In high school, I was just like you. I spent hours surfing college websites, organizing my high school transcript, and checking every little box. I wanted to go to college and be a success. Not just college—I wanted to go to grad school and really do something with my life.
At the time, I planned to follow the medical path, pursuing a career as a naturopathic doctor. I’m not sure what motivated this dream beyond a passing interest in humans, biology, and health. But somehow, the plan had formed in my mind, and that meant I had to work out every kink and detail until my dream became a reality.
But I was paranoid that, as a homeschooler, my chances of getting into college would be slim. And, worse, my chances of getting into grad school would be nonexistent.
What about you? Are your big dreams causing anxiety about whether the world of traditional scholarship will take you seriously? Before you waste your time in high school attempting to perfectly arrange the next 8 years of your academic life, let me offer you a little advice.
You might be getting ahead of yourself.
Spoiler alert: I didn’t end up becoming a doctor.
“But Abigail,” you say, “it was your dream!”
Yeah. Sure. If you look back at my story, you’ll notice in my flurry of research, studies, and college course comparison, I forgot to account for one tiny detail.
I was 15 years old.
Ten years later, I look back on little high school Abigail and her big dreams, and I chuckle. I was so obsessed with the idea of going to grad school and becoming a doctor that I didn’t realize I was nearly failing Chemistry. I didn’t think about how I was spending all my free time writing novels or that my favorite hobby was reading fantasy books. I also, for some reason, didn’t find it suspicious that my path toward a doctorate started with enrolling in college for an English degree.
I didn’t notice how poorly suited I was to a future in medicine because I was 15 years old. I was doing what 15-year-olds do: dreaming, experimenting, learning, living. When I finally realized I was actually a writer, I only did so by looking back on my high school years to discover I had already been one the whole time.
Trust me, most 15-year-olds don’t know themselves well enough to discern where they’ll be when they’re 25. Give yourself some time.
The best way to prepare for the future is to do well now.
Does that mean you shouldn’t dream big? You shouldn’t start down a path that will take 10+ years to reach the end?
Not at all. Dream as big as you like and make as many plans as your heart desires. And even feel free to start working toward them! Just don’t marry them.
You probably feel more pressure than ever to ensure you’re on the “right” path right now. That’s why I’m here to remind you that high school isn’t the time to engrave your life plan into stone. It’s your time to experiment. To learn who you are and what you like. To learn what you’re interested in, what you’re good at, what you’re naturally drawn to.
If you really feel convinced that grad school is in your future, that’s awesome. Start preparing by completing high school and college to the best of your ability. Try as many new experiences as possible and discover what you’re truly passionate about. That will be your best chance.
What about grad school? Won’t homeschooling ruin my chances?
I just want to put this out there: homeschooling will not bar you from grad school.
Whew! You can breathe a sigh of relief. Your homeschool years haven’t been a curse, keeping you from a more traditional college education. In fact, they’ve probably been a blessing. Having so much freedom to pursue your education more or less on your own has likely taught you the most important skills for grad school: curiosity and self-motivation.
Grad school is even more hands-off than college. Many of these degrees are research-focused, requiring students to have the ability to pursue their studies on their own. Sure, you’ll have guidance, but you won’t have a teacher (or mom) explaining assignments or helping you through lesson plans. That’s up to you.
And, let’s face it, grad schools don’t really care how you checked the high school box anyway. So take your homeschooling adventure as an opportunity to practice studying independently and taking ownership of your education—that’s the best grad school preparation you can get.
Want some more practical advice?
If you’ve finished this post and are still chomping at the bit to learn more about grad school and what it might take for you to get into the college of your choice, check out our free ebook Homeschool to Grad School.
It was written by my friend Shawn: homeschooler, Accerated Pathways graduate, and master of business administration.
In this book, Shawn talks you through how he walked this exact path, following his dream and graduating from the school of his choice.
Transfer students tend to lose 40% of their credit when making the switch to university. But it’s not because of subpar coursework and certainly not because their new university is a big bully. It’s usually because the student didn’t take the right credit in the first place.
But it’s not impossible. And I’m here to show you how to do it (even though I personally think you’d be better off trading in community college for Accelerated Pathways—which I intend to shamelessly plug at the end of this post).
Pulling off a successful stint at community college starts where every other college decision should start: knowing what you want.
Start with the end in mind.
All too often, students seeking a cheaper alternative to college enroll in an eye-catching associate degree program before considering what bachelor’s degree they want. This isn’t a great idea. While community colleges are less expensive than university, community college advisors aren’t equipped to tell you what will transfer and what won’t. Their only job is to deliver what you ask for. That means if you ask for the wrong thing (i.e. an associate degree that doesn’t actually line up properly with your future goals) you’re in for some serious disappointment a couple of years later.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, college degrees are structured very specifically. Earning a B.A. in English requires you to take different courses than you would to earn a B.A. in Business Management. Makes sense, right? But what’s more—earning a B.A. in English from Stanford University will also require different courses than earning a B.A. in English from NYU.
That’s right. It’s not just degrees that differ in course requirements, each college does too.
So before contacting your local community college, first decide what degree you want and where you want to graduate from. This—admittedly—is a monster of a task in and of itself. (If you want some help with it, I recommend our free ebook What Should I Major In?)
Then you’ll need to know what’s required to earn that specific degree from that specific school. What kinds of courses do you need? What subject? What specificity? What level? Check the college’s website for this information. If you’ve never done this research before, it may feel like drinking from a fire hose. Our a crash course on college course codes may help.
Once you understand what degree you want, where you want to earn it from, and your degree’s specific college credit requirements, only then can you can begin researching which of those credits you can transfer from a community college.
Understand college transfer policies.
Most colleges only allow students to transfer in a certain amount of outside credit, so do a quick search on their website to find out how much outside credit your university allows. This will tell you the maximum amount of credit you should be looking to earn from your community college. Taking anything beyond this maximum will be a waste of your time and money.
The next thing to consider is whether your chosen university and community college actually work well together. Because of those pesky disagreements over course-requirements, earning a 2-year associate degree does not automatically mean you’re halfway done with your bachelor’s. This is one of the most common mistakes community college graduates make. You can only transfer a full associate degree into a bachelor’s degree program if that university and community college have a very good, pre-existing transfer agreement.
That’s why it’s important to understand what kind of transfer agreement your chosen community college has with your chosen university. These policies tend to come in 4 varieties with varying levels of transferability: no relationship, general articulation agreement, general education articulation, and degree-to-degree. The better the transfer agreement, the safer your community college credit is. Let’s take a quick look to understand what each of these means.
Looking for a no hassle way to get college credit that's guaranteed to transfer? Accelerated Pathways offers courses that are guaranteed to transfer into the college of your choice. We can even help you find schools that will take your existing credit when you enroll in our programs. Learn more by signing up for a complimentary student advising session.
1. No Relationship
Most likely, the two colleges you’re evaluating will have no transfer relationship whatsoever. This doesn’t mean you can’t transfer your community college credits to your university, but it does mean the process will be tougher.
When two colleges have no pre-existing transfer agreement, each of the courses you attempt to transfer will have to be evaluated individually. The university in question will have to dig into the courses you took—their course codes, names, descriptions, syllabi, etc.—to determine whether they meet the requirements for bachelor’s degree completion. Some courses will match, others won’t.
Colleges that are unlikely to have transfer agreements:
Community colleges and private schools
Colleges in different states
Schools that are very far apart
2. General Articulation Agreement
In the case of general articulation agreements, the university has already done the course content evaluations we talked about in the previous section and they already know which of the community college’s courses lineup with their own standards and which don’t. But that’s as far as their relationship goes.
This can be thought of as a “course-to-course” agreement: the university in question only accepts courses into their bachelor’s degree program individually, but they at least know beforehand which are eligible and which aren’t.
3. General Education Articulation
A general education agreement is the next level up from course-to-course. This kind of agreement means your university has enough of a relationship with the community college to accept all of your general education credits without question.
No checking course information, no figuring out if the courses line up. With this kind of agreement, as long as the credit you’ve taken at your community college falls into the “general education” category, it’s guaranteed to transfer to your university. Total win.
4. Degree to Degree
A degree-to-degree agreement is the absolute best community college transfer situation, and it’s typically what everyone expects when enrolling in community college. This kind of agreement means the full associate degree you earn at your community college is guaranteed to transfer into your university’s bachelor’s degree.
Yes, this kind of agreement does exist. It’s great when it happens. But it’s very, very rare. Usually, if a degree-to-degree agreement exists, it will be between a community college and a state school, with the community college acting as a “feeder school” for the university in question.
When researching the transfer agreements between your community college and your university, pay attention to which kind of agreement these schools have. The better the relationship, the more guarantee your credit will transfer.
Plan it out, then talk to an advisor.
Once you know what bachelor’s degree you want, what school you want to get it from, which community college is the best choice for your chosen university, and what kind of transfer agreement the two schools have, it’s time to put your plan together.
This is the part that, unfortunately, I can’t coach you through. Every university and degree requirement is so different that you’ll probably be spending a significant amount of time researching, thinking, and trouble-shooting as you try to understand which community college courses are “safe” and which aren’t.
Fortunately, while I can’t coach you through this step, you’re not completely alone. Once you’ve done your absolute best to build your credit-transfer plan, you can take this plan to your chosen university’s college advisor to ensure your plan will actually work.
Note that I said your university’s advisor, not your community college’s advisor. A community college advisor cannot help you with this step. As I mentioned earlier, their job isn’t to help you transfer credit between colleges, it’s to enroll you in an associate degree program, so asking them for credit-transfer advice will be fruitless and frustrating. Instead, talk to an advisor at the university you want to graduate from. Have them review your plan and tell you whether or not these courses will transfer.
There’s one more thing to keep in mind during this step: while talking to an advisor will certainly give you the best bet at a well-made plan, things change. College policies change and the community college course you enroll in this semester may no longer be accepted at your university in 2 years. Your university advisor will be able to greenlight your plan based on the current state of the college’s transfer policy, but if it changes… that’s just really unfortunate for you.
While such changes aren’t necessarily likely—especially if you’re sticking with earning more general courses—just know it can happen. And if it does, it’s not your advisor’s fault. It’s just the way these things work.
Can I skip the research?
Now you may have an idea why I said transferring from community college to university is possible, but not easy. This kind of research takes a long time, is confusing as heck, and in the end you’re still just guessing.
Unfortunately, skipping out on this research phase isn’t advised—unless you want to risk being one of the 40% we mentioned earlier. But I have good news for you: there is one way you can get out of it. Let us help. (Time for the plug!)
At Pearson, we help students use transfer credit to mimic the cost-savings of a community college. But we take it one step further. 94% of Accelerated Pathways graduates earn their degrees 100% debt free.
We’re credit transfer experts, equipped with over a decade of experience transferring credit to and from hundreds of colleges. My point? We can guarantee with confidence that the affordable, online courses you take through us will, in fact, transfer to the college of your choice (or your money back… plus some). All without you lifting a finger.
After taking time to discuss your goals and plans, and how your college degree can help you achieve them, our Accelerated Pathways advisors will help you craft your own fully-customized degree, selecting the most affordable school(s) and courses to meet your goals. With our help, you’ll end up graduating with a debt-free degree that’s not only perfectly tailored to your budget, but also your lifestyle. Learn more about Accelerated Pathways by clicking here.
Whether you let us help or decide to go it alone, you’re already off on the right foot. The best (and only) way to ensure a smooth transfer from community college to university is by knowing what you want and planning ahead. So keep reading up, learning all you can, doing your research, so you can get the clearest picture of where you want to go. That will give you the best shot at getting there as efficiently as possible.
Last year, a west-coast student who applied to Cornell was pleased to be deemed “likely to admit.” But that same student was rejected by her California state campus.
Why? She was good enough for the Ivy League, but not good enough for UC Santa Barbara?
Why is 4.06 the average GPA to make the cut at the University of California? Why are the acceptance rates for dozens of completely average colleges across the golden state plummeting, with less than half of applicants finding a spot?
I have one word for you: impaction.
What is Impaction?
Impaction is what happens when your state effectively runs out of money. It’s what happens when the cost of living rises like Pacific waves and government budgets are stretched to bursting. It’s what happens when you’re in such desperate need of income that you consider placing a tax on texting.
Impaction is what happens when there are 400,000 students graduating from high school every year, but your colleges are already full, so you have nowhere to put them. Too many butts, not enough seats.
You can’t build facilities. You can’t add new buildings. You can’t hire new teachers. You can’t do anything to meet the new demand placed on you for higher education. You just don’t have the money.
This immense shortage of higher education has suddenly made California colleges the most exclusive club on the west coast. Every year, hundreds of thousands of completely average students are pitted against each other in a vicious fight for admission to completely average schools.
You know what schools are typically fought over in this manner? Harvard and Yale. But California students aren’t fighting because the schools they want to attend carry the magical career-guaranteeing reputation of Harvard and Yale (though some do). It’s because there’s nowhere else to go.
And, unfortunately for those students of entirely-average intellect, it’s pretty much the A-plusers who are winning that fight. Turns out, when your school receive hundreds of thousands of applications every year, Ivy League reputation or not, you receive the right to be choosy about who you let in. And why wouldn’t you choose the best?
Impaction has created a serious hurdle for students trying to get into college. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there. It’s hindering students’ ability to get out.
Imagine what happens when almost every student in a maxed-out school needs to take English 101 to fulfill a general education requirement. Course registration becomes a race almost as dirty as the application process. If you don’t click faster than the next guy, you’ll end up sitting out until next semester. Or the next one. Or the next one.
This slowed graduation is only exacerbating the situation at impacted Californian schools. The state of California itself concluded this graduation delay, if not reversed immediately, may have major negative consequences on their future economy… which is kind of what got them into this mess in the first place.
Can Anything Be Done?
Unfortunately, while “just build new campuses” sounds like a great solution, money doesn’t just grow on palm trees. And besides, the time it would take to plan, construct, and staff these schools still wouldn’t help the students being excluded by their local campuses right now.
So, the state has attempted to find another reaction to the impaction protraction:
Filtering students based on geography.
As we mentioned earlier, California enrollment offices are filled to the brim with applications from Ivy League geniuses and perfect SAT scores, including thousands from out of state. They have the option to be picky.
But the state colleges as a whole have decided to tip the scales, giving preferential treatment to local applicants. So, UC Los Angeles is going to prefer a Los Angeles candidate over one from Sacramento and a Sacramento applicant over a Texan.
Unfortunately, due to the immense application numbers, students are still held to the highest of standards, needing top-of-the-line brain cells to gain admittance (especially at UCLA, which has always been a competitive school). But simply being from the local area will at least give Californian applicants an edge.
Filtering students based on student status.
Many schools have an understandable bias toward freshmen. After all, more freshman = more courses bought = more revenue for the school. They’re literally the most valuable kind of student a college can find. This is no different in California.
If you keep up with Accelerated Pathways, you know we have a special love for transferring credit, especially credit earned online. It can be one of the best ways to save money on your degree.But, we have to admit, that’s probably not the best option for hopeful California applicants. Earning transfer credit might lower your place in the pecking order. And there’s nothing worse in California than being lower in the pecking order. (Except maybe LA rush hour traffic.)
As always, there are some exceptions to the rule. For instance, dual credit isn’t penalized the same way transfer credit is, since dual credit is an indication that the student is a cut above the rest of their peers, thus, a better student for a school to nab. Another exception would be students transferring specifically from California community colleges. But that’s a topic which deserves a blog post all its own.
Filtering by degree.
It’s worth noting the quirks of the impaction problem—specifically, that different programs are affected differently. For instance, while one school may have an average acceptance rate of 28% and SAT expectation of 1250, their Engineering program might be more popular—and, thus, tougher to get into. Acceptance into Engineering might be closer to 10% with a 1400 SAT.
So, in order to take advantage of the space available, colleges have introduced certain measures which—intentional or not—may encourage students to pursue some of the less popular programs. That’s what we’ll talk about next.
Delivering the California Promise.
The California Promise was the “bold measure” California put into action back in 2016 in an attempt to decrease time to graduation. This promise guarantees students early registration as well as enhanced academic advising in return for a commitment to take 15 credits per semester (approximately 5 courses) and maintain a good GPA.
Any student is eligible as long as they’re residents and have a degree plan enabling them to graduate in exactly 4 years. (Or 2 years, for transfers.) However, there are some strict stipulations for qualifying like no changing majors and absolutely no failing classes. The Promise leaves no time for retaking credits. Also, the student must be pursuing one of the less impacted majors. For instance, San Jose State University bars Nursing students (one of the most impacted degree programs) from taking advantage of the Promise.
While it’s not a magical fairyland, this program has definitely been a relief to thousands of students at a good 20 or so California State University campuses.
Unfortunately, it’s still not enough. New high school students graduate every year, joining the ranks of last year’s high school graduates, and last-last year’s high school graduates, all waiting for their shot at college. Even with the Promise, April Grommo, director of Enrollment Management Services at CSU, says “unless something changes in state funding... impaction is here to stay.”
When there’s no money, there’s no money. And there’s no money in California’s education system.
Advice for California Students
So, what if you’re one of those unlucky students, biting your nails over your academic future? What can you do?
Honestly, not a lot. But we know sitting on your hands doesn’t feel very good (and makes them all tingly). So our research department did come up with a few suggestions to hopefully bring back that famous California sunshine back into your future.
1. Be intellectually honest with yourself.
To get into one of the top California schools, you have to be an A+ student. Period. If you’re a B student, that doesn’t mean you can’t get into a California school, but it will be harder. A lot harder. Sorry.
So, be honest with yourself. Do you have what it takes to make it into a local school? If not, maybe consider one of these other options.
2. Identify whether you even need a 4-year credential.
We talk about this enough in other blogs, so I won’t rehash the argument here. But the gist is this: if you don’t need a college credential to do what you want to do, save yourself the time, money, and intense headache of the California system. Don’t go.
I know college is important, but it’s not necessary for every career path—don’t assume it’s necessary for yours until you do the research.
3. Know exactly which credential you need.
If you do the research and decide you do need a degree, we suggest you understand precisely which degree you need and what courses you need to take in order to earn it.
Remember what we said about clicking faster than the next guy? You can only do that if you know what classes you’re looking for. And you can only know what classes you’re looking for if you have your entire degree plan already mapped out.
Having this degree plan is also the only way to take advantage of the California Promise if that’s something you’re interested in. But with the restriction on changing majors, you’ll be stuck with what you start. So start well.
4. Apply Everywhere.
In California, you don’t have the luxury of applying to one school. When a college like CSU Long Beach (i.e. an extraordinarily average institution) sports acceptance rates like 28%, you know you’re in for a challenge.
Apply to every school you’re remotely interested in attending because when the acceptance letters are mailed out, you won’t have your pick of schools. You’ll be lucky to get accepted at all.
Though, keep in mind, if one of the colleges you’re considering applying to is a community college, that comes with a whole other bundle of specific rules and distinct limitations most students don’t have. It’s not as simple as starting then expecting your credits to transfer to university.
5. Consider graduating from an inexpensive online school in another state.
It’s not “giving up” to be realistic about the odds being not so much in your favor. As a California student, choosing an out-of-state school may be one of the few guarantees afforded to you.
Of course, the caveat of attending college out of state is always the costs associated with doing so. They’re high. Unless you find a cheaper way to go about it. Accelerated Pathways is that way.
It’s our job to help students graduate college debt free. And while many of our students have been able to do that from their local colleges, a great many more have done so via inexpensive online colleges and loads of affordable transfer credit. We’ve helped many California students do exactly this.
While the situation in California is indeed more grim than hopeful, I didn’t write this post to bring you down. I did it to help you understand what you’re up against, so you can choose the best option for you.
Because you do have options.
Which will you pick? That’s up to you, your goals, and what you want out of your time in college. So be realistic and choose wisely. (And call us if you need any help.)
Special thanks to Jared Brandau, head of research at Accelerated Pathways, for making this blog post possible! This gifted college super-genius graciously took time out of his busy schedule to thoroughly educate me on the scope of the impaction problem so that I could, in turn, educate you, dear reader.
As I mentioned in this article, Jared’s excellent team of advisors has already worked with hundreds of struggling California students, helping them find their best paths for reaching their college goals. They would love the chance to help you too. Just click here to talk to an advisor about your situation.
Working as a Student Counselor here at Accelerated Pathways, I’ve talked to many fear-stricken homeschool moms. Just last month, one such mom called me in a panic.
“I’ve done everything wrong! My child will never make it to college and it will be all my fault!”
Ever felt that way? You’re not alone.
Meet Bonnie, Cindy, Kelly, and Nickie: four successful homeschool moms who have graciously shared their stories about the ups and downs of homeschooling and what they consider to be the most important skills to teach your children, especially when preparing them for college.
So, what does your child need to succeed after high school?
1. Direction
How can a student prepare for the future if they have no idea what the future holds?
“We have this whole group of incredibly talented craftsmen who are going off to college for 4 years and are in $40,000 in debt,” said Kelly, mom of 3 and one of our former staff members. “Some of them could skip all that because they don’t need it! There are definite careers that need a college degree, but there are definite careers that do not and we should stop pushing everyone down the college route.”
Sometimes a certification, licensing, or tech school is the best option for students, especially if the career they’re pursuing is very specialized.
High school is a great time to allow your student to explore their options, find their “niche,” and learn what they’re passionate about. Allow your student to explore their options and, more importantly, allow them to fail while they’re still at home.
By trying, failing, and answering these tough questions in high school, your student can avoid making the same mistakes later in college, when the stakes are higher.
2. Self-Directed Learning
A natural planner, Cindy directed her efforts toward organizing the entire homeschooling process before even beginning. She found the perfect curriculums and made fool-proof plans.
“I tried to do ‘school at home,’ and ‘school at home’ did not work for us. It was horrible. I felt like a giant failure, like I couldn’t teach my sons. We wanted them to really think about things and not just do things because everybody else is doing them. I wanted them to be self-learners and know how to find the information, be able to be resourceful, and not be dependent on teachers.”
With that thought in mind, Cindy allowed her sons to pursue what interested them while keeping careful record of everything they did, softly facilitating their studies while they took charge of their own education. With some help, she turned their self-assigned projects into credits equal, if not superior, to those they would have earned following a traditional path.
This practice encouraged a habit of self-directed learning in her kids. It later paid off tenfold when both of her boys both began and graduated college early.
But not every family works the same way!
While Bonnie followed a more “strict” homeschool route, her children benefited by the same atmosphere of learning: “We did a traditional school day… however, we used a variety of materials and programs throughout the years. When we worked on a classical approach toward middle school and high school, the girls began to make good academic connections.”
Bonnie found this structured routine worked well with her girls’ personalities and even utilized it herself when she went back to finish her bachelor’s degree as an adult learner in 2009.
Encourage self-directed discovery and learning, whether this comes from self-assigned projects or mom-assigned ones. Kids are naturally curious. Hone in on your student’s learning style and run with it. The ability to self-direct is invaluable in college and beyond.
3. Thinking and Study Skills
When I asked Nickie which skills have been most important to her son post high school, she answered without hesitation:
“Critical thinking! We found classes for Biology, Chemistry, Logic, Latin, and Critical Thinking and they were a major part in developing great study habits.”
Teaching your students to break down every problem into digestible chunks can be one of the best gifts you can give them. Applicable to both higher education studies and ordinary life management, no student can be successful without this crucial skill.
Because he internalized foundational study skills, like in-depth note-taking and critical reasoning, Nickie’s son excelled in both high school and college.
“Through his high school years, he maintained a straight A average and was therefore exempt from final exams. He maintained a 4.0 GPA for several years and has a 3.97 GPA currently.”
Though study skills courses are often not for credit, learning how to reason well, increase memory skills, and take excellent notes will pay off in the long run, even if your student isn’t college bound.
According to these four homeschool moms, the best way to prepare your student for college is to instill the basic skills any adult will need to succeed in everyday life. Pass on the fundamental qualities you use every day: self-direction, dedication, and critical reasoning.
With these crucial life skills, your student is bound to succeed no matter where they go, college or otherwise.
We at Accelerated Pathways value self-directed learning, especially in the first years of a student’s education. Whether pursuing dual credit in high school or getting started in college, we’ll pair your student with a Success Coach who will help them learn the skills they need to succeed in college and life beyond. Click here to learn more about the Accelerated Pathways program.
College is the automatically-assumed next step for any high school graduate hoping to live a white-collar lifestyle. It’s your training ground to gain the skills and credentials you need to start a career, build a life, and—quite literally—graduate into adulthood.
But there’s still one major hurdle standing between you and college graduation: money.
Averaging $101,160 in total cost, college is a tad expensive. (And that’s just estimating public, 4-year, in-state colleges, which are significantly cheaper than private or out-of-state options.) Fortunately, loans are there to help. Think of student loan debt like an investment: you’re borrowing money to pay for a degree so you can get a good job after you graduate. Once you’ve got the job (read: are finally making money of your own), that’s when you’ll go back and pay off the loan. See how that worked?
Borrow money, get degree, get job, pay off loans. That’s the plan. And at first blush, it seems like a good one. Operating just like a business loan, home mortgage, car loan, or any other form of debt, getting a student loan seems simple and straightforward.
However, taking on student loan debt is a lot more complicated than borrowing a couple bucks from a friend. And it’s all these little complexities that carry the potential for financial destruction.
5 Consequences of Student Loan Debt
1. You have no idea if you can actually pay it back.
Student loans may sound simple, but let’s not forget about the context here:
The average student’s loan debt is $37,172; over a year’s salary for many. (We’ll assume the other $63,988 is paid for via grants, scholarships, or out-of-pocket funding.)
The average borrower is 18 years old.
The average 18-year-old has never actually worked in the field they’re interested in pursuing post-graduation. In fact, many have never worked at all.
Bottom line: college isn’t a magic bullet. It—like the debt you use to pay for it—is an investment. And an investment is not a guarantee.
But borrowing $30,000 with no clear idea of how you’ll pay that money back isn’t even an investment. It’s a serious financial risk. Especially when you consider that...
2. Interest compounds daily.
Student loans collect interest at an average rate of 5.8%. When this process starts depends on the type of loan you take out. (Some loans begin collecting interest directly after signing the dotted line, and some give you a grace period of 6 months after leaving school. You can read more about that here.) What’s important is that once a student loan does begin gathering interest, that interest compounds daily. This means every day, the loaner calculates 5.8% interest on the remaining principal loan amount, or if your loan has been capitalized, the total amount owed—collected interest and all. Not a good situation for you.
So if you borrowed $30,000, the day your loan begins collecting interest you’d owe an extra $4.77. The next day, you’d owe $9.54. After a month, if you made no progress paying off your loan, you will have tacked on at least $143 in interest. And this process will continue daily until your debt is paid in full. The best-case scenario (not a single missed payment) leaves you paying a total of $9,600 in collected interest on top of your original $30,000 loan amount.
3. Student loan payments pay off interest first.
So now you owe a minimum of $330 per month* for the next decade. Not a great situation, but it’s not unbearable either… except that your car just broke down and you had to use every last cent of this month’s paycheck fixing it or else risk not getting any more paychecks.
Now you can’t afford to make a full student loan payment this month, but you did manage to scrounge up $100 from the recesses of your bank account. It’s better than nothing, but you were also already a little (okay, a lot) behind on your payments. You’ve collected a lot of unpaid interest, and since your payments go to pay off interest first, that $100 doesn't even touch the principal amount at this point. Your unchanged loan amount will simply continue generating more interest at the same rate until you can manage to make up those behind-schedule payments… and all the extra interest they’re costing you.
4. You’re stuck with your student loan debt—no matter what.
But the real kicker for student loans is the fact that they never “go away.”
When someone takes out a loan to buy a house or car, often they have to offer some kind of collateral—some proof that they’re guaranteed to pay off that loan or the bank gets to repossess that item.
But a bank can’t exactly repossess your bachelor’s degree. So, if you fail to pay your debt, even filing for bankruptcy isn’t enough to cancel future payments. That debt will follow you, ever-increasing, until you pay it off or die.
5. In the end, student loan debt costs a lot more than just money.
Consider that what we’ve been talking about up to this point is the average student’s experience.
What if you need to borrow more than $30,000 to pay for college? What if you don’t get a 5.4% interest rate, but end up with 7% or 11%? What if you aren’t able to get a job at all for the first few months after college, or your loan ends up capitalized (collecting interest on top of interest)?
Turns out, most students aren’t able to pay back their loans in the 11 years they’re expected to. It actually takes them 21. That’s 21 years of living with a debt payment every month. 21 years of gaining interest every day. 21 years of growing expenses (a lot of life happens between the ages of 18 and 39), leaving less and less of your paycheck free for student loan payments.
Not to mention how student loan debt is affecting students’ lives in some pretty noticeable (and serious) ways beyond the pure numbers. Their debt is keeping them from moving out, buying houses, getting married, having kids, and starting businesses. It’s forcing many to work high-paying jobs they don’t actually enjoy simply because they need that job’s salary. Or, worse, they work low-paying jobs that won’t cover their loan payments, sinking them further and further into debt.
Some students are so weighed down by the emotional baggage of their ever-increasing debt (on top of the emotional baggage that comes simply with growing up) that they experience severe negative health symptoms or, in the case of this student, even contemplate suicide.**
But, maybe I’m just being pessimistic. That probably won’t be you, right? Your parents make decent money, and you’re pretty smart! You’ll probably get a scholarship or two, and you’ll be able to graduate with minimal debt at worst… right?
Wrong.
You’re Not The Exception.
Everyone thinks they’re the exception. Everyone thinks student debt happens to other people. Everyone thinks they’ll get the scholarship, the grant, the endowment, or some other magical solution that will send them to college on someone else’s tab.
And it’s true, some students are the exception. But you’re better off assuming you aren’t one of them.
First off, most scholarships aren’t enough to cover all your college costs. Not only are these awards difficult to attain, but the vast majority of them are a few hundred to a couple thousand bucks. Now, $1,000 isn’t a bad haul, but you’ll need 99 more of those if you want to cover your $100,000 bill entirely in scholarships.
So unless you’re so smart, so unique, or so good at sports that colleges want to pay you to attend their school, it’s highly unlikely you’ll be able to go to college on scholarships alone.
But what about financial aid? That’s free too, right?
Yes and no. Some financial aid is free money—specifically the Pell Grant or a school-sponsored, needs-based scholarship (fancy speak for “a discounted tuition rate”).
But here’s the thing about grants and needs-based scholarships: if you (or your parents) make over $50,000 a year, you don’t stand a chance of getting them. The more money your family makes, the less the government and schools want to help you.
And the rest of your financial aid options? Those are just loans. Not free at all.
This leaves the majority of college students in what we call the Debt Zone: that awkward spot where you don’t earn enough to pay for college out-of-pocket (typically more than $200,000), but also aren’t poor enough to qualify for aid (less than $50,000).
If your family income falls between these two numbers and you don’t have some other crazy exception, then you’re in the Debt Zone. That leaves you and 45 million other students with a choice: take on student debt or don’t go to college.
While there are some circumstances in which taking out student loans for college is both necessary and helpful, especially for students pursuing high-demand, high-paying fields, like medicine or engineering, our opinion is that taking out student loans to pay for college is a dangerous move, especially if you don’t know what you want to do with your life afterward.
Fortunately, college doesn’t have to be a debt sentence.
The secret isn’t to find “free money” somewhere else to cover the immense cost of college. The secret is to make college affordable by cutting out the “extras” and focusing on exactly what you need to graduate. That’s what we do at Accelerated Pathways.
Every day, we help students who are stuck in the Debt Zone find more affordable paths to their bachelor’s degree. Our students are able to:
Compare their best college options to find the best one that fits their life and budget
Take classes that won’t break the bank
Pay for college one course at a time (instead of in one lump sum)
Choose online classes with the flexibility to fit around a full-time job or other life priorities
You remember that $30,000 loan we talked about earlier? That’s how much we can help students save by lowering their overall costs, removing the need to take out loans altogether.
Interested in learning more about how Accelerated Pathways can help you escape the Debt Zone, pay for college in cash, and graduate debt free? Check out our website to learn more.
*An estimation of your principal loan payment and your monthly interest payment.
**The attached reference contains political opinions unique to the author, not endorsed by Accelerated Pathways. (We’re just interested in the story.)
