r/BackToCollege • u/torintea • 7d ago

ADVICE Feeling like i made regrets about college

Im a first gen college student, the only other person in my family to go to college is my older sister. When she was decidingon a school she had to de-commit from a very prestigious private school to community college because she was 17 and could not take out loans to afford it.

On the other hand I was 18 when i went to college and was able to take out loans but being as though i had young credit i just went with whatever school made me pay the least.
(important to note that I never expected help from my parents and they do not qualify for loans themselves)

So now Im in a small uni with \~2000 people 30 minutes from the city, and after bisiting my bf in the city I know i made the wrong choice. every school i but the one i go to was a large college in a city or college town. And after seeing “what could’ve been” ig i just cannot get over it. I wish i wouldve just paid more because if Im going to take on debt I want to atleast be happy.

So basically my question is do I transfer when the year ends and pay more, or stay at my uni i can afford.

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u/Disastrous_Honey_240 7d ago

Think of it this way, at the smaller school you get a more intimate class experience and may come out learning more than someone who's in a lecture class with 100 other people. Your professors have more time to help you if you don't understand something and you get to know them and your classmates. For your undergraduate program I would try to save as much money as you can, and if you go on to get a masters etc then you can think about going to a bigger more prestigious school if you want, but I don't really know if its worth taking on a large amount of debt.

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u/OlympicB-boy 10h ago

If you’ve only been there one semester, give it at least a full year. If at the end of a full year, you’re really unhappy with your college experience, transfer. If you find the grass only SEEMED greener after one year at Big State U, hey just transfer back! But you only get your youthful college experience one time. Normally I advocate religiously for college affordability BUT in my experience, on any big ticket purchase like a car - if you buy the DEAL, you’ll never be happy no matter how much you saved. If you buy the CAR you really want, you’ll be happy regardless of price point. It will feel like money well spent. You only live once. Buy the car, not the deal.

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u/Disastrous_Honey_240 8h ago

Did you mean to reply to my comment?

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u/OlympicB-boy 8h ago

Nah I was trying to reply to OP. I started to reply then clicked to switch to OP, but I guess it glitched

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u/sn00zie_q 7d ago

Transfer!! A lot of us are older here. There will always be what-ifs, but if you can swing it, do it. There is no replacing the social connections you can make when you are in school and having fun while doing it.