If it's an option, you can start at a local community college and get some general education classes out of the way that you will likely have to take anyways at a university to get your degree. You'll likely have to take english and math and some other classes. Then you can transfer to a university or whatever school you choose to finish your degree. Starting at community college gives you a little more time to figure things out. Plus community college is overall cheaper in tuition and you don't have to pay for housing and food. There isn't a huge transition of moving away from home either. A lot of people I graduated high school with started at the community college and it's what my brother plans to do next year.

Well for most of my colleges, I have enough credits to enter as a sophomore so there's that too

I think college visits were important. I only visited UW, UP, and WSU and WSU was where it clicked.

I've visited all of my schools. It's currently a money game and my dad wants me to avoid debt at all costs and so he is pushing me to commit to a school that is the "cheapest" but was the one that I was least comfortable with. My mom on the other hand says "don't worry about the money go where you want to" and all of this has led to my parents arguing/yelling at each other, which leads to me in tears bc I'm being guilt tripped bc I have 3 younger siblings and "how will we be able to afford education for them if you go to this school?"

I feel you're more likely to regret your decision if you choose where you're not comfortable. You'll probably be a lot happier being somewhere you're comfortable. Maybe you might be in a little more debt, but at least you won't be miserable. Personally I would take the one that costs a little more if it meant I would feel more comfortable going there. If you're miserable for the next 4 years of your life being stuck in college, that little less debt probably won't be worth it.

And if you can manage to get scholarships or work part time while in school, that little bit more debt won't be as big of a deal.

Well I've gotten the highest merit scholarships possible at all of my schools. And it's not just a little difference. The "cheapest" would be $68k in debt. The most expensive would be $87k in debt

I'm assuming that's over all 4 years?

Yep

I don't know exactly where you're at, but $68k is more than twice as much debt as I'm planning to be in after my undergrad. But I want to go to law school I don't know exactly how much that is going to cost. But I'm just kind of getting by with scholarships and loans. I saw those numbers and I was like "woooooow"

With that much money in question, honestly I don't know what I'd do either. I thought maybe we were talking about a few thousand dollars difference.

You're definitely gonna regret going somewhere you don't wanna be. If money's a problem, there's always scholarships. You can also try to get a research assistant position or work in a dining hall.

yes definitely see about working while in school and pay of some of your debt/interest(if you're accumulating any) while in school. That way you have a little bit of a head start. It won't be much. But I definitely recommend just taking small bits of your paycheck and just put them in savings. And you'll be surprised just how much savings can grow over time when you just save a little here and there.

Yeah I'm already planning on working on campus no matter where I go. At this point with all the shit going on with my parents arguing I'm really questioning if it it's even worth it but my parents insist on me going to college. And like I said earlier, I'm planning on majoring in bio so I at least need a masters degree so that's more loans on top of those numbers

What kind of career are you going for?

I want to go into genetics research or stem cell research as there's a lot of potential in using stem cells to cure cancer and other issues

Honey, go where you think you are going to flourish the most. Yes, debt sucks, but if you play your cards well, you won't end up with as much debt as you would think. This was already mentioned, but if you have the option of going to a community college to get some of your classes done, do it. It'll save you a lot of money at the end. But the problem with most scholarships is that they require you to be full time, right? So that might be a problem. Also, you might be getting some scholarships right now, but once you enter your field of study, and have gained a couple of credit hours and managed to maintain a good GPA, you can apply for the type of scholarships that apply for your major; most of them are not even made that public for reasons, most likely some of your professors or major advisors will sent them to the students. I have known people who are in doing their masters, and are paying for it because their professors somehow found the scholarships they needed to pay most of it.

Yeah community college isn't really an option for me. I guess I didn't think about that scholarship stuff that you mentioned so I'll definitely look into that. Thanks!

Most people don't. It's usually something you get to know once you start seeing all those emails in your inbox about scholarships you didn't even know existed. Once you get into university, don't be afraid to talk to your professors, do well, pay attention, and ask questions. Once you feel confident enough in your abilities, go ask them about a possibility if you could get involved in research because you are interested in this or that field and want to gain more knowledge. You might have to do some extra work (like writing papers with tons of references), and might have to rely a lot on the grad students, but it'll give you more hands-on experience, and generally, some professors really pay well to the students that are helping with research, even those who are just starting, if you stick with them and they like your work, they'll pay you more. I am not talking minimum wage, I'm talking being paid even $15/hr, though it really depends on the professor, honestly.

I literally didn't know any of this. Thank you again!