Out of state. Far away. Those were the two requirements when I started my college search in August. I was spending all of my time applying to big colleges 100 miles away that had lower acceptance rates – honestly, just seeking validation from it.

Throughout the year, my circumstances changed and so did my interests. They say you’ll change your major three times on average throughout college. I changed mine about four times before my second semester of my senior year. I went from Elementary Education, to Social Work, to Secondary Education, to Journalism and Education. I still haven’t gotten it all figured out!  

But with changing interests, comes changing schools that have the programs that support them. For example, I was accepted into Belmont University for Motion Pictures to be a screenplay writer. I applied for that because that’s what the school is mainly known for. But if I wanted to do something like Sports Administration, the University of Louisville would’ve been somewhere I’d look at over Belmont.

That’s not to say you can’t go to U of L for something like teaching, but if you’re looking to just go to college and get through it with little to no debt, I have a few words of advice to help you think about staying local for college. 

You’re getting the same degree. 

College is honestly what you make of it. Whether you go to Harvard or Ivy Tech, you’re getting a degree and hopefully lead to getting a job you love from it that pays you enough to live the life you want. Some colleges might have better connections or more esteemed professors, but at the end of the day if you get a degree from Harvard and sit on your butt it’ll be useless. But again, certain schools are better for certain degrees. I ended up deciding on IUS because of their Journalism program that U of L’s general communications program didn’t offer. I wanted a more specialized degree rather than an overall communication degree.

Familiarity 

To some people, the unfamiliar is very exciting and they’re really looking forward to adjusting to a new place once they go to college. For me, I think I can wait a little longer in the name of saving money. I like that my favorite coffee shop is up the road, my favorite Target is only 10 minutes away to wander around for 10 hours. I’m fine with just chilling out in Indiana for a few more years before I figure things out. It’ll also be nice to hopefully see a few people I know in class so I don’t feel completely alone. 

Current Job

The concept of student loans has always been a huge fear of mine. I don’t want to be paying them off my entire life with the job I got the student loans out to do. That being said, I’ll probably be paying for most of the college expenses left after financial aid and scholarships completely out of pocket. I couldn’t do that if I didn’t have a job. Right now I have a pretty consistent job that works really well with my schedule and has already agreed to work around my college schedule as well

 If I were to attend somewhere far away from home I wouldn’t have that lined up at all and I’d have to add another thing to my list of things to worry about in college. Even if I moved with the intention of having fun! Of course, you can always find a job wherever you move, but if you’re okay with staying close to home it’s just one less thing to worry about. 

Way More Financial Aid 

I honestly didn’t really understand financial aid until way after I had already submitted my applications. I thought that student loans were inevitable and that I’d just have to get over it. 

At the beginning of the year I got into a college that offered me upwards of 20k a year in scholarships. I thought that was nuts. But then I looked at the actual cost of tuition and the scholarships basically made it half off. So it was still an unrealistically high amount of money coming out of pocket in the end. 

But, I ended up applying to a smaller school and after the scholarships they offered me and the financial aid I got, it’ll be almost completely free. Which was crazy to me! I get a degree I can use and I’ll graduate completely debt free. All because I just sacrificed the stereotypical “college experience”.