[jayparth]

I mean, if you get into MIT, you can definitely get student loans... lenders agree that your MIT degree is proof that you'll make significant income later in life and pay off that debt.

Your situation sucks. It's not really applicable for top schools though. With a combination of financial assistance and debt, it's possible for most people coming from bad financial situations.

[webkike]

Getting student loans is not a solution, it just pushes the problem later down the road and can often times ruin your life later.

[gavinray]

> It's possible for most people coming from bad financial situations.

I know this probably applies to almost nobody, but it's something I haven't seen discussed openly before:

If you're a completely average person in the US. Not a minority, coming from a middleclass family. But your family doesn't want to just hand you money -- you're kind of fucked.

There's something called "Expected Family Contribution". The country has decided that everyone's parents are just going to give away their money to their children.

> Eligibility for need-based financial aid is determined by a formula that subtracts the student’s expected family contribution (EFC) from a college’s total cost of attendance. This determines financial need. The equation looks like this: (cost of attendance – EFC = financial need).

So if your parents are say, by-your-bootstraps capitalists, and they go "Get a job bum, you want something, go work for it." then you're shit outta luck.

I applied for financial aid and I was denied.

"Your parents make too much money."

"Well, that's nice for them. I don't live with my parents and they have no interest in financially supporting me, so can't you calculate it from my $8/hr wage?"

"No, sorry. You can try waiting to go to college until you're no longer considered a dependent."

I'm not trying to make this out to be a sob story, but if you're a completely unremarkable individual without family contribution, your only way in is debt. And not even reasonable debt, that you could work a regular job and pay off in a few years, but obscene debt.

[manigandham]

This applies to a lot more people than you think, and regardless of whether they're a minority or not (whatever that even means anymore). Also even if your family does want to support you, the rates are far higher than what middle-class can realistically contribute. Ridiculous debt is the only option on the table for the majority of college students these days.