In my introductory article, I provided a quick synopsis of my student debt story. In my next few articles, I will delve deeper into the topics mentioned in my first post. This article discusses the decisions I made when choosing where to attend college. I am by no means an expert on financial aid, and so to supplement my story, I suggest that you use a little thing called Google.
The point is, choosing an undergraduate school is probably the most important decision you will make regarding your student debt story. It will not only affect how much student debt you will need to borrow, but may also affect your future job prospects and income potential. With this said, for better or worse, here is how I made some of my decisions.
It is crazy to think that one of the most important life decisions a student will ever make must be made while she or he is nothing more than a moody teenager. When applying (and subsequently paying) for college, few people think about the financial repercussions. Oftentimes, the most important things in the selection process include the school’s distance from home, the quality of the school’s sports teams, and the general appearance of the campus (and student body).
In my case, I first heard about my future school after I received an advertisement from Washington University in St. Louis in the mail. I subsequently perused U.S. News and World Report, and saw to my surprise, that it was one of the best-ranked universities in the country. At that time, I already knew I wanted to be a doctor, and so I was even more impressed when I saw that WashU’s medical school had an even more remarkable reputation.
I was interested enough in the school that I decided to fly out to St. Louis to see the campus in person. Once I made the trip, I was sold. Not only was the campus amazing, but it had a great medical school and was far from home. I knew that attending college so far away would force me out of my comfort zone and introduce me to people from all walks of life. With little further consideration, I applied to Washington University in St. Louis via early decision. It was the only school I applied to, and thankfully, I was accepted.
It was only after I got accepted that I started to ponder how I would pay for this prestigious, but private (aka expensive) education. My family could not afford to help me, so I knew that I would have to look for financial aid. I did not realize at the time that early decision is often binding, and that I would not be able to “shop around” for better financial aid packages. I was therefore relieved to get a scholarship through WashU’s generous financial aid program totaling $100,000 over four years. Of course, I still took out government and private student loans to cover much of the remaining cost, but the financial aid I received after agreeing to attend WashU via its early decision program thankfully paid for the lion’s share of my undergraduate expenses. From this prospective, a person with true financial need should not worry about binding early decision programs, as it is likely that sufficient financial aid will be available to those who qualify for it.
I understand, of course, that such generous financial aid is not the norm. But in this respect, I was glad that I decided to attend a private university. For one, Washington University in St. Louis has an endowment in the billions of dollars, and the institution allocates plenty of this money to provide financial aid to students most in need. While public universities often have lower price tags, financial aid at these schools is much harder to come by. My brother Bradley, for instance, who attended a public university in Florida, completed his college degree with more student debt than both my brother Jordan and I combined. Jordan and I both chose to attend private universities, and our financial aid packages ensured that we graduated with less debt than Brad, despite the fact that he worked a full-time job during his college years.
Financial aid can be tricky, though. It is only helpful for those truly in need, since financial aid officers take a very close look at the finances of a student’s family. For those who may not qualify for significant aid, but cannot pay outright for a private college education, going to a public school may be a more viable option. Another alternative may be using the good-ole internet to find other scholarship opportunities (like what my brother Jordan did). When in doubt, guidance counselors and college advisors (or other resources online) may be helpful in making critical decisions regarding where to attend college and how to apply for financial aid.
While I may not have been adequately prepared when choosing my undergraduate school, I certainly do not have any regrets. Though it may have cost a pretty penny, I think my experiences at Washington University of St. Louis have had a positive impact on my life. The pre-med classes were unbelievably challenging, and I definitely did not always do well in them (I got a solid C in my second semester of organic chemistry). These substellar grades would have normally been an obstacle at getting into medical school. I like to think, however (perhaps somewhat pretentiously), that just being a student from WashU helped me score a few more medical school interviews than if I had been applying as a student from another college. In this respect, I think sometimes accumulating extra student debt may ultimately be beneficial in the long run.
As I said before, I graduated college with about forty thousand dollars in student debt. While I was fortunate enough to receive substantial financial aid as an undergraduate, I soon learned that this would not be the case for my medical school education. In my next article, I will delve into that topic, and hopefully provide some helpful tips about how to minimize student debt while attending graduate school.
Adam Rothman is a guest writer for Student Debt Diaries and is currently a medical professional in the New York City area. He is a brother of Jordan Rothman, the founder of Student Debt Diaries. You can reach Adam through email at adam@studentdebtdiaries.com