<p>I am in the same boat. I chose Columbia over UF. I was thinking if I chose UF, I would always be wondering what was going to be like if I attend Columbia. </p>
<p>For the work study, I will use outside scholarships to cover it. Then, I will work while attending Columbia and during the summer to reduce my EFC. I figure, with the opportunity New York City offers, I am willing to invest in my future. So, if you do the same, you won’t end up with $60,000 in debt - more likely less than $40, 000. Good luck on choosing your college! I hope I can see you in Columbia. Columbia 2016 rocks!!!</p>
<p>So it’s not quite as bad as it looks, but I still disagree with them increasing the athletic budget when they have bigger problems with academics.</p>
<p>I’d go with Columbia. You simply won’t get the same opportunities at UF, regardless of what other posters say. However, you have to be wary of the debt. Since you’re going into CS, that shouldn’t be too much of a deterrent.</p>
<p>^True…by going to UF you won’t have the “opportunity” to struggle with paying off $60K in student debt (plus interest). IMHO the “Ivy experience” is grossly overrated by many here on CC, and encouraging students to incur that much debt is borderline irresponsible. If a student’s parents can afford to pay the $60K difference and are willing to do so, then by all means use whatever criteria you wish to choose your school. If not, choose the best school that is AFFORDABLE for you/your family. Completing your undergraduate degree with little or no debt is the “opportunity” you ought to be seizing.</p>
<p>Really? No wonder he is being offered a free education. How could you advocate this over being a John Jay scholar (paying internships, which will reduce the debt level, btw), at Columbia.</p>
<p>There is a time when debt aversion becomes irrational. This is one of those times.</p>
<p>poetgrl…Yeah, really. If you’d follow the links referred to in the posts and read the articles, it’s gross misinformation by the original author. UF is not eliminating its Computer Science program, it’s simply shifting all the CS research to the Engineering department. The same degree opportunities will be available as always.</p>
<p>While being selected as a John Jay Scholar would indeed be an outstanding opportunity, do you really advocate betting $60K on an honor that’s bestowed upon 25-30 students each year (I believe Columbia’s accepted student count is around 2,363 for the Class of 2016)? While a slightly higher than 1% chance may not be “irrational”…it’s a heck of a huge gamble to “reduce” debt as opposed to eliminating it. YMMV.</p>
<p>Wolverine, you should know that I regularly advise kids on this board against going into debt even above 24,000 for a college education. I consider, however, that over the years you and I have aquired significant critical reasoning skills and are able to dissect a situation enough to know that while it may be ill advised if one would like to make a living as a missionary to go into even one dollar’s worth of debt, this situation is on the opposite end.</p>
<p>I also will acknowledge that it is at the very outer reaches of what I would consider acceptable for a certain type of education, but this young African American man will have opportunities from this which will be more than marginally better than 60K a year, imho.</p>
<p>Anyway, I could be wrong. It’s not a general stance for me, just in this case.</p>
<p>In general, I am quite debt averse, myself.</p>
<p>I see this as a “special case” when all of the facts are on the table.</p>
<p>Here’s the relevant excerpt from the budget cut plan:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>As I read this, students who are already in the engineering school won’t be affected. If that’s the OP, great. Students in the CS major outside of the engineering school may be affected, because many of the professors will be moving to solely within the engineering department. The professors remaining within the CLAS will be spending more time teaching, and will have less time for research. </p>
<p>Which leads to speculation. These professors left in CLAS may be highly effective teachers, but they may lose the research connections that help them place undergrads at summer internships. Over time, any CS professors who were left within CLAS but prefer to stay in research could leave the school entirely. The cuts may be a one-off, or they may be the start of a steady chipping away of resources at the university. (that’s my depressed Californian speaking. ). </p>
<p>poetgrl…For this student’s sake, I certainly hope you’re correct. I’ve read many of your posts, and I know you’re much more level-headed than the “ignore the cost…go for your dream” crowd. I’ve also read way too many “I’m drowning in student debt so what do I do now?” threads/articles, etc. to ever advocate a student take on anything above the Stafford limits…and usually recommend they not come anywhere close to them if at all possible.</p>
<p>I fully realize the John Jay opportunity makes this situation pretty unique, but I just don’t see it as being $60K unique (or $40K unique for that matter). If a young AA man had no opportunities presented to him by earning a UF degree maybe I’d view it differently, but I doubt that’s the case. As with anything in life, an opportunity is what you make of it. Attending Columbia as a John Jay doesn’t guarantee success, nor does attending UF doom him to a life of underachieving.</p>
<p>I wish him nothing but the best whichever path he chooses.</p>
<p>Honestly Wolverine, I don’t even disagree with you.</p>
<p>I don’t even like to see a kid borrow anything if they can help it, and prefer the less the better.</p>
<p>Just chalk it up to intuition. I cannot back up my argument, even with myself on this one, but it “Feels” like the right move, in this case, for some bizarre reason.</p>
<p>Who knows why. I just have a strong sense, upon which nobody should base anything at all.</p>
<p>I am curious to know how this kid would be going to UF for free if his mother makes $110k/year. Incidentally, if we are talking about the flagship University of Florida, it is a fine school, and I very much doubt that the premium at Columbia is worth it. This is a bright kid obviously, and as an AA would be fast-tracked in most big companies if he shows potential, negating any of the purported benefits of an elite degree.</p>
<p>This one is a close call, and I am glad we are not all jumping onto one band wagon or another. In the end the OP has to make the call, and in this case, it appears that he will be making an informed decision with more factors taken into account than most people have when making such decisions. </p>
<p>I agree with Poetgirl on this one for reasons I gave earlier. But nothing is cut and dry, and the it’s always possible that other factors are in play here. But given his mother’s financial situation and experience, I think he and his family can work out the loan repayments. Where my hair stands up when loans are contemplated, is when the family has a very low EFC, is already strapped, and the kid is going to have to ask one of them to cosign a loan that is going to have both student and parent in tetherhooks for the rest of their lives or until the loan is paid. I’ve seen the damage that situation can do. I’m also living the reality of two kids out of college with NO loans and living pretty much hand to mouth. We help out here and there, but if we had loans that were way outside of our affordability that we had to pay on their behalf, we wouldn’t be able to help even the little we do, and they can’t repay much of anything in their current financial situation. Their friends and peers with loan monkeys on their back are sick about it. It’s tough enough out there without that burden.</p>
<p>But if the amounts are within a certain parameter, and both parent and child can work together to pay them off, loans can truly leverage college choices and payments and make things work better and make things happen that are not affordable with current financial situations. </p>
<p>UFl gives merit scholarships for their most desired students. That and free tuition through BF can make it a free ride.</p>
<p>No speculation is needed. The Computer Science professors doing significant research will look to leave as soon as possible, not just over time. This move will change Computer Science at UF from a top program to directional/community college level. UF is now a top-ranked public university. That ranking would free fall if all the departments became teaching-only.</p>
<p>The best professors do both research and teaching, providing students an opportunity to learn the field in great depth. I doubt that a single professor has been recruited to this department to be teaching-only, maybe a few to be research-only, but the vast majority are reseachers and teachers both. You are going to see a mass exodus if this decision is implemented, though I wonder whether the decision was intentionally made to backfiire.</p>
<p>Exactly spurster. What CS prof wouldn’t want to be doing research. It is such a huge part of their actual compensation.</p>
<p>I think the problem is just that all of the state schools are under budget constraints to a massive degree, and if a student has the rare chance to go where this does not exist, they have a measurably “better” opportunity.</p>
). </p>