Hello. I was admitted into Williams College and everything is perfect about it except for the financial aspect. My family is in that awkward middle class section where we receive some aid but we cannot pay the rest of the EFC. I plan to major in economics and from there either go into Investment Banking or accounting.
Is it worth it to get around $100,000 in debt after my undergrad if I plan to go get my masters as well? Also, I plan to appeal for more aid but the form requesting review doesn’t have an option where I am requesting because I can’t afford it. My parents said they are willing to pay $20,000 annually towards my college but even with that I would still have this much debt. All in all, is it worth it in the end or should I just go to the local state school?
The alt is Rutgers where I’ll be paying 20k. However, my parents said they only want me commuting because we’re right around the corner. If I go to Rutgers, I walk out debt free. I know it may sound greedy and self centered but I really wanted to experience 4 years of independency and have that college experience. I was giving an amazing opportunity at Williams and I don’t want to pass it up.
With an econ major from Williams, you will likely land a high paying i-banking or management consulting position, which will lead to a MBA from a strong business school. This is a tried and true path taken by many from Williams, the Ivies and top tier LACs.
Debt follows you forever and many college loan options have very high interest rates. As a senior in the same weird middle class position as you, I would never take out a loan, especially a 6 figure one. Chances are you’ll get the same kind of job going somewhere you can afford.
Can you write Williams and explain your situation? They might cough up some aid to help get your there. It never hurts to ask. All they can do is tell you “no.”
Is there a door number 3 where you don’t take on a 6 figure debt (most of which will be taken out by your parents) but don’t have to live at home while attending college? With your stats I have to believe you could get significant merit money at a number of schools .
$100k in debt is not worth it. IB and accounting have vastly different payoffs. First of all, attending Williams to go into accounting makes no sense. It’s not a major at Williams and you’d need a lot of courses afterwards to sit for the CPA. As for IB, many think it sounds cool due to the high pay, and you could definitely pay off $100k debt rather quickly with living frugally, but the lifestyle is really hard and many don’t make it in IB long enough to pay off the debt and some don’t even go into IB after getting a taste of it through internships.
So, what other options do you have? There have to be better alternatives. Rutgers would be a fine choice if you could live on campus. You could even get into IB from Rutgers.
Can you talk your parents into letting you stay on campus at Rutgers, at least the first year, as a compromise? Sure it will cost more, but not as much as at Williams. Or as others mentioned, is there a middle ground school that isn’t as close as Rutgers and not as expensive as Williams?
I can’t speak to how much more, if any, you would make with a Williams degree vs. another school. So that notwithstanding, as I put it to my D’19, life at college is about 36 months (4 years of about 9 months on campus). Do you want to pay crippling amounts of loans for 10 years or more, for that 36 month experience?
Did you get your merit offer from Rutgers yet? My daughter is still waiting, but Dd19 was offered $5000 a year (vs. $18,000 from similar OOS public colleges). At worst, you are probably looking at $4000 a year for r/b. A summer job could cover that.
Call Williams and talk through your financial aid award. They are need based so they are not going to change it just because you ask but make sure all assets and income were reported correctly. We listed a gift and it was mistakenly counted as an income and our award was changed at a need based school. They will talk to you do not worry about bothering them. If they admitted you they want you to attend.
Mine is not a popular view on CC but I would think long and hard before turning Williams down. However, if you go to Williams, be very clear that one of your primary goals would be to get a job that pays really well on graduation.
While a motivated student can do well at most schools, the support and opportunities you will have at Williams are orders of magnitude different, and frankly better, than at Rutgers.
Besides investment banking, Williams also places a lot of graduates in management consulting. I wonder if you could live at home after graduation and pay down the loans faster that way.
Let’s make sure we are working with the right numbers. When you say $100k in debt with your parents paying $20k/year, I take that to mean that your EFC is $45k/year or are you including student loans and work study contribution in your $100K? You will not be able to get that type of financing without your parents co-signing or taking the loan themselves. If they are willing to do that, can they afford to contribute more than $20k a year?
I also think this is too much in debt, even for a school of Williams’ caliber (where the most likely outcome is NOT a high paying job in banking or consulting). You need to be a top student at Williams to get those jobs, they are very competitive.
You can take out $27K of that $100K debt, the rest is on your parents. Are they willing to take on debt for you? Are you comfortable asking them to do that? Will they qualify to take out this much in loans ($73K, so about $18K per year…that they have to keep qualifying for)? Do you have younger siblings who will be going to college?
The monthly payment on $100K will be around $1,000-$1,050. Paid out of your AFTER TAX money. Every month, for 120 months in a row. After all is said and done, you will have paid much more than $100K.
If you want to go on to get your masters in accounting (per your other thread), Rutgers makes more sense. There is no guarantee you will come out of Williams with a $80K+ per year job, and the debt your parents need to take out may have a negative impact on their credit rating, ability to get a mortgage or save for retirement, etc. etc.
I just want to emphasize one thing you give up when you decide to attend Willimas and take on $100k debt: your freedom. At 18, you want to be an investment banker. If at 20 you decide that you’d rather be an economist working for the Feds, or a moviemaker, or run a travel blog, or do whatever else that doesn’t pay an investment banking salary, you’ll be a prisoner of your initial choice.
But maybe you know for sure. Most college students change their initial majors but there is a significant cohort that does not.
Not everyone who wants to go into investment banking is able to get in it, even at a school like Williams. There is no guarantee that the OP will successfully land one of these high paying jobs. I think this amount of debt is crazy, and as other have said, your parents will be co-signing because you can’t borrow that much on your own.
A good point that needs to be reiterated on CC - IB and MC ambitions are not a good reason to go into crazy debt as both require the student to be a top student in college to land an internship or full time position. Folks on CC assume just because you go to a top school you’ll get one of these highly competitive, highly paid positions, and that’s just false. My DD explored IB and is going into MC from a non-elite school (and has been involved in recruiting at her school), and I’ve been working with students interested in MC, so I’ve seen how recruiting works up close and it’s brutal even at the top schools. Far far from guaranteed.
I’m one who leans toward it being ok to take on more debt for a great school ( like Williams). In this case, I’d advise ny own kids that 100k is too much.
Many people think it’s easy to get into investment banking. It’s nit. You need not only the education, but also the right personality and a connection/internship to get your first jib.
Have you looked hard at working in the Summers? Can you make & save 8k a Summer? That could take the edge off.
If you do decide to rake the loans run the numbers of what you would gave to pay back monthly along with someone who knows what rent, car, taxes are likely to be. Also use the low end of the starting salary. I think you will be surprised how hard it is to pay these loans back even with a good income.
