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

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

#11

Post by akashs »

Yes, it will be tough, but you will have time to earn money. Many MIT students work during the school year and in the summer to be able to pay for school. Here are some options for you if you do decide to go to MIT, all of which have been done by MIT students in the past:

1) Take that $100K. 2) Get a summer job: $10K - $15K saved right there (more if you do a hedge fund / finance gig over the summer) 3) Get a job over IAP. Another month's worth of salary. 4) Get a job at MIT. MIT's great about giving opportunities for students. You can get paid to do research through the UROP program. You can get paid be a grader, a lab assistant, a TA, a deskworker in your dorm (i.e., get paid to sit around while you do your psets) 5) Start a business 6) Get a job somewhere else. There's plenty of people willing to hire MIT kids part time, and plenty of those pay very well 7) Start a stock trading operation in your dorm 8) Learn poker 9) You get the point

One other thing you might try is to petition for financial aid and explain your situation. MIT typically lets you petition anything, although I don't know if that applies for financial aid.

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

#12

Post by borski »

I considered Poly as well. I chose MIT. My best friend went to Poly. Aside from not being next door to my best friend for four years, I can honestly say that going to MIT was, by far, one of the best decisions of my life.

You'll make the money back. Once out of school, you'll make far more money (by default, and whether this is "right" or not is arguable, but that doesn't make it any less true) coming from MIT than from Poly. Your yearly salary will be higher, as there will be more competition for your "talent." This all, of course, presumes you do _well_ at MIT, but if you were admitted I suspect that you would.

If you haven't already contacted the MIT Financial Aid office, do it now; I presume you have. Send me a personal email (email in my profile) and I can try to put you in touch with some people.

Having had my best friend go to Poly, we basically went through school together; talking almost daily. The classes he had were significantly easier, and far less interesting. Whether this is a plus is arguable, but I certainly don't think it is. While I was learning about Red-Black Trees, he was learning about binary search; shit at MIT just moved faster.

The people you meet (again, having met people at both places) at MIT are also going to challenge you more; though not necessarily more intelligent, they are more self-selected to be self-starters and curious/inquisitive minds. They _will_ challenge you and you'll have more fun.

My $.02: You should go to MIT if you can. Think of it as giving up a little bit of equity in your life; life is short, if you come out better for it in the end (i.e. had more fun, learned more, opened up more opportunities, whatever you choose your metric to be) it'll be well worth it.

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

#13

Post by ainsleyb »

 As an MIT alum I have to comment on how valuable an MIT education is. Whether you're from a public school in the middle of nowhere (like me) or from an awesome tech school, there's something of value for everyone. Not only did I finally learn physics with calculus, though I'm not an engineer, but learned a great deal about things out of my major (some of which I'm now starting a company with).

I always say MIT was the best place for me, and I can honestly say I wouldn't have been as happy anywhere else. I got to explore anything and everything under the sun, from D1 rowing and cognitive vision, to understanding hash tables and  how to write malicious scripts. ;)

Looking at the finances, contact MIT financial aid if you haven't yet. There are also plenty of great opportunities on and off campus to work during all times of the year. Your education is an investment and you've got a pot of gold lying in your lap. Find some way to keep it. 

Tl;dr go to MIT. You won't regret it. 

If you have any questions or need any help feel free to email (see my hn profile), and good luck! :)

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

#15

Post by arn »

I find it interesting that while there tends to be a lot of "higher ed isn't worth it" posts that trickle to the top of HN, everyone replying to this thread is recommending going to MIT.

I also think you should go to MIT. Especially given your description of your self-motivated history. I didn't go to MIT, but I would expect the caliber of education and, more importantly, the higher level of the other students at MIT will be worth it.

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

#16

Post by namank »

I would go to MIT, Mark.

You sound like someone who would love to work on projects helping profs. MIT is one of the best places for that.

Looking around the internet (and researching lots on MIT as a grad school), I find that professors there are thought leaders of the fields. The work they do is about 15-20 years ahead of the rest of the world. And it doesn't seem like work.

I can understand your financial situation. However, you DO get summers to work and make money. Once you have a school such as that AND projects that you mentioned on your resume, lucrative summer jobs will be easy to find. Trust me on that, I essentially work for 4 months then go to school for 4 months.

Also, credit history aside, make sure you atleast apply for student loans. It has been my experience that once banks/govts see your promising future (and thus their financial security), they are more willing to shell out some dough.

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

#17

Post by bricestacey »

I didn't really try to go to a good school and am finishing up my degree now at UMass Boston. I regret it because everything and everybody is average and there seems to be a natural tendency toward the average of the group, which is not good when surrounded by average people. I don't know how well Poly stacks up, but at a school like MIT you are going to be surrounded by many more people that are smarter than you and you will learn so much more.

Here are my thoughts on how to scrounge up some money.

Over 4 years you can borrow up to $27k through Federal Direct Loans[1]. I'm pretty sure these are available to anyone who fills out the FAFSA.

You can get an on-campus job, probably at a good wage (can someone chime in the hourly wage for a student worker?). Assuming $15/hr, working 15 hours per week for 9 months, that's $34k over 4 years. Assuming same rate, you can also get a summer job for around $8k over 4 years.

With your parents $100k, that's $169k right there. If that's not enough...

Your parents can fix their financial situation within 4 years and take on additional private loans.

You can have someone other than your parents cosign your student loans.

Good luck!

  [1] http://www.direct.ed.gov/applying.html

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

#18

Post by rprasad »

There's always the world's oldest profession.

Or in seriousness, find a startup in the area and intern with them for the summer. With that under your belt, you''ll find a paying job by the time the fall semester starts.

Alternatively, write an iPhone app or web app over the summer and use that to get a job or make money.

Finally, there's always Kickstarter.

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

#19

Post by keeptrying »

If you can go to MIT then go.

Throughout life people will give you an opportunity mainly based on two things - your reputation and your ability. Going to MIT will prove to a lot of people that you have the ability.

Also you have to work with the best to be in the top of your field. Read the book"the talent code". You simply have to go to MIT if you can get in.

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

#20

Post by ajkessler »

Definitely do MIT.

There are literally thousands of scholarships out there, even if you're a rich white kid with no sob story. Seriously. If you treat hunting down scholarships as a job over this summer, I have little doubt you can track down the money to fully cover your expenses.

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