and I gladly paid that while being under the 2 year contract. Once that went away when it was Sprint it was either buy it outright or lease it and for a time you could only lease it. I had to buy a phone at Best Buy to avoid the lease aspect though luckily I could still get it for cheap.

 

[Tygerlilly]

It's about $200 to pay off hubby's phone and my watch. I think that lowers our bill by $45. However, his phone charging port is being a pain. I'm going to call the local place and have them take a look at it before we go the upgrade route (he really doesn't care about what he has). If we do need the upgrade, we'll keep his old phone and use it with wifi calling as a "home phone" for the kids.

 

[barkley]

$82 is still far more expensive than most other plans for a single line. It's really not that difficult to switch as long as your phone is compatible with whoever you are going to. You can easily find that out in just a few seconds by checking on the website for whichever place you're planning to go to.

also look at what discounts an individual company offers b/c some will stack. I get $10 off each line for setting up auto pay with my checking account and another $10 off each line for AARP membership (you can join as young as age 18 for $15 for the first year/$20 subsequent years so if you use a carrier like at&t you are break-even with so much as one phone line after 2 months and end up saving another $100 per year).

One thing to note though for anyone considering the community college route to get gen ed or other courses done is make sure they transfer. Majority around here will transfer especially in my immediate area with reciprocal agreements but it doesn't mean for every course.

likewise if your kiddo is looking at a private college. oldest's bff found out the hard way when she went to the high prestige local private university that offered very generous scholarships as an incoming freshman but reduced significantly sophomore year and were looking paltry as junior year approached. she ran the numbers and decided to jump ship to the public university only to find out that MANY of the general ed credits were non transferrable it still cost her less to transfer and do an extra year to make up those credit but dang-that WAS an extra year of tuition tacked on to her final cost.

 

[huggybuff]

My sister went to Cornell University (although only for 2 years before being sent home due to depression)

If you don’t mind me asking, how did your sister fare? I transferred from a local community college to San Diego State after two years but dropped out after a semester due to major depression, social anxiety, and recently have come to find out, ADHD.

I assume this was years ago by now so I’m hoping for a happy ending

 

[Tygerlilly]

Well, our puppy is super sick. After 2.5 hours, xrays, and lab work, she has pneumonia pretty bad in both sides. The vet also said she's approximately 5 weeks younger than we were led to believe, so instead of being 4.5 months old, she's likely closer to 3ish months old.

$500 later we finally got to come home with an antinausea shot, 2 types of antibiotics for 10-14 days and an antinausea pill to continue tomorrow for a couple days.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If you don’t mind me asking, how did your sister fare? I transferred from a local community college to San Diego State after two years but dropped out after a semester due to major depression, social anxiety, and recently have come to find out, ADHD.

I assume this was years ago by now so I’m hoping for a happy ending

For clarity we grew up with divorced parents with my dad who remarried when we were young (but my stepmom never had kids) so two households growing up. Some details below are explained just to flesh out why other things happened.

For years was for civil engineering, in high school she worked for the city in the public works department and continued that in the summer before going off to college. But in high school I could tell something was up and tried to bring it to my parents attention (my sister is 3 years older than me) but it mostly fell on deaf ears. Then there was the divulging that the counseling she had done several years prior she, well can't use the actual word, but she said she faked it to the counselor. There were more overt behaviors to me when she was at my dad's house vs my mom's house I think just the different environments.

Freshmen year went fine, she joined a sorority which was sooooo out of left field for her, but by sophomore year cracks showed up and she switched from civil engineering to an english major which was very left field as well and very opposite of what she had been doing for years, a person who was so into engineering for years.

Cornell essentially sent her packing home end of her sophomore year and told her not to come back until she had gotten some help and stable aid. I don't know exactly what transpired for that to occur (she was considered on probation though not academically). She was put on Prozac but stopped when it gave her high blood pressure. I don't remember the exact medication they gave her after that. Because my sister had gone to Cornell with the heavy usage of scholarships they would not release her transcript until she paid them back because she left before completing the terms of them and never went back. She never did and essentially started over. She eventually went to my alma mater and got a degree in accounting. She got her remaining scholarships relieved via filing for bankruptcy.

I know that sounds all extremely negative but my sister is married now has a daughter and doing well but for a long while her life was ruled by depression and higher education stresses.

I don't know how long ago it was for you but for my sister it was early 2000s (she graduated high school in 2003, went to college right after) and things were different back then. We didn't have nearly the same social awareness that we do know and the college school life especially towards mental health is a lot different than back then. Not that it was the dark ages per se but we are way more aware and conscientious of people in these respects these days.

I hope you're doing well now and thriving

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

likewise if your kiddo is looking at a private college. oldest's bff found out the hard way when she went to the high prestige local private university that offered very generous scholarships as an incoming freshman but reduced significantly sophomore year and were looking paltry as junior year approached. she ran the numbers and decided to jump ship to the public university only to find out that MANY of the general ed credits were non transferrable it still cost her less to transfer and do an extra year to make up those credit but dang-that WAS an extra year of tuition tacked on to her final cost.

Oof yes that would suck. Maybe a case of "if it's too good to be true" at play. The too good part meaning the scholarships to lure you in when the leaving the college was made harder by a lot of restrictions of the course transfer abilities.

 

[DisneyMandC]

$82 is still far more expensive than most other plans for a single line. It's really not that difficult to switch as long as your phone is compatible with whoever you are going to. You can easily find that out in just a few seconds by checking on the website for whichever place you're planning to go to.



That's on my list of things to look into. We didn't have it previously but I think it might be worth it since she's so little.

We have a 5 month old puppy and got pet insurance through Costco for $30 a month. 11 days into the policy, he swallowed a Kong toy whole. They paid for the emergency abdominal surgery, but I'm sure they're looking carefully at me to see if it's insurance fraud haha.

 

[Twilghtsprkle]

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.

I’m in MA and my friend‘s daughter got into UCONN which was her dream school. She ended up at Syracuse because that was affordable with financial aid and she loved it after visiting.

Well in a related note I got a mailer from the state today about automatic admissions to certain colleges in the state for kids that have a 3.0 weighted GPA. No essay, no application fee and no recommendation letters needed. Two of them were colleges she was considering as back ups.

Now this feels like something the school guidance counselor should have known about but said nothing about when we mentioned her backup. Just said she’d need an essay which is not the case at all.

It is recent legislation but a school counselor talking to juniors should be on top of this.

 

[barkley]

Well in a related note I got a mailer from the state today about automatic admissions to certain colleges in the state for kids that have a 3.0 weighted GPA. No essay, no application fee and no recommendation letters needed. Two of them were colleges she was considering as back ups.

Now this feels like something the school guidance counselor should have known about but said nothing about when we mentioned her backup. Just said she’d need an essay which is not the case at all.

It is recent legislation but a school counselor talking to juniors should be on top of this.

I'm curious how they will administer this kind of program when/if there are more applicants than available openings at a given school.

 

[DanceDisney23]

I'm curious how they will administer this kind of program when/if there are more applicants than available openings at a given school.

That is always the case. And colleges also admit more students than they have spots for. They know they won’t be the only option for most students, and they know how many of their admitted students have historically chosen them in the past. Schools want to make sure they bring in enough students. It’s a complicated and nerve wracking process for colleges. Rarely does it result in the problem of having too many students.

That’s what these programs are designed to do. Schools that offer this sort of admissions program (direct admissions is the name) are usually not very selective and often “backup” options. The idea is to encourage good students to consider them, especially students who may not have applied otherwise.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

And colleges also admit more students than they have spots for. They know they won’t be the only option for most students, and they know how many of their admitted students have historically chosen them in the past. Schools want to make sure they bring in enough students. It’s a complicated and nerve wracking process for colleges. Rarely does it result in the problem of having too many students.

I'm not sure that's the case as in how they all operate. I can see that in specific colleges.

It's definitely the case that my alma mater admits more students than they have housing for and they don't have a requirement for on-campus housing (for freshman or otherwise) but spots? I mean no that's not really how they operate. If you qualify by their metrics you're accepted, you don't get denied due to numbers. Now they can eliminate degree programs entirely due to softening enrollment numbers in those areas which could mean you may have something going on there but yeah.

To be blunt what the PP's situation in their state sounds like they are struggling to get college admissions within their state and are trying to entice people to apply in-state by reducing the financial burden, effort-based metrics (the essay) and beef up their numbers by reducing the threshold for selectiveness in students. That shouldn't be taken on a personal level, many colleges throughout the U.S. have struggled to get admissions most especially since/during the pandemic.

ETA: I should our alma mater doesn't require an essay unless you're applying to appeal an admittance denial. You don't need a letter of recommendation unless again you're applying to appeal a denial. And again those are based on if you don't get in by normal metrics. And the normal metrics are already based on your GPA and test scores. This has been the case for many decades. There are competitive departments and schools throughout the college but the entire college itself is not all that difficult IMO to get into. It's still a very well respected college (known for research, journalism and engineering in particular).

First-year students are assured admission into the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences if they meet one of these admission requirements:

• A cumulative high school GPA of 3.25 or higher (weighted or unweighted on a 4.0 scale)
  
  OR
• An ACT score of at least 21 or an SAT of at least 1060, plus a 2.0 cumulative GPA (weighted or unweighted on a 4.0 scale)

Then there are program-specific admission requirements that can apply more strict rules like for my husband for automatic admittance into the school of engineering

• Have a 3.0+ high school GPA AND
• Demonstrate mathematics preparedness by:
• Obtaining a mathematics ACT score of 22+ (or math SAT score of 540+), OR
• Achieving a ‘B’ or better in ‘college algebra’ or a more advanced mathematics course, OR
• Achieving a ‘C’ or better in a high school calculus course; OR
• Earning credit via IB or AP credit for the above-mentioned courses in accordance with the placement credit requirements; OR
• Achieving at minimum a qualifying score for MATH 104 on the ALEKS mathematics placement exam.
• Unofficial or official transcript must be submitted for admission consideration

 

[DanceDisney23]

I'm not sure that's the case as in how they all operate. I can see that in specific colleges.

It's definitely the case that my alma mater admits more students than they have housing for and they don't have a requirement for on-campus housing (for freshman or otherwise) but spots? I mean no that's not really how they operate. If you qualify by their metrics you're accepted, you don't get denied due to numbers. Now they can eliminate degree programs entirely due to softening enrollment numbers in those areas which could mean you may have something going on there but yeah.

To be blunt what the PP's situation in their state sounds like they are struggling to get college admissions within their state and are trying to entice people to apply in-state by reducing the financial burden, effort-based metrics (the essay) and beef up their numbers by reducing the threshold for selectiveness in students. That shouldn't be taken on a personal level, many colleges throughout the U.S. have struggled to get admissions most especially since/during the pandemic.

ETA: I should our alma mater doesn't require an essay unless you're applying to appeal an admittance denial. You don't need a letter of recommendation unless again you're applying to appeal a denial. And again those are based on if you don't get in by normal metrics. And the normal metrics are already based on your GPA and test scores. This has been the case for many decades. There are competitive departments and schools throughout the college but the entire college itself is not all that difficult IMO to get into. It's still a very well respected college (known for research, journalism and engineering in particular).

First-year students are assured admission into the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences if they meet one of these admission requirements:

• A cumulative high school GPA of 3.25 or higher (weighted or unweighted on a 4.0 scale)
  
  OR
• An ACT score of at least 21 or an SAT of at least 1060, plus a 2.0 cumulative GPA (weighted or unweighted on a 4.0 scale)

Then there are program-specific admission requirements

Entire career paths have been built around the complicated math of bringing in the right number of the right student .

Don’t believe me? Look up how many students colleges admit vs how many students ultimately enroll. Colleges have to report this data and it’s publicly available.

To your example, KU received 19,226 applications for fall 2023, accepted 16,958, and enrolled 5,259. I don’t think KU really wanted 17,000 fall freshman, do you?

A more selective example, UC Berkeley received 125,910 applications for the same fall, accepted 14,677 and enrolled 6,641. They did not get less than half the students they expected. Rather, they knew how many they had to accept to be able to fill their classes.