Many students from this year’s New Rochelle high school graduating class will be going off to college in the fall. These students will be facing new challenges, but not just of an academic nature. The Journal News interviewed New Ro students on their big graduation day to ask them about how much loans and tuition cost weighed on their mind while making their critical decision:
— Justin Derocco, 17, is going to Nassau Community College. One of the reasons for choosing to attend this school is its modest price-Justin will only have to pay $2000 a year in tuition. He says he will likely have to pay his own way until he musters up enough money to transfer to SUNY Cortlandt where he was also accepted.
— Sharwayne Smith, 18, got into all eight schools he applied to, including Hofstra University. Ultimately he decided on chose Rockland Community College because he didn’t want his parents “to pay for everything”. He will be attending on a soccer scholarship so the school and the school will only cost around $5,000 a year.
— Twin sisters Adriane and Andria Holligan, 18, are going to Barber Scotia in North Carolina and described these last few months as being “stressful months” due to college loans.
— Sadé Tuckett, 17, got into Howard University but went with Spellman. Spellman costs slightly less than Howard which is something that factored into her decision, but she is still in a “last minute process of getting my student loans. Lots of them.” However on graduation day, student loans were the last thing on her mind: “I’m not thinking about it today, but tomorrow I will.”
— Julien Sorci, 17, is going to SUNY Binghamton and stated his college decision had nothing to do with finances. Still he joked about paying off student loans saying, “I’m probably going to have to panhandle. Binghamton is an industrial setting so I’ll fit right in.”
— Sharon Jimenez 18, going to Academy of Art University, was disappointed that she didn’t get all the financial aid that she wanted but maintains she will attend the university nonetheless.
Read this article on parents and recent graduates staring down startling tuition costs and whopping student loans.
