<prompt> Human: I currently attend a small community college and will be earning my associate of science of engineering in May. I was recently accepted by the University of Champaign-Urbanas college of Engineering and am looking at over 35,000 in tuition next year and am scared shitless. I have no current debt, Ill get 0 from FAFSA, and only have 5,000 saved. Reddit, what do I do other than fill out a shit ton of scholarships to keep my head above the wave of college debt?  <response>: Congrats on your education so far! I know PF hates student loans, but 70k over two years and graduating as an engineer is not generally a bad deal. I work in an engineering field, and the starting pay is good enough that everyone I work with has paid them off within 5-10 years. You can reduce that number by working and grabbing at small scholarships, but you realistically arent going to get from 70k to 10k in loans. You did the best thing you can to reduce that on the front end by attending community college- you probably already saved yourself 60k. 