Just remember one thing. The new normal we can all count on is uncertainty. $100,000 in debt is sure to compound that problem. Debt and uncertainty is a toxic combination. If you have the ability to walk out of college with a job and no debt, then I really think you should take it. You’ll thank yourself later.
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For what it’s worth, back in the day I had to make a very similar choice, although I got enough merit aid from Rutgers that I could live on campus. I chose Rutgers - if you’ve been admitted to the Honors Program, it was excellent then and has only improved since. It’s not Williams, but it would connect you with academic peers and unique course offerings.
Per Rutgers-NB website, full COA for NJ residents for 2020-2021 is 28,482. Add books and a bit of spending money and you’d need around 10K minimum to live at school
https://admissions.newbrunswick.rutgers.edu/paying-for-college/tuition-and-fees
I agree with @bjscheel - can you convince your parents to cover your first year in the dorms or perhaps split the cost (maybe you could take the student loan for that year and/or get a part time or summer job to cover your part)? When I was there, it was fairly common to dorm the first year, and then get an apartment off campus with friends after that. Off campus living was much less expensive but still provided that college experience.
Tough choice but 100K is a lot to pay off! Plug the amount into a loan repayment calculator and see for yourself.
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So many things don’t add up here (no pun intended.) First of all, your parents don’t sound upper-middle class, if they’re not even willing to pay room and board for Rutgers. That just strikes me as odd. Secondly, even if they do make too much money to qualify for much aid, they are the ones who would have to sign the Parent Plus loans for most of the debt you are describing. Have they said they are okay with that or are they telegraphing that they expect you to repay them? If it’s the latter, I wouldn’t go to Williams under that kind of burden. I wouldn’t go to any NESCAC with the goal of making enough money to pay back $100,000 to your parents. College should be about having the freedom to try your hand at different things and to make up your mind about what it is you are good at.
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I think it really depends, a middle class salary here in NJ would be considered upper middle class in other areas. We are closer to upper middle class, but are a family of 7, which puts us closer to middle, although we’ve never received FA besides federal loans. Are you middle class? Depends where you live in NJ – Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
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My daughter, who works in corporate finance/IB tells me that since Covid, there’s been a hiring freeze at many firms. She has been remote since March and the soonest they are thinking they may bring people back into the offices, is the end of 2021. Many of her friends in finance who work in NY, Chicago, San Francisco, are also remote. Some have moved back to their parents’ home or to cheaper cities since it no longer matters where they live.
Her company (big bank) and others are now contemplating what the post-Covid landscape will look like for them and whether they will end up staying remote. I say this because getting a job in finance/IB could be even harder, with no in-person workspaces and hiring freezes. I wouldn’t take on that kind of debt given the uncertainty. Perhaps go to your instate for 2 years and try to transfer to Williams as a junior.
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Go to Williams, but seize the opportunity. Take advantage of all the college offers. That is a lot of money but you will be on the right path.
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Are you recommending OP’s parents take out $70k+ in loans without knowing details of their financials, whether they would qualify for this much in loans, how many younger siblings there are, or other pertinent information?
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You should think of this as an investment, but whether it is a good investment depends on factors that are highly uncertain. The best you can do is to look at it probabilistically. The numbers below are all made up and you can substitute with your own assumptions.
Let’s say an average job pays a $60k starting salary and a Wall Street job pays $120k. Let’s also assume there’s a 5% chance you may get a Wall Street job as a Williams graduate and 30% chance you may survive it (for the sake of simplicity, we ignore the non-zero chance that a Rutger’s graduate may also get a Wall Street job). Then the expected salary is 5%x30%x$120k+(1-5%x30%)x$60k, or $60.9k. An increase of $0.9k over the average $60k job. Is the $100k loan worth it for an expected salary increase of less than $1k? Of course, you may become a managing director someday at an IB and make a lot more, but the odds are not in your favor and it would hardly affect the expected outcome on a probabilistic basis. On the other hand, a lot of people buy lottery tickets with minuscule odds. You decide.
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@StrugglingRunner said middle class and that his parents would pay $20k per year. I am suggesting that a student with IB aspirations should not make the wrong choice over $100k. Williams could change his life. He could cut that number in half with 3 summer internships. And btw… it is not $100k up front. Interest rates are extremely low right now. Internationals with household incomes of $18k take $200k in loans to go there.
What others do re: debt is not OP’s concern, nor should it be a factor in OP’s parents’ decision.
Recommending that OP’s parents take out $70k+ in debt over 4 years, without an understanding of their circumstances is not responsible. This will be the parents’ debt/decision, not OP’s.
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Or he could be a she? My sister got her MBA from northwestern and gave up a well paid marketing position when her 3rd child was born and has been a SAHM for 15 years. She didn’t have any student loans.
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While it may not feel great to take on debt, he will make the money back in 3 years, and his income will compound from there. Quality of education, the network… worth it IMO.
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We don’t know OP’s gender.
If this were true, banks would lend Williams students money with no co-signer required.
OP is under no obligation to pay their parents back the $70+K in loans, which at the current Parent Plus loan rate of 5.3% will require them to pay $118K in after tax dollars over 10 years. Again, we don’t know if they are near retirement age, have other kids, or would even qualify for $18K in loans over each of the next 4 years, among other things.
People are here to give accurate, responsible recommendations to other CC’ers. I’ve said all I will wrt OP’s situation.
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He will not owe the money for 10 years. It will be paid pack in 3, unless he chooses to keep the loan outstanding because of the cheap money.
I respect your stance on students/parents being cautious with debt. No reason to go back and forth with me because you won’t win me over on something I have seen go right for kids many times.
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“This will be the parents’ debt/decision, not OP’s.” And not random posters on an anonymous forum.
We tell kids all the time not to let the glitter affect their thinking. There’s much more to responsibly consider than anyone’s idea Williams is a tippy top.
Nor is it likely Williams would come back with a substantially improved offer. Maybe a few k. (Unless there’s an error. But presumably OP ran the NPC, knew this was coming. ?)
Opinion (or anecdote) doesn’t always replace understanding a truer picture.
Nor do we know enough about OP’s situation. Not even what the exact offer is.
There are lots of threads asking this sort of question. Sure, some do feel they can tell a kid what the best answer is. I think we should be cautious about that.
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I think that’s too much debt to take on when you have an affordable, debt free, option on the table.
As others have noted, there are no guarantees that you are going to get a high paying job out of school, or even for summer internships.
IMO, you should be using worst case scenario calculations when considering taking on that level of debt, not best case.
What do your parents think?
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Also realize the prospect of a cushy summer internship could be part of “Student Contribution from Summer Earnings.” Not some windfall.
I agree with this. I’ll wager there are a hundred threads on CC where the OP’s parents cannot pay their in-state public flagship’s sticker price without taking out loans. They’re upper-middle class, may even have the cash on hand. But, they’d rather make use of the present low interest rates. That’s very different from saddling your kid with the same debt and limiting their career choices.
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Hello everyone. Many people seem to be arguing about a couple things so I felt like I should clear them up. I am a male from New Jersey. My parents make an upper middle class income. I have 2 siblings, one in her sophomore year at Rutgers and one in his junior year. I sat down with my dad and we looked through all our expenses in the last year and we calculated that after we pay the minimum for college, and that being 18k at rutgers, we still dive deep into my parents savings and I wouldn’t want to maximize that loss of savings, which is why I would take a loan. The issue with a loan is that my father hates the thought of it and tries to stay as far as possible from any type of interest and loaning. Is the price of college meant to dig deep into parents wallets? If they truly paid all of the EFC from Williams and my siblings college tuition, they will lose around all their savings and be forced to dig deep into their investments.
Makes sense to me (sir); read the situation similarly. If you can make it happen, do it. I was born in one of the nation’s most dangerous cities and a bunch of us did just fine. Nobody wins by being overly cautious at 17.
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