Thank you everyone for your input, I will reply when I’m home because it’s easier on my laptop but I am very appreciative of all of the advice 
I’d recommend PSU or UF if money wasn’t an issue…not at all a fan of the other two schools. Bing is decent academically but the social life is a miss, as is the surrounding area. And I was just never really impressed with UDel personally…probably because it was a popular choice in my high school (although that factor never lowered my respect for Penn State).
OP, I understand that you want to save money for your family, and that is admirable. But really, you’d be selling yourself short by attending Binghamton over UF. Real short.
LBad96 - on many threads you encourage students to pick a school regardless of cost. I am guessing you are not a parent. You are entitled to your opinion, but your advice is suspect. Paying to have four years of fun at Florida is fine IF you can afford it. There is no point in paying for four years of fun if you spend the next 40 paying it off.
Unless you have actively attended all of these schools that you denigrate, your view is just that - your view. Thousands of students go to these schools every year, graduate and have successful lives. Yeesh.
@blprof I represent the student’s POV. When did I ever denigrate a school??
Well, in one other thread, you mention that you wouldn’t go to a certain school if they paid you to. And you just insinuated that Binghamton would be far inferior to Florida.
The student’s view is definitely valuable, but your advice should consider ALL factors, not just which school would be the best/most fun/most prestigious. Most students do not have the luxury of picking and choosing any school they want - finances are going to play a definitive role. If someone is asking for advice, I think the responsible thing to do is to take that into consideration. Bing may well be this student’s only choice financially (we don’t know yet), and you have suggested that the students is seriously settling, which is simply not true.
Luckily, other people’s college decisions aren’t based on which schools LBad is or isn’t “a fan of.”
LBad96 do you think it is a good idea for this young lady’s family to take out $160,000 in undergraduate loans for her to attend UF, and then for her to go on to take out another $200,000-$240,000 to attend grad school? Plus they have another child to put through college. Do you understand that this will be impossible to pay back? This is not about saving money; this is about not having the money. The money is not there. This girl’s family does not make enough money to pay the OOS cost of attendance, and unless they have a very large stash of cash locked up in accounts that they can’t touch right now, they do not have the money. Unfortunately there is ZERO money in college accounts (please correct me if I am wrong). How will these parents pay back such loans? What if they plan to work until the age of 70 but suddenly have to stop at the age of 60? What if they lose their job at the age of 57 and can’t find another one? How will they pay these loans without an income? They will have to take money out of their retirement account, and if it is not well funded this will lead to disaster. This young lady will never be able to help her parents pay these loans if she has such tremendous grad school loans. I am not suggesting that she give up her dream of going to vet school, but if that is really what she wants, she needs to be smart about her undergraduate expenses.
LBad96 lots of kids attend the schools that you routinely bash, and they are very happy. While I am thrilled that you love your school, there are many many students who gladly attend state colleges in NY/NJ and go on to lead happy and successful lives. I know several students who went to Florida (the grass is always greener) and then transferred back to Binghamton because they were not happy.
It is not a good idea to take out such large loans in order to have “fun.” Personally, I will not pay for the sleep away camp experience.
You attempt to dissuade other students from attending Binghamton at every opportunity. It’s not helpful to other teens that you don’t mention that you had a college fund so money wasn’t an issue to you, or that you applied to Binghamton and were denied.
Unless you’re going to repay the $80k+ loans you’re suggesting people take on to avoid Binghamton, you should really stop telling them that they’re “selling themselves short” by attending there. You liked it well enough to apply. Funny how you saw the light about its “true” quality after you were rejected. It’s irresponsible to suggest large loans to other families, especially when you’re in a position not to need any.
@austinmshauri why would my rejection carry even the slightest element of relevance?? Lol. I barely decided to apply because I remembered that they were giving me a free app. It was off my list for a while. It’s also funny how you love to bring up the fact that I was denied, blatantly ignoring the fact that I had considered withdrawing my deferred application (yes, I was deferred) in the first place because my school had already accepted me.
You’re so offended whenever I say anything about Binghamton. Just lol.
@Lbad96, I honestly don’t care what your opinion of Binghamton is. You’re a teenager and you’re welcome to whatever opinion you want. However, you have to think before you recommend that other people take on a hundred thousand dollar or more debt because you don’t like a particular school. You had the luxury of choosing based on personal preferences without a whole lot of regard to finances. Most students don’t have that luxury.
If you don’t have anything against Binghamton, why on earth would you tell a 17-year-old student, whose family would have to borrow ~$160k to fund their undergrad if they go OOS, that they were “selling themselves short” if they enroll there? Surely you’re not claiming that you think it’s a sound financial decision?
@twogirls I asked my mom earlier if she had any type of college savings or plan and she said that her only plan was to take out a large loan to be able to cover school. Keeping my future debt and my parents debt and my sister in mind my best options appear to be Binghamton or Delaware. I am still waiting to hear back from FAFSA about any possible grants I could be receiving so hopefully I get some more money because I would really love to attend Delaware. Since my annual cost at the moment is 34k, if FAFSA money brings it under 30k that would almost ensure my attendance to Delaware. I think I would be happier there than Binghamton because I would be closer to home, better location, more funding to my program, etc… I’m viewing their pre-vet major program online and I see that there is a FARM on campus, where students begin going to during their first semester for hands-on experience. The fact that I could raise and train my own service dog, in Delaware residence halls is amazing to me as well. I have not looked into Delaware as much as other schools until today and I feel I am developing a passion for it already. Also, the fact that Delaware has a smaller school size compared to PSU 40k and UF 30k undergrads makes me more comfortable because I won’t be as much of a number.
I know grad school will place another large weight on me but I believe I will be very successful. As for paying back loans and my parents, I’m driven and I hope that after my time at grad school I’ll be able to land a good paying job and start from there.
My parents are young, 37 and 40, they do not have college savings and I don’t have knowledge of any retirement savings account they may have.
I’m not taking your advice harshly at all, it is better for my future. Foolish me did not think of all the debt I would have until I even started this thread because I always had my mom telling me not to worry about it. And today I was the one having to try to convince her of the reality of things but she did not even listen to me lol
But yes, my parents would be taking out loans for the cost of any college I decided to attend
Honestly, choose Delaware if you want to be OOS while not being in crushing debt.
@twogirls @a20171 my parents are fully aware of the cost and are willing to pay but I think it is because they do not realize how much it is and my sister is going to be off to college in 7 years. I don’t want to place such a burden on them and they do not have any kind of savings for college
@alirae17 thank you for responding to my post! I’m interested in the suite style dorms because I think I’d hate having a communal bathroom… I just hate sharing bathrooms in general and right now I share one with my 3 family members, if a bunch of people were added into the mix and germs I think I’d go crazy.
I wouldn’t mind having to deal with a bus ride as long as I had my own space. The streets won’t bother me either I’m sure. Main Street sounds very convenient and fun which adds to the location part of UD.
Knowing that I won’t have to worry about the social scene is a plus as well… I want to be able to meet many new people and have fun experiences!
I actually do love dogs and got super happy when you specified about the service dog groups. If I attend I would MOSTTTT definitely take advantage of this… I’ve always dreamed of having a dog but my apartment does not allow them 
I was never really big on sports so the fact that they are not big does not concern me. I did receive 10k/year scholarship so that persuaded me!
Is Greek Life big at UD? I can’t really tell if I want to rush for sure right now but I believe I will because it will give me the opportunity to enter a sisterhood. But, I am afraid of all the horrible hazing stories and I would hope that these girls are not all fake.
@blprof I’m currently waiting on my FAFSA reports from all of my schools. If FAFSA gives me enough money to bring the annual cost for Delaware under 30k I would definitely attend Delaware. The more I look into the school the more strongly I feel that it is right for me (if you care to know why, read my most recent posts). My parents are only planning on taking out loans and that is their “plan.” I have not run NPC for each school but if it helps my EFC from FAFSA was approximately 37k (I do not really know what this means.) My grandparents are VERY wealthy but my other cousin, who is about to start attending grad school, asked them to ONLY pay for attending their community college… and they denied his request. So I would be a fool to ask them to pay for a 4-year university which I was hoping would happen
@austinmshauri I’ve already asked my mother if I could attend my community college but she said no because she wants me to have the full experience… even though I told her I could save 40k alone just staying here for a year… she isn’t seeing the reality of things. I think that she believes (but won’t say) that if I end up going to my community college for a year that I won’t end up transferring. Why she cares I don’t really understand, but they are planning on taking out a loan to cover the full cost. I am hoping that FAFSA money will help bring the cost of Delaware down so I could attend there without difficulty.
@LBad96 I was never impressed either until I just started looking into it and found great information about Delaware. In fact, students who attend Delaware under the pre-vet major have an acceptance rate at veterinary school DOUBLE the amount of any other university. This shocked me b/c I was not expecting that and I would be paying almost the same amount for Binghamton a year if FAFSA gives me even 5k in aid. The location of Delaware is better than Bing as well which pulls me in more.
@LBad96 This is what I believe I’m going to do honestly … I feel like overall quality of life at Delaware is better than Binghamton while staying at a lower cost than UF/PSU
@melaniemaldonado, Didn’t you say your parents earn $150k? You should probably run the FAFSA4caster if you haven’t already. You can get the ~$5500/year student loan but I don’t think you’ll qualify for a Pell grant.
Families are usually discouraged from borrowing $30k/year for school on top of the federal student loans. Paying $150k for undergrad with loans means the school is unaffordable. If your parents only qualify for loans the first couple of years, but can’t pay later on, you’ll have debt but no degree. If your parents can’t scrape $10k together now on a $150k income to help pay for your college, how do they think any of you can pay $150k? If I were you, I wouldn’t agree to sign up for so much debt.
FAFSA does not give out money. FAFSA is what you fill out to see if you qualify for a Pell grant and to allow you to take out federal student loans. You will not qualify for a Pell grant. FAFSA will allow you to take out a $5500 Stafford loan your first year. It goes up a little every year to reach a total of $27,000 (I think it’s $27,000) by your senior year. Your parents will be allowed to take out a Parent Plus loan covering the full cost of attendance each year, and the credit check required is minimal. As long as your parents do not have anything very bad in their credit history, they will qualify. If for some reason they do not qualify, the amount YOU can borrow goes up a little bit- but nowhere near the amount necessary to pay for Delaware.
Your total cost of attendance for Delaware will be tuition + room/board + books, spending money, travel expenses. You will subtract your merit scholarship, and that will be the total cost. Please remember that many schools have tuition increases on a yearly basis. Your merit scholarship is not a half or full tuition scholarship- it is a flat rate of $8000 (?). This means that every single year your cost of attendance may go up. Delaware will cost your family about $44,000 for tuition, room and board. Then you need to add about $2200 for books and spending money. This makes the grand total about $46,000. Your scholarship brings it down to $38,000.
You say your grandparents are very wealthy. How do you know this? Has anybody told you how much money they have or what they are worth? You do not know how wealthy they are unless somebody gave you specific numbers. Living in a nice house, driving a nice car, etc does not mean they are very wealthy. Maybe they are, maybe they are not. Lots of people appear to be wealthy and have nothing. They live well above their means. Lots of people have a lot of material things and have no money to pay their bills. Lots of people live below their means and appear to be lower income, yet have a lot in the bank. You really have no idea how “wealthy” they are unless somebody told you what they make and how much they are worth. I am not arguing with you about the wealth of your grandparents- maybe they are very wealthy. I am just trying to make you see reality. If you attend Delaware a lot of people are going to think you are wealthy. Delaware is an expensive school for out of state families. You are not wealthy- your family will be living well above their means. If your parents can’t scrape together any money right now in order to help pay for college, how will they pay back these loans?
You will be taking out the Stafford loans. They will not be subsidized and the interest will start to build from day 1. The $27,000 you owe will be more than that given the interest. Your parents will take out Plus loans totaling around $150,000 for the cost of attendance. This will accumulate interest from day 1, bringing the actual cost much higher. They may not qualify for private loans, and if they do there is no guarantee that they will qualify every year. You may find yourself unable to complete your senior year if they do not qualify for any more loans. What will your sister do if they can’t borrow for her? If your parents take out Plus loans for you and for your sister, they are going to owe an astronomical amount of money.
Your parents can’t afford to send you away to Delaware. They can’t even afford Binghamton. If your grandparents are, in fact, very wealthy, they do not seem to want to help.
Here is a question for your parents: ask them how they expect to pay back the $150,000 in loans plus interest (give or take) once you graduate. In approximately 4-5 years they are going to be hit with some pretty hefty loan payments. If they say “don’t worry,” do not accept that as an answer. They have to do the same for your sister. In order for them to be able to pay these loans back, they need disposable income of at least $1000 per month (give or take). If they do not have this extra money now, how will they have it a few years from now? I would ask.