Price tag for the American dream: $130K a year

[F4lconF16]

104. I find your response to be dismissive at best and possibly insulting.

Please don't tell me that I can change all of my financial worries with a snap of my fingers, like it's that easy.

First, my introductory courses can't be taken elsewhere. To gain a degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering at the University of Washington, I need to have a certain number of my credits taken at the UW. That makes it challenging to get all those pesky intro calc and physics courses out of the way at another school. While it is possible that I could take those credits in-state at Oregon State University, the UW credit need still applies and at best I might be able to get a single year in state. Second, those intro courses that are taught at the UW are taught very differently at other schools. They are specifically designed to mesh with later courses in the Engineering Department. While it's great that you think that I can take them elsewhere, it's much more challenging to get in to the department as well as understand the material presented later on. I've seen the course material presented at OSU, and while the basics are the same, the emphasis is not. Add in a number of students in the department who have talked to me about their somewhat difficult experiences as transfer students, and you realize that it's not so easy to take basic (and theoretically the "same&quot courses elsewhere. Another possibility that might be raised is that I could attend a community college (and I wish I could) in order to save some money, but I'll tell you what: I tried that. The course levels offered (and at a pretty good sized community college) didn't come close to what I would have needed to apply to the aero department. While I'm happy for you that you managed to find a way to get around large tuition expenses, I don't have the same options.

Your next idea sounds nice: "Move to the other state, get a residence and a job. Live there for a year and establish residence so you can pay instate tuition." Sounds nice, that is, until you take a look at residency requirements (and please read them, they're important):

To establish domicile in the state of Washington, students must provide documentation showing they meet the following guidelines:

1) Students must prove conclusively that they have not come to Washington State primarily for educational purposes. Current guidelines require students who are enrolled for 7 credits or more a quarter must be employed at least 30 hours per week at a non-student job to overcome the presumption of educational purposes.

Okay, well that's easy enough. Right. There is no way I could work that much and still have time for classes, engineering projects, and you know, a life. But still, let's assume that I take a year off. We'll take a look through the rest of the requirements.

2) Live in the state for at least 12 consecutive months as legal residents. A legal resident is an individual who has relinquished all valid legal ties (e.g., driver's license, voter registration, etc.) with their former state of residence and established such ties in Washington in accordance with state and local legislation.

So re-obtain all of my legal ties with Washington instead of Oregon and live there for a year. I could do that, sure. That part is reasonable. I expect that.

3) Establish legal ties:
*Employment (if taking more than 6 credits a quarter during the first year of being present in Washington State).
*Driver's license/state ID. Students must obtain a Washington State Driver's License within 30 days of arrival if they have a current out-of-state driver's license. Students who do not possess a driver's license from any state, must obtain a Washington State Identification Card.
*Vehicle registration. Students who own or drive a vehicle in Washington must be registered in Washington within 30 days of arrival.
*Voter registration. Students who have a current out-of-state voter's registration must register to vote in Washington within 30 days of arrival. If an individual has previously registered to vote in another state, they must register to vote in Washington. If the student does not register to vote in Washington, this means that s/he may still vote absentee in the prior state of residency
*Establish a bank account in Washington.

Again, expected and noted. The next part is the fun part.

4) Be financially independent for the current and prior calendar years.

There is no way I could do that. It's not happening. This means I need to take a year off first of all, somehow find a job in Washington and an apartment I can afford on my own (hint: there aren't any), and then work there with no financial support from my parents. I guess that's possible. I could find a place, have my parents rent it until I could afford it, and then sever financial ties. However, now we've added on some time and I'm going to have to wait another extra year to start school because the undergraduate classes I need aren't offered every quarter. Then we get to the next year. I start school, and then I realize I can't receive help from my parents on my tuition. I hate to tell you, but there's no way I could afford to pay for college on my own even if I was working full time (which I couldn't) and receiving in-state tuition. Add on housing and food costs, and all of a sudden things aren't looking too good. Now my only options are to take out loans, saddling me with debt instead. Oh, and did I mention that tuition costs have increased for in-state students by 62% over the last five years? Yeah, that happened.


Now, I'm sure that you're someone who supports lowering the insane tuition costs that are still rising across the country right now, and I'm sure that you support students and education in general. I'm confident of that, actually, because normally I like reading your posts. But your response to me was demeaning and dismissive, as if I hadn't really thought about what I was doing. As if there aren't thousands of other students in the same boat as I am, getting screwed by the system we're stuck with. And it angers me. It's no longer an easy thing to attend any college, let alone an out of state one. I'm lucky enough that my parents were able to save some money and that I have a relative who's helping out, but some people don't even have that. Some of us don't have options. So please don't tell me we can fix everything just by thinking it through just a little bit more, and ignore the problem by pretending as if it's that easy for us to solve.