I am from Bloomington, IN and in my 2nd year of undergrad. I am lucky enough to have Indiana University right in my town so that is obviously where i am studying and will continue on. Next year I am moving in with my girlfriend. We are sharing a 1BR and our combined rent and utilities will be around $875/month so around $440 each. Is that considered high to what most of you guys are paying? I do not have a car payment,just insurance, gas, food, etc. I have been working full time the past 2 years and made about 30k last year. This is for sure going to hurt my financial aid next year. I will have about 7k saved up. Here comes the dilemma. My current employer offered me 24 hrs a week while going to school at $11.50/hr. I do not know if as my classes get harder I will be able to handle that much work. Would it be advisable to keep working or just rely on student loans? I have a decent credit score for a 20 year old but have a lack of a cosigner. My parents' business went under a couple years ago so their credit is awful. I am sure I could figure something out. I get half tuition at IU since my mom works there so I would not need a huge amount my first year; just living expense as I could pay tuition out of pocket for next 2 years. So should I quit my job and just shadow an Optometrist and live off student loans? Or keep my job? I want to do as well as possible in my classes. I currently have a 3.8 and would love to bring it up or at very least maintain it. What did you guys do?
I figured my living expense would be around $1,100 month (that is on the high end just to be safe) x 12= $13,200 per year in loans.
Thanks for any advice!
B
I have gone through some similar decisions. In undergrad, I always worked. I worked between 20 and 25 hours per week one semester, while only taking 12 or 13 credit hours. I was *exhausted* at the end of every day. Granted, I was waitressing, so that is naturally exhausting. But I did my homework every morning before class, went to class in my work clothes, walked to my car straight from class, went to work, went home from work to do a little homework then go bed and repeat it the next day. I didn't have time for anything social. I absolutely hated it. Although I also went to an undergrad that is known for overworking students - so that may have been a factor =P.
Is there anyway you could do more like 15 hours per week at your current job? If not, I would look for something else where you can. That's a reasonable amount to balance (although will still be a challenge during exams). It gives you some pay, so you can at least reduce the amount of loans you are taking out.
If you feel confident that you want to be an optometrist, then you don't need to shadow right now. I didn't start shadowing until I was already in the application cycle, because I just couldn't fit it in. I still had time to do lots of shadowing at that point!
I had to return and do some post-bacc classes, since my undergrad wasn't a science degree. I worked part time, but still had to take out the max federal loans and a little bit more from private in order to pay all my bills. I *definitely* could've budgeted better and taken out less, but it was my first time with loans so I didn't get that then. It's not so bad to only have a couple years worth of loans. But if you plan on also borrowing for optometry school, then those loans are going to rack up quite a bit of interest by the time you are able to pay on them. I wouldn't advise it. You might look into ways to get your optometry education funded. Find out what schools might offer you the most in scholarships (SCO offers a lot and isn't too far from you). Also think about the military scholarships, which would get you through optometry school without taking out a single loan.
There are lots of good options, but definitely take out the bare minimum you can in loans. Put classes and school and grades #1 though - high grades will earn you more scholarships (and help keep down future borrowing) as well as help you be a better optometrist later (because you will actually be studying and learning all the material!) and earn more.
Good luck!
