Hello! I’ve gotten into NYU CAS as a CS/Math major and Stony Brook as an Applied Math and Statistics major. NYU gave me ~40k in FA for the first year, but tuition will increase over the 4 years and I don’t know if my FA will follow. Stony on the other hand offered me the presidential scholarship which covers full tuition for my 4 years. I’m also planning on attending math grad school so I don’t want to rack up too much debt from just my undergrad.
As someone from a family of 4 that has an income of around 50k a year, the logical and affordable choice would be going to Stony, especially since my younger sibling will go to college in 4 years. However, NYU is my top choice and I really want to spend a semester or two at the Shanghai campus. In addition, I live in Brooklyn so I wouldn’t have to dorm. I’m much more of a city kid (born and raised in NYC) so I would be much more comfortable at NYU than in Long Island.
I’ve been thinking about it for a week and have gotten a lot of mixed opinions from friends and alums. So I came here for some more insight, especially from other SB or NYU students.
tl;dr Should I go to my dream uni for 20k+ a year or a decent uni for free?
Thanks in advance guys!