However, I enjoy the social aspect of UMD more. It has much more ensembles since it’s larger. I also have friends who double majored in music there and are in music sororities.
I am going to leave this right here. Just because you have the money doesn’t mean you should spend it.
Agree with other posters…not fully convinced that that income level will handle CMU for four years. Also, CONGRATULATIONS. You obviously excelled at the school you went to, and you have an amazing accomplishment in that free ride, and a great school at that.
As someone else mentioned, you could/should have a conversation with your parents about if CMU really truly is a financial option, for all four years. You could also bring up the idea of asking if some of the savings, if you take the full ride, could be earmarked for you for grad school. While it is your parents’ money, and in their rights to spend it how they choose, I would hope they would be upfront with you about the college finances (maybe there is a bunch in that college fund?) to help you make your decision.
Does your brother have a similar college fund set up?
@deadgirl: My daughter tells me College Park campus (and especially the Engineering School) is amazing…
Oh that’s right, @tpike12 . Brain
Fart. So has the op visited CMU? I agree it’s not worth 200k more than umd. And the Banneker is quite an honor. What is the reason to prefer CMU?
116k is Def not enough to fund CMU, your brothers and a supposedly high expense lifestyle. See how much is in college funds open to you and what your parents can afford.
From what your wrote in post #0, it looks like your parents’ finances are uncertain. If you attend CMU, there is a risk that they will run out of money before you finish, so that you will have to transfer someplace cheap to finish (if there is even money for that).
UMD full ride would be a safer option to reduce the risk of your parent’s finances forcing you to cut short your education.
I agree with others that you need to discuss the finances with your parents much more specifically. Some things are unclear here (possibly to you as well);
-CMU really costs $71K directly to the school and about $4K in expenses. Is $50K the amount your parents have to actually pay to the school? Generally, a school like CMU that meets full need will ask for the parental EFC, plus about a $5500 loan freshman year from the student, and about $3-4K from student work over the summer and school year. Are there any loan or work expectations here for you, or are your parents paying all of that cost as well? If the school thinks your parents can pay $50K from their income and assets, they aren’t going to just expect nothing from you and provide the rest.
-Are there any savings in your name that you might be able to have for graduate school in CS or music? It’s not easy to pay for graduate school when you’re working. Maybe there could be $50K or more in your name that could saved for that if you go to UMD.
Just from your parents’ income, they probably wouldn’t be expected to pay more than a total of $100K for CMU. So if they really have enough to pay that, plus enough money around to pay at least another $100K, and they don’t think it will make things that bad financially, then I guess that’s an option. But it does seem like a lot of money to spend for whatever the added benefit.
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Doesn’t your brother have a college fund, too? How much does he have?
If your parents have college funds for their kids, then they haven’t been spending all their money on themselves! And they’re also spending money on your sib’s schooling!
You can ask your parents what happens to your college fund if you go to UM-CP? Is that money still YOURS to pay for grad school?
BTW…if your brother is truly a terrible student, I doubt that your parents are going to spend a lot of their own money for a pricey college for him. Were your college funds funded by grandparents?
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@deadgirl - The total cost of CMU is NOT 50k a year. With room & board, and all other fees, it is closer to $75K.
Did you get a scholarship from CMU?
Here is the link for 2019/2020 costs
It sounds like you are feeling some guilt about possibly taking funds away from your brother. But he is still in middle school, so he won’t need college funds until after you graduate. By that time, you could get a well-paying job (essentially guaranteed with a degree from CMU SCS), and you could offer to contribute funds back toward your parents or for your brother. That might assuage some of your guilt. But if your parents are willing to pay for CMU, then I don’t think you should feel guilt anyway.
As a parent, I have worked hard and saved so that my children can have opportunities, within reason, that will benefit them. My parents did this for me, and I ask only that my children do the same for their children. But that is the way our family thinks about things.
Become financially independent by taking the UMD scholarship. You will be able to make a lot of decisions if you aren’t dependent on your parents for funding. Want to study abroad? Go for it. Want to take summer courses instead of working? Your choice.
There are also a lot of benefits that come with the scholarship that you can’t buy at other schools. Peer events, counseling, internship opportunities. Housing? (not sure if they have special housing for the BK scholars) It will be on your resume forever! You’ll be a big fish in a huge pond.
UMD is a bigger school and may have more opportunities. Want to take a course in agriculture? It’s there. Want to develop a program for farmers? Go for it. It’s also Big 10 for sports which makes for some fun weekends. Lacrosse championships, March madness (possible), football almost beat Ohio St last year…
I’d take UMD not just for the money, but for the scholarship benefits.
If your net costs are 50k, you got a scholarship, right? Check your financial award (in case 50k is not net COA but something else).
Check to make sure you have at least 160k in your college fund. If so, then you can afford CMU with college funds+ summer earnings + some federal loans. As a student gifted enough to get into CMU CS (which is world class) you should have no problem finding internships then a well paid job to complete costs then pay back your loans quickly.
If more than that is in your college fund, you could graduate from CMU debt free!
Basically it sounds like you wouldn’t pay for CMU from your parents’ income but entirely from that college fund, is that correct?
Whoever created that college fund created it for COLLEGE. Use it in the way it was intended to honor their intent.
(In most cases you can’t use these funds for something else anyway. It also feels very disrespectful to me, if a grandparent/relative highly valued education and set up a college fund to ensure grandkids/niece/etc could choose their college freely, that you’d use their gift for something else.)
BTW don’t get sidetracked: it’s not about your brother nor your parents.
It’s:
do you have enough in that college fund to pay for CMU without taking money from your parents’ current income (even if it means using your work earnings znd federal loans)?
Seriously, if finances truly aren’t an issue (definitely check to be certain) and your parents agree, it’s your choice - not anyone else’s. Consider your options, choose, and don’t look back. Just because someone else would choose your Plan B as their Plan A doesn’t mean you’re wrong with what you like.
That said, don’t consider the pricier school to be better, “just because.” It’s not always the case. You’ve visited both places (I presume with CMU). Make a list of pros and cons that matter to you and see how the balance ends up.
OP states their EFC is $50k. That doesn’t mean CMU is costing them $50k. OP - how much is CMU going to cost each year?
CMU costs 50k a year for me. We received 20-something k in financial aid. I have a lot of college fund accounts that my parents have had sitting around. Some are donated by my grandparents who are really well-off and some have been sitting around for a while.
They were created for college and I know some of them are set up with those education companies. So I’m actually not sure if I’ll be able to even touch the money in there.
Also, I understand that graduate school is expensive. Do you believe the income I get from my job would be enough to do something part time?
Just clarifying: By something part time, I mean graduate school part time.
A PhD program in a STEM field should be essentially free. You can expect to receive a stipend for your research and/or teaching that will pay for your tuition, at least for the first 4 or 5 years. However, generally, Master’s degree candidates do not get stipends.
Are CMU and UMCP your only options?
If you have the chops to get into CMU and also to get the Banneker-Key scholarship, then presumably you could have been a contender for many of the ~60 colleges that claim to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need. For a family income of $116K, with commensurate assets, I’d expect the EFC to be much lower than $50K/year at most of these so-called “full need” colleges. Not free, though. The actual EFC could vary greatly depending on the college and your family circumstances.
If you’re really unhappy at the prospects of either attending UMCP or paying $50K for CMU, then perhaps another option (if no other attractive options are on the table) would be to take a gap year and apply to a few schools that tend to offer better NB aid than CMU (which I believe is NOT one of the “full need” schools). Otherwise, I’d say UMCP with the full ride B-K scholarship is a better choice than CMU. You’re not comparing MIT to a community college. You’re comparing a superb CS program (for $200K+) with an excellent CS program (for “free”, or close to it). In any case, CS is a very marketable major.