Ask HN: Expensive college, no money, no credit history. What do I do?

Dear HN,

I write to you today with a question whose answer means a lot to my family and myself. The answer need not present a direct solution to the problem I will discuss shortly; a story from personal experience or words of advise/wisdom would suffice. I thank you for taking your time to elucidate a matter we are greatly troubled by, it means a lot!

I am a senior in high school. More particularly, I am a self-motivated computer science kid who got accepted into 2 colleges/universities, MIT and Poly. I love working on projects while learning TCS. You would find me spending a weekday afternoon hacking away on a realtime video converter leveraging NodeJS and Go, later to catch me reading an episode of Achilles and the Tortoise from GEB (with the occasional (frequent) refreshes of HN in-between the chapters).

Now that you know a little about me, let us shift focus to the elephant in the room: tuition. More particularly, cost of education vs. its worth.

MIT - $120k :: Well, it's MIT

Poly - ∅ :: Decent polytechnic, decent education, more info on http://www.poly.edu/

To make a long story short, my parents are in a complicated financial situation (hence practically no financial aid from MIT and ineligibility to take private loans due to credit history) and can contribute $100k for my education at MIT (this is for all 4 undergrad years, after private loan from family member). Where/how can I come up with $40k a year?

Should I pursue Poly, I will have no financial weight on my shoulders.

From the various impressions I made from students and people regarding the value of MIT, I feel like it is worth the money. The motivated students I will find there, the crazy projects I will be working on, the top-quality education I will be receiving, all of these things seem to be worth the money. What do you think? Then again, there is the physical constraint of actually affording it (it would be great to receive some guidance on affordability as well, considering the fact that the government and school have nothing more to offer me in terms of financial accommodations).

Any comments greatly appreciated,

- Mark

If you have the opportunity to go to MIT and don't plan on being a ski bum, poet, or surfer after, take it.

I faced a similar problem when I was starting college. My father is disabled and my mother passed away during my junior year of high school, so I had zero financial support from my family for school.

Due to financial considerations, I chose a state school where I had some scholarships instead of the big name tech school that accepted me. Let me tell you, I have regretted it ever since.

The simple fact is that if you -can- get into a top tier school like MIT then you should go. The caliber of your fellow students will be much, much higher than at a state school, and that alone is priceless. One of the best things about college is networking and, for hackers, finding like-minded individuals to make things with. Once you factor in faculties, facilities, and opportunities, it should be a no brainer.

Regarding money, almost no college students have credit history, but that doesn't stop almost all of them from getting loans. I would be very surprised if you didn't qualify for student loans, even if you have to get them from a private organization / bank. I would talk to MIT's admissions/financial aid office, as they can probably help you piece together how you can pay for things.

Don't let money stand between you and your education. The connections you'll make and the experiences you'll have at MIT will be worth the extra money you pay. Of course you'll also like college a hell of a lot more. I know plenty of people who, like me, settled for a state school and have been bored out of their minds.

tl;dr -- Go to MIT and find a way to make the finances work.

i dont whether people will agree to this ... because you're lucky enough to get help of $100K ...you must join MIT - this is once in a life time opportunity ... at least you won't regret later in your life ... once you start your program you may work part-time (on or off campus) ... also because your case is genuine you can also ask for donation thru sharing your technical knowledge thru blog or social media or any other method (i'm sure you'll succeed) --- good luck.

Others are saying that you should go to MIT, and I really don't know enough to argue one way or another on that. However, you asked how do you come up with $40K a year with no education and no credit history?

First, if you think the debt is worth it (and I'm not saying it is or it isn't) talk to the councilors at MIT. they have people who specialize in charging kids as much as they can pay but not more. But generally speaking, if you are willing to mortgage everything you can, those people can help you.

Next, there is the question of a job. Do you have experience? if not, you are going to have a damn difficult time getting $40K on just a part-time job, and right now is an especially difficult time for people without experience. In the bay area, positions for people of your experience are around $30-$50k/year for full-time, at the high end.

I can tell you from experience that trying to go to school while working a full time job is extremely difficult. I'm not saying you shouldn't try; you got in to MIT; you are almost certainly a better worker than I am. But if you do try to work full time as you go to school; make sure you have a reasonable plan B.