100k in debt is too much. Its unfortunate that your parents can’t help you - but you may have some affordable options when the rest of our results come in. You will need to lay out all the FA packages and make the best decision based on affordability since you have no help with college costs.
@amayaneely my daughter is also 2017 and a CS major and received a similar award from Northeastern. Ultimately she decided that the debt was not worth it and she went another way, but this was after having all the offers on the table.
I would wait and see what the other schools come in at before making any hard decisions, and I would spend that time looking at the placement for CS graduates for the schools that offered you better aid-the schools should be able to tell you where their CS graduates are getting internships and are working after graduation.
My D spent a lot of time struggling with the idea that most CS kids graduate with jobs lined up, so she wouldn’t be as worried about paying the debt off, but on the other hand she was worried that her choice of jobs and/or graduate school might be more oriented towards debt issues if she had large debt vs. taking a job that was really interesting or a graduate program that was expensive.
Ucsb CS would be an amazing possibility and the luncheon invitation is promising.
You have till May first to make a decision. Wait till you know where you’ve been admitted. In the meanwhile, set northeastern 's offer aside. Not worth it.
@MotherOfDragons With the high salary ($25 an hour base) of co-op for CS students could I use that money towards tuition price? Since I am from Los Angeles where they have many CS companies and startups, could I consider the option of taking my co-ops here in LA, living from home & commuting to co-op, and using co-op earnings toward paying tuition? With the 5 year program with 3 co-op experiences, that could be around 60k towards the list price?
It’s a drop in the bucket.
Plus… Check with UCSB and your other schools (email). Do they have an option for a co-op?
Can you go back to NEU and ask for more money? It does not hurt to ask!
@MYOS1634 Cornell is the only other school that formally has co-op but it is only for engineering majors. I’m plan to pursure CS not CE so I don’t think that would be an option.
@PengsPhils (maybe you could answer as well.) With the high salary ($25 an hour base) of co-op for CS students could I use that money towards tuition price? Since I am from Los Angeles where they have many CS companies and startups, could I consider the option of taking my co-ops here in LA, living from home & commuting to co-op, and using co-op earnings toward paying tuition? With the 5 year program with 3 co-op experiences, that could be around 60k towards the list price?
^ Good point! You should ask NEU about that also.
@londondad I’m working on that right now! They seem as though they really want me so I hope I can navigate around the preliminary FA people (who say they can’t help you) and hopefull fund someone on the inside who believes in me 
Its so weird, NEU had the associate dean of the CC college call me, I got a handwritten letter from a student, a personalized video, a box of candy on valentines day…all i need is the money!
@londondad I was speaking to a lady the other day and she said she really respected the way I presented myself to her via phone, so she said she would try and use her connections to help me with the financial issue.
Great. Good luck!
Yes, you can Co-op and live at home in CA and use that money to pay for tuition and room and board during other semesters but it won’t get you anywhere near the tuition cost. Remember $25 an hour is not take home - you will be paying taxes, soc sec, etc.
I was just going to say ask @PengsPhils because he’s got specific experience in that area re: co-ops in CS in the LA area.
Our math said it ended up being a bit of a wash in regards to earning the money for school, but in our case we had to figure in an apartment. I’m not sure how much money and how many hours you’ll actually have when you’re working co-ops, and we did not feel comfortable “banking” on that number with regards to school choice.
I know $25/hr is a good average for CS, but knowing how many hours you’re going to get and how long it’s going to last isn’t a given, at least that we could tell.
Some top companies pay more than $30/hour for summer internship.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/03/07/the-highest-paying-internships/#65d0ba522672
^^We felt that going with a worst case scenario rather than a best case scenario was wiser when we were trying to figure out maximum cost for each school.
They do pay $30 in hour, but those internships are mostly available for juniors and seniors. Here in California we have amazing state schools that many people happily pay OOS tuition for. I don’t think $100k in debt worth at any school.
No matter where the OP goes, the family and he/she still pay $25K per year (EFC).
Thousands of CA parents pay $25K per year for their kids to attend UCB, UCLA, UCSD,…
No colleges envision that paying for college is the sole responsibility of students. This has been discussed many times on CC.
^agree. The BEST you will get from NEU is 25K per year. How much will the UCs cost you?
@suzyQ7 UCs in state tuition for me is around 14k. But with room and board it would be 30k total with no scholarship.