Thoughts on taking out loans to go to college

Here’s what I originally posted on the finances subreddit and many people said to come here so I can hear about how bad of an idea this is.

“I just got into my dream school Cal Poly SLO for architecture which is a 5 year program. The only issue is I can’t afford it… I’m in-state, but with tuition, room, food, etc. the cost is about 41k a year. That’s 200k for 5 years…

My family is middle income so we don’t qualify for much, if any, financial aid and we can’t afford to pay 41k a year either.

I’ve received 3k in financial aid from SLO lowering my cost to 38k. I can also take out $5,500 in subsidized loans a year lowering it to around 33k. But still, that’s 33k in student loans a year… Is that a bad idea? My parents won’t be paying for it, so I’ll have to pay for it on my own but I probably won’t get a job with steady income for a while (only a part time job).

Any thoughts on what I should do? Please don’t say go to community college first. I know it’s the better option, but I worked really hard to get into this school and I really want to go if it’s possible. Thanks”

It would also be helpful if anyone has taken loans and gone through the 5 year arch program at SLO. I know I’m going to hear things I don’t like, but I will take everything into consideration.