This all would have been easier to follow if OP had laid out exactly what the FA offer says. If there’s any offer.
He refers to loans at 27.5/year but we know Rice costs more than that. So what is he kicking in, how has he (or Rice) calculated in the fed student loans, any student contribution from earnings, etc?
Now we hear they could afford 50-60k?? Annually or total?
As for med school, the cost should be considered. But also how few freshmen enter college with med school dreams and make it past the weeding (no matter how bright they are, today.) That’s something colleges won’t tell. (They quote the number admitted to med school out of a severely culled down number of seniors who apply.)
It helps to consider the actual competitiveness within a college’s premed track. Not just perceived ideas about intellectual atmosphere.
@bouders you make a good point. LA Tech seems to be ranked much lower than LSU (153 LSU vs 298 to 353 for LA Tech), but based on the common data set the student profiles are not that different. If I were the OP I would check out the course offerings, opportunities for research, and med school admits from each. LSU still seems like it has a higher profile and may be easier for admission to graduate programs.
3rd party websites can be unreliable with such stats. The 2019-20 CDS lists a 1250 75th percentile SAT, not <1000. However, it makes little sense to focus on SAT for an in-state student from LA – a state where students are typically required to take ACT and only ~5% of students take SAT. As one would expect, very few LA Tech students submitted SAT – only 3% of the class in 2019-20.
Rather than focus on test scores or USNWR ranking, I’d suggest focusing on the criteria that is important for the applicant’s personal goals and personal values. For example, the OP mentioned considering engineering and considering pre-med. Neither field is known for emphasizing prestige of college name. Will LA Tech help achieve his related goals in these fields or others he is considering?
If having a high concentration of high achieving students is important, I’d suggest reviewing honors/accelerated type course offerings. For example, I see that LA Tech offers an honors that is limited to students who have high stats. So it follows that honors courses should have a high concentration of high stat students. In addition to the higher concentration of high achieving students, it looks like honors classes are capped at a max 15 students and are taught by “the best and most innovative faculty members.” Honors students also get “designated honors residential accommodations,” suggesting a high concentration of high achieving students in dorms as well, if that is desired.
Regarding the original question of whether $110k loans is worth it. It depend on your particular financial situation and values, but I expect for the vast majority of persons, it would be a definite no. Starting out with $110k in loans can be a major burden. A student who is accepted to Rice probably has numerous other options without loans… some that are likely near free with scholarships. It doesn’t have to be a choice of only LA Tech with no debt vs Rice with $110k debt, although there is certainly nothing wrong with LA Tech.
In Ohio you can attend Ohio State for as little $23k including room and board. At Miami U it’s about $30k but with very generous scholarships you can attend for well under $20k…same for Bowling Green witch is a highly under rated school. They have a great business school and many other great programs…
@Data10. Thanks for your well thought out and researched comment. Greatly appreciated
There will be plenty of smart kids at la tech just not in the same numbers. And I’m guessing that most of those students will be found in stem related majors.
We are still waiting for the offers to be released from A&M, Alabama, and LSU.
Still waiting to see if he gets into Georgia Tech and Purdue
Another unknown. Will schools be back to normal next fall with regards to covid. If not then instate may turn out to be best option.
No idea about normal, but I can tell you from what I’ve heard from people with kids at Purdue that they did a phenomenal job with Covid. I don’t think TAMU did such a great job. I have a kid at UT and I know they didn’t and I have heard they actually did a better job than TAMU which is hard to believe. But if things are better, TAMU is a great alternative to Rice especially for stem field majors.
I can verify that TAMU didn’t do a good job with COVID. I know a student who came home after being concerned with how the school was very lax with the way they were treating COVID.
Seems crazy that one can apply ED and back out when the EFC is actually lower than expected. Like escrow on a house, maybe there needs to be a down payment with ED.
I believe you. The stories I heard are ridiculous and trust me the stories at UT were bad. Not proactive at all. “if you want a test come and get it”. Never a problem getting one because no one was bothering to get one. Only just before TG, but my daughter regularly went for tests fortunately. And of course, while that doesn’t prevent it, she was going to make sure if she got the virus she didn’t pass it on to anyone else. They also did no contract tracing when people did have it and left it up to those who tested positive. A lot of kids didn’t do anything and quarantined with their roommates and then they all got sick. Ugh. I would’ve never let mine do that. Anyway, we dodged the bullet first semester and now next we just need to get to the vaccine and hope they do a better job. Unfortunately their hands are tied by the legislature.
@twoinanddone…I could not agree with you more. The debt is rarely if ever worth it when you can typically find a comparable accredited degree from a less expensive option.
It is crazy seeing so many people go into debt and then say they need loan forgiveness. Sometimes kids need to hear the word “no” or “it is too expensive”. Loan forgiveness isn’t real world when it was a choice to borrow the money from the start.
However, there are students in situations where it is either debt or no college at all. For example, a student with good but not top-end high school academic credentials from a low income family in rural Pennsylvania not in reasonable commuting range of a state university (PASSHE or CSHE) may not have much in the way of reasonably priced college options.
And sometimes we, as a society, should realize the greater good for all of us that comes from educating those who want an education beyond 12 years rather than assuming such things are luxuries reserved for the wealthy.
If, after both parents contribute what they feel they can contribute annually to the student’s college costs, the shortfall would result in $110,000 in loans, Rice is unaffordable. End of story if it was my decision. I could debate all day long about middle class vs low income aid, fairness, etc (my career was in financial aid), but none of that is relevant to the decision at hand. There are certainly alternatives available to this particular student, and the family needs to close this chapter and move on. Many families (including mine) have had to do this … and the affected students have been just fine. Whine, opine, move on … but do your best to be positive for the sake of your child.
Best thing you can do is get an actual read of what going to the school is really like. If you haven’t really dived into the subreddits for those communities, or checked out unigo .com, I’d suggest checking both of those sites out. If your son is more interested in seeing what the students at that school are like, or getting a read on its daily life, there’s always CollegeUncovered .com where he can have an actual conversation with a current student at either Rice or LA Tech.
