USC is a fabulous university. The “it’s on the rise” comment made me chuckle. It’s been a top contender for quite a while. Your opportunities there would be great.
Wellesley is a different type of college.
Where do you live? Clearly…for one of these, you will be traveling across the country, and moving to a totally different climate.
@gentleindifference DD has same scholarship as NMF and intends to be a pre-med.
I don’t think it sounds like you love Wellesley as much as you should to take on the expense. Go to USC.
This is often excellent advice. But sometimes it doesn’t apply to an individual student’s situation.
If you’re planning to get a PhD, it doesn’t apply. PhD students don’t pay for school. They support themselves with teaching or research assistantships and maybe some summer work.
If you’re planning to get an MD, law degree, or veterinary degree, it may apply provided that the money you save by going to the less expensive college would be available to you for medical, law, or veterinary school. Ask your parents. Most likely, the answer is yes, but sometimes it’s no – because they can’t be sure of their future finances or because they don’t think it’s appropriate for parents to contribute to graduate school expenses.
If you’re interested in a MBA, it may apply. You generally have to pay for MBA programs. But people don’t go back to school for MBAs until they’ve been working for several years. During those years, you may have saved enough to pay a considerable part of the cost of business school, and you will have reached the age where your parents’ income no longer affects your eligibility for financial aid. Also, a lot of students at top business schools take out huge loans – and successfully pay them back because they get very good jobs. In addition, you need to think about this from your parents’ point of view. You’re 18 and they know what their finances are now. But if you get an MBA you probably won’t start the program until you’re about 25. Can they commit now to helping you then? A lot can change in those years.
You only have one shot in life to have the LAC experience, and that’s undergrad. You will most likely go to a large research university for grad/professional school. So IF having the LAC experience is important to you, I’d say Wellesley, assuming your family can afford it without having to spend their retirement, etc.
I think you should go to the school with the full scholarship and save your parents money for grad school. I do not think the LAC is worth it. If it was PYH then I may have to give it more thought based on major but since you know you are going to grad school you should go with the more sensible option. I live in NYC and went to top CUNY School. The cost was minimal, I helped my single mother pay the tuition. I got a full scholarship to a top 50 law school althouh I got into better rated law schools without money, I chose the full scholarship. I am now in my mid 40s. I have never regretted it. I am exactly where I want to be professionally. Being able to graduate from law school with no debt has made a tremendous difference in my life and now the life of my children.
I just wanted to add that because college was so affordable and I got a full tuition scholarship to law school my mother was able work three jobs to provide for my living expenses though out law school and that is why I was able to graduate debt free.
As a parent, I had always told my children that we were going to support their costs at whatever undergraduate college they chose (and were admitted to). We planned and saved for this, the grandparents also contributed a chunk to their education (as well as that of other grandchildren). The kids each ended up at private colleges/universities, with some merit scholarship money in one case. We never considered these college costs as “down the drain.” They got superb educations and graduated with no debt (either for them or for us).
What about grad school? As another poster mentioned above, if it’s a PhD program there’s a simple rule: if you’re really good, and you’re admitted to a top-level doctoral program, your costs will be paid through fellowships and assistantships. If it’s a professional program (such as medicine, law, business, MPA, MPH, etc.), you are likely to have to foot the vast majority of the bill – cash, loans, work – unless you have sponsorship by an employer’s program. Our oldest decided not to attend grad school at all. If he had done so it likely would have been a doctoral program. So we never planned for such a contingency.
The only educational costs we incurred after the kids graduated were when the younger one decided to seek an MBA, which in her case also involved a significant change or adjustment in career focus (undergrad degree: BFA). We ended up paying about 2/3 of the costs of attendance at a top-10 MBA program. But from her subsequent career, we think it was worth that money!
Every family has a different situation. Even though we didn’t plan on subsidizing graduate school, we COULD do so and therefore we did.
Thank you all for your great advice. @SwimDad99 @maya54 @NolaCAR I have no doubt that USC, especially the LAC-type honors curriculum, is very strong. That makes me question whether going to the LAC for a “better” education is a valid reason. I don’t necessarily prefer a LAC to a large research institution, as long as the latter’s class sizes are reasonable, resources are plentiful, and faculty are engaged, which seems to be the case with USC (or so I’ve heard).
@thumper1 I’m from the West Coast (not CA). I’ve always wanted to go somewhere with 4 seasons and snow for college, though.
@Marian @holychild @mackinaw @jym626 I definitely plan to go to grad school. If I pursue an MPA or MPP at somewhere like Harvard Kennedy, the money saved at USC would be immensely helpful. Less so if I do an economics PhD, which also interests me.
Basically, I have a savings account from my parents with enough for about 3 years at the LAC. If I go to USC, whatever’s left in the bucket after undergrad I can use for grad school. I don’t anticipate my parents subsidizing grad school other than with the savings account, and although I intend to work between undergrad and grad, I probably won’t save enough to afford a 150k grad school (unless I go into investment banking for those years, which could be a reason to go to Wellesley but isn’t something I want to do with my whole life).
@Marian .
Totally depends on the field. There are plenty of doctoral students who are NOT funded for their PhD programs.
I’d caution against the “Boston is a great place for college students” idea. Boston and everything in it–food, transportation, museums, etc., etc–is insanely expensive. If the school is that much more expensive, you probably won’t have much money to spend on trips in Boston at all.
There’s a free hourly bus to and from Cambridge, psyche_. It’s not much of a “trip.” And since there is a huge student population in the Boston area, there is plenty aimed at a student budget.
It sounds like 4 years at USC may likely exhaust your funds, if you are getting half tuition. Of course, that is better than being in debt.
What are the conditions attached to retaining the scholarship?
USC isn’t exactly located on a low cost of living area.
From what you write, it doesn’t seem like you love Wellesley all that much in particular. It sounds like you love “the idea” of a New England LAC, but not Wellesley.
For this reason I don’t think the extra expense is worth it for you. You’ll probably be just as happy at USC.
@Consolation I haven’t found a specific GPA requirement; the website simply says I need to take a full course load and not be academically or non-academically disciplined. Actually, with USC I’d have around 70k left for grad school. With Wellesley, I’d need an additional 60k from my parents / scholarships / loans / working. (Living expenses factored in)
@redpoodles I felt that I was a really good fit at Wellesley when I visited, but I don’t have my heart set on it.
Does USC guarantee housing all four years?
@Consolation No, it’s only guaranteed to freshmen. But they’ve just built a bunch of new dorms (USC Village) so on-campus housing may be easier to find than in previous years.
Do you know what the typical cost of housing is if you don’t get a dorm room? Freshman year, room and board looks reasonable. After that…
LA is expensive too.
My entire adult life, I regretted not going to Wellesley. I took honors at a large flagship. When I got a job at Wellesley, after a PhD, it felt like karma. But this is me. I was definitely more a LAC person than a large U. I have no idea how strong your feelings are, one way or the other.
If You start at Wellesley, could u then transfer to USC, with scholarship?