Need some General "Life" advice. Buy a house? Transfer Colleges?

[Satummoo]

Right now I'm 21 years old (married) and am going to be a junior this fall as a Music Performance Major at LSU (Louisiana). I have a huge opportunity to transfer to Indiana University for Music which is one of THE best schools for music. In the music world, it's the equivalent of Julliard, New England Conservatory, Eastman, etc...Now I've never liked LSU to begin with as far as the Music Department goes but the main reason I went their was because of my Violin teacher (who at last minute got a job at IU) and he's one of the best teachers I've ever met and have high respect for him. The problem is, that IU is VERY expensive for out of state students. As of now, I have free In-state Tuition from LSU and some extra scholarships but if I decided to transfer to IU, I'd have to pay around 7k-15k a year! Now, I sent in another audition CD that will be reviewed next week to try and get more money but there is definently no way to go to school for free unless I had some academic scholarships (which my grades aren't good enough to get 3.3). If I transfer, I'll most likely lose credits (not sure how much) but i'd likely need one extra semester to graduate. Do you think it's worth it to transfer to a school with really high prestige and education at the expense of having some financial constraints? Or, would it be better to finish out my degree and then for my masters & doctorates go someplace really good. The good thing is that Graduate scholarships are A LOT better than undergrad so i'd still have to opportunity to go to IU.

Next, If I were to go to Bloomington IN, I was thinking of buying a house as the housing prices their are pretty much half of what they are here in Baton Rouge/New Orleans because of Katrina. Is now a wise time to buy a house/townhome because the housing market is so low? I've heard a lot of houses have depreciated 10-20% so it would seem like now would be a good time to buy. My wife and I are paying a lot for rent right now and a house note would be 60% of what we're paying right now, BUT there are a lot of hidden cost in owning a home. If I did move, I'd most likely get my masters at IU because I don't want to keep moving every 2 years. Does anyone have any insight on the finaces of a house/townhome?

[Kreij]

If you will not lose the opportunity to go to IU when you graduate, then why not finish your degree at LSU to remain financially stable.
You can look into buying property then and continuing your education at UI in another year or so.
The housing market is going to take some time to stabalize so I do not think that you would be in a worse situation in that time.

Just my 2 cents.

[imperialreign]

just my thought, I'd continue with the schooling first as well - the housing market everywhere has been asinine;

besides, you really don't want your total montly housing payment (the loan payment + utilities) to be greater than 50% of your monthly combined income - that's ideally. If you can continue as you are now, after school you can probably get a better paying job, and if you've kept your credit in excellent standing, you'd be paying less when it comes time for that housing loan.

But, whatever you decide to do, just don't lose track of your goals, either, and stay focused knowing what you're working towards.

[Polaris573]

You have to have a certain amount of credit hours at the institution you want to get your degree from. The best thing to do would be to talk to your departmental adviser about switching schools or an adviser at UI. That would give a much better idea of what you need to do then random people on the internet.

[Satummoo]

You have to have a certain amount of credit hours at the institution you want to get your degree from. The best thing to do would be to talk to your departmental adviser about switching schools or an adviser at UI. That would give a much better idea of what you need to do then random people on the internet.

I've talked to TONS of people about this. All my music teachers and other musicians pretty much unanimously said it would be the best thing to do to transfer.
But, if others here have transfered, maybe they could give some insight if they were happier about transfering schools or if it was more worth it to finish out there degree where they were.

The housing thing would ONLY apply if I moved to Indiana. Right now, I rent out an apartment for ~1k a month with all utillities (cable, internet, etc...). The rent here in Baton Rouge is outrageous. Only if I moved to Indiana i'd consider buying because I'd most likely be their for 4 years and also do my masters there. That's why I was wondering if it would be worth it to buy something since housing is really low compared to here.

[imperialreign]

I've talked to TONS of people about this. All my music teachers and other musicians pretty much unanimously said it would be the best thing to do to transfer.
But, if others here have transfered, maybe they could give some insight if they were happier about transfering schools or if it was more worth it to finish out there degree where they were.

The housing thing would ONLY apply if I moved to Indiana. Right now, I rent out an apartment for ~1k a month with all utillities (cable, internet, etc...). The rent here in Baton Rouge is outrageous. Only if I moved to Indiana i'd consider buying because I'd most likely be their for 4 years and also do my masters there. That's why I was wondering if it would be worth it to buy something since housing is really low compared to here.

it also depends on where in IN you move to - some friends of our family moved out towards southern IN; they sold their house here for $160000, and bought a 3 acre plot with a larger house (compared to what they had here) for $150000 . . . that's great and all, but average pay out that way was lower than here as well . . .