A Loaded Question

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello all. I've been reading and researching a lot of schools/majors, and financial prospects. The problem is that I just can't decide on my options. Maybe this would just be considered "venting", but I can't help but want to write this all out. If nothing else, maybe it will help me get my thoughts straight.</p>

<p>Currently, I'm an AZ resident that has applied to University of Arizona (Honors College) and Arizona State (Barrett Honors College), with plans to major in computer engineering or computer science. I'm a URM and will receive the AIMS scholarship (cost of tuition), and a very strong possibility for a merit scholarship (bringing total costs per year to >$10,000).</p>

<p>For out of state, I have applied to Northeastern University, and thinking about applying to Case Western or Syracuse, or any other college that could catch my eye in the near future (i.e. January 15th deadline, for a lot of schools).</p>

<p>Are the potential costs for these colleges, assuming minimal financial aid, coupled with travel costs, worth it over going in-state? I'm especially contemplating this as I plan on attending graduate school.</p>

<p>Yes, graduate school, which sounds silly thinking about it right now (HS senior) but I can't help it, either out of excitement or fear. I'm thinking I want to attend either CS/CE for a master's degree... or law school (patent/IP lawyer), but the sheer cost of it is making me think otherwise. If I take these options (I'm 98% sure on pursuing education past the undergraduate level), is it wise to even go out of state for under-graduate?</p>

<p>Regarding law school how can people truly afford $50,000-$60,000 a YEAR to attend without taking on loads of debt? My parents make around $140,000 a year but even asking them to pony up even half of that after helping me pay for undergraduate school seems...eh.</p>

<p>So, this is what it has come to:</p>

<p>Attend UA or ASU and graduate with no debt, or financial burden on my parents, gaining what I assume to be a decent education (not too much info on the strength of their programs on the undergraduate level). I'd be in a better position financially to attend a top ranked law (or CS/CE) school, but may be disadvantaged academically.</p>

<p>OR</p>

<p>Attend an out-of-state university, such as Northeastern University (or something comparable), potentially in $20,000+ debt, far away from Arizona, and experiencing something "new" at a university I would assume would challenge me more academically than staying in-state. Financial wise, I'd be worse off going into graduate school.</p>

<p>I guess what I'm asking with boils down to the respective parity between "rankings" of these colleges in terms of academic potential. Yeah, I know putting too much in these rankings is foolish, but I'd be darned if it doesn't help assure you for your future. Any thoughts?</p>

2

<p>If you do intend on attending school further you would be best served if your undergrad cost the least. You can keep your grades up in college and attend a school with a higher name recognition for your advanced schooling. UA and ASU are both good schools.</p>

3

<p>Seems like a no-brainer to me. USNews ranks Northeastern #80 and Univ. of Arizona #102. I don’t see a huge difference the doors those two schools are going to open up for you. Do yourself and your parents a favor and take the lower cost route.</p>

4

<p>What about say… Case Western (#42) and University of Arizona? Or Arizona State?</p>

5

<p>Yes, graduate school, which sounds silly thinking about it right now (HS senior) but I can’t help it,</p>

<p>You are VERY SMART to be considering how you’ll pay for grad/law school if you’ll also have expensive undergrad. :slight_smile: Many kids your age aren’t looking ahead and take out loans for undergrad and the are completely overwhelmed with law/business/med school loans on top (and some run out of borrowing power before they’re done.)</p>

<p>*Regarding law school how can people truly afford $50,000-$60,000 a YEAR to attend without taking on loads of debt? My parents make around $140,000 a year but even asking them to pony up even half of that after helping me pay for undergraduate school seems…eh.
*</p>

<p>Some families do this…the student agrees to go to a less expensive undergrad (say Arizona on scholarship) and the parents agree to help more with law/med/grad school. That’s what we’ll be doing in our house. :)</p>

<p>So, talk to your parents. If you decide to go the Arizona way, it might be a good idea for your parents to start putting the money that they’re not spending on undergrad, into a savings for grad school.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.finaid.org/loans/studentloan.phtml[/url]”>http://www.finaid.org/loans/studentloan.phtml&lt;/a&gt; Scroll down to where the chart shows Aggregate Loan Limits. You’ll see that grad/prof students can only borrow a TOTAL (for undergrad PLUS grad) Stafford loans of $138,500. (med students can borrow up to $224k for both undergrad and med school total)</p>

6

<p>Darn, with a title like “a loaded question” I was hoping you were going to ask about gun racks. If you’re interested Colorado schools are very accommodating of people who think they need to bring guns to campus and are willing to store them with the police [Colorado</a> universities offer gun storage to students - The Denver Post](<a href=“Colorado universities offer gun storage to students – The Denver Post”>Colorado universities offer gun storage to students – The Denver Post)</p>

<p>Since that isn’t what you asked, I will speak to the question of student debt. As it turns out, being naive and uneducated is pretty cheap. On the other hand, getting an education is expensive. An undergrad degree doesn’t mean much and you might as well get the cheapest one you can without sacrificing quality. I attended college out of state and as a result will be paying for student loans until I am 40 instead of if I had gone to an instate school in which case I would have paid them off by 30. My thoughts, go to an Arizona school and save your loan debt for something like a car or down payment on a home when you are an adult.</p>