I know that there are good students whose parents are paying for college, but it sounds as though the ones who’ve commented here are responsible for their living expenses. It’s often the students who are having everything paid for them who tend to take it for granted. It’s also the students who are having everything handed to them which are making the colleges a rowdy and unpleasant place to be. A student who’s responsible for paying his/her own way is probably more likely to look at ways of doing college more cheaply, ie, though credit-by-exam programs.

This sounds like a very difficult and upsetting situation. From your post, it seems like the majority of the stressors in your life, however, do not result from financial strain.

If your boyfriend is throwing things and yanking you out of bed, the relationship is already physically abusive. You should not wait to get out. You say that you cannot afford to move out. You cannot afford to stay.

College is a wonderful opportunity and an education is one of the most important assets a person can have, but your health (physical and emotional) really needs to be a priority.

Get out of the relationship, get out of the apartment, move back in with your mom if you need to. If this means taking leave from school for a few semesters, that would be disappointing, but you can complete that later. You can put that on hold. You cannot, however, put your well being on hold.

sorry for the rant…im so depressed tho! this advice is just an excuse for ppl to be cheap with their kids.
My mom is nice and she is older now…so I can’t expect her to help…i just wish she could >o< Esp. since i might not get a FAFSA renewal. D:
so…depressed…

I shudder when I think of those who accumulated huge debt for their educations, and therefore have to earn much more in order to begin a clean financial slate. And I shudder for myself, because I see something highly wrong with overpaying for professional services because I am paying for someone’s educational debt. These, however, are those who truly need the education for their career, and the ones who have the ambition, intelligence, and what it takes in general to succeed in their profession should be able to get that education on their merits – through scholarships and the like.

I live debt-free today, but of the debts I took on in the past, my student loan is the only one I really regret. It was not that big, but it was an infuriating waste that I couldn’t afford to pay back, but was literally forced to do so. On the positive side, it was a big part of my decision to never finance anything again, so if I can do that indefinitely, perhaps it will have been worth it.

At a certain point, loans just don’t feel like “you’re paying.” Knowing that I would have $40,000+ in loans upon graduation made it hard to associate payment to any particular class. And I had friends who had full scholarships that were extremely diligent and carried 4.0s (or close to) at a school where that’s extremely difficult to do.

Although I think a lot of your points are valid, I feel like the “we will appreciate it more if we pay our own way” argument should be put to bed.

I’ve had classmates who “paid their own way” primarily with loans who had no more sense of what their education meant than the worst of the people whose parents footed the whole bill. I’ve also seen plenty of hardworking students whose parents paid as well many who got large scholarships or worked two jobs. I’d love to see some formal studies on this type of thing, but I don’t think it would be possible to control for all of the outside factors.

Fortunately, I got a good education from the state university that was willing to pay for everything and provide a stipend. That has put me in above average financial shape since i was able to finish undergrad with substantial savings instead of loans. I’d like to help pass that good start in adult life along to any future children.