Attending Georgia Tech with out-of-state tuition. Is it worth the 100k debt?

Paying for College
1

Hi all, so I was accepted into the Biomedical Engineering major at GATech and from hearing what other OOS students get, Tech gave me a pretty generous financial aid award.

Even with the $12,400 Georgia Tech grant, work-study, Pell and a EFC of ~$3,600 that still leaves me with having to take out $28,000 in loans to meet the cost of attendance for just the first year. GATech isn’t so generous towards OOS students from what I’ve read so that Georgia Tech grant may not apply for the remaining 3yrs. If my calculations are correct, I will be paying a grand total of ~$150,000. With the help of my parents, I will be graduating with ~$100,000 in debt.

COA for one year is currently $45,000. If that aid sticks with me for four years, I’d have to pay a grand total of $112,000 instead – which is still a lot.

If I go to a SUNY, one of my state schools in NY, I won’t be in even a quarter of that debt. Any guidance and advice would be much appreciated.

2

Don’t do it! :-SS

3

I wouldn’t do it. That’s a lot of debt to rack up. That’s nearly a house.

4

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

<<<
Pell and a EFC of ~$3,600
<<<

FURTHERMORE, your family is low income. So, they would NOT qualify to cosign those loans (thank goodness)!!!

5

An undergrad biomed degree is pretty useless.

A definite NO to a 100k debt!

6

Goodness no. What are your other SUNY options? GT is a great school but not for those costs.

7

OP, the correct question is not “is it worth it” rather is it smart to do? My D is at Georgia Tech and she loves it. However if she had to go into debt for $100K we would not send her to that school. You will get a very good education at your other school. My oldest had a full merit ride to his college, he loved always getting a bill for $0 and when he graduated he very much appreciated having no loans.

Go to Tech for grad school and get a company to pay for it. I know it is tough because you sound like you really love Tech, but that much debt is not smart under any circumstances. Good luck!!

8

Joining the chorus:

Pretty much 100% certainly not.

9

Regretfully I believe you will have to turn it down. Work hard in SUNY and you can get to a good grad school. Trying to do this sounds possibly disasterous. The parent not qualifying one year for more debt would mean you have to leave, having the large expense with no diploma, a transfer etc etc.

Not to mention the ruinous amount of interest this would accrue, the following doesn’t have loan fees or the substantial interest while you are in school. This is not funny money.

Adjusted Loan Balance: $100,000.00
Loan Interest Rate: 6.80%
Loan Fees: 0.00%
Loan Term: 10 years
Minimum Payment: $50.00

Monthly Loan Payment: $1,150.80
Number of Payments: 120

Cumulative Payments: $138,096.57
Total Interest Paid: $38,096.57

10

You cannot afford GA tech, your parents will never be able to borrow enough to put you through 4 years.

If you got in to GA tech, you are probably pretty smart.

Are you graduating in the top 10% of your class? If yes, then you will be able to go to SUNY tuition free under the STEM initiative. If you have graduated in the top 10% of your class I strongly recommend that you pursue this.

With $3,000 EFC, unless you were accepted through the EOP, based on the amount of TAP and Pell ($2825) that you receive (which is not going to be a lot), your parent(s) will have to take out PLUS loans for you to dorm at SUNY after you borrow $5500 in sub and unsubsidized loans (part will go to cover the tuition if you are not able to get the STEM initiative).

Do you live in NYC? If yes, I would recommend that you attend CUNY City College (where you will still need loans to cover the tuition because it won’t all be covered by TAP and Pell), even if you have to start at CUNY CC (where if you are accepted by ASAP, you can complete your associates for free, along with free books and metro cards), achieve 30 credits and a 3.0 GPA. Were you admitted to CUNY? IF yes, were you admitted to SEEK? If you were admitted to SEEK, I would recommend that you follow the money.

If you are not in the city then you need to attend a SUNY where you can commute from home or commute from home to attend one of the SUNY CC (where you may have just enough to cover the tuition. You may have to borrow for books transportation and other items associated with the COA.

No matter where you go, you must get a summer job. You have a gap to fill in addition to needing some start up money to attend college.

You really have to sit down with your parents and work out the money, because despite the perception that everyone throws a ton of money at low income students, you are going to have to do some financial juggling to make going away to college work.

11

got accepted to some great colleges ex osu and psu but after a long period of reflection of the 100k plus debt I would put my family in, I decided to go with a top SUNY. I recommend you to do the same.

12

My son received some nice grants from some very good schools that still would have required sizeable loans for him to attend. He decided to attend a SUNY because, as a NYS resident, he’ll graduate with a degree but without all that debt. I’d suggest you go with a SUNY too. You’ll be happy not to have an $1100/month loan payment when you graduate.

13

@"Erin’s Dad"‌ My other SUNY options are Buffalo w/ Honors College and Stony Brook since I applied to them as a last resort on my college list. Stony is 14.5k a year and Buffalo is 17k. I also have Syracuse and Drexel but those two are ~40k a year.

14

@sybbie719‌
I do have an acceptance at CCNY Grove School of Engineering at ~6k a year but I want to get out of the city for undergrad.

My family was considering taking out a HELOC to help pay for GATech as they just finished paying off their mortgage with no outstanding debt (very strong credit). I’m against that and at the end, it is my decision on where I want to go. I really do want to go to GATech over all my other options but I’ll likely have to pass on it.

15

DO NOT take out a home equity loan! not worth it!! I’m in the same position; I got into some great schools out of state and I don’t really feel like either school in-state is a good fit in terms of major options for me, but I’m going to have to settle.

16

Hi Sam
What kind of scholarship did you get with the honors college? Did you get free tuition?

Are you graduating at the top 10% of the class at your high school

Is the 14k after TAP, Pell, any scholarship and your loans?

17

Your EFC is only $3500 and they gapped you $28K? I like Tech, but do NOT go into 100K DEBT for any school. ANd how woul dyou qualify to get a loan if you qualify for a Pell and have such a low EFC?

18

First of all, don’t major in Biomedical engineering, major in Mechanical Engineering and do research in biomedical. This will get you the same place while being more employable.

I often advocate borrowing money to attend a better college.

But in your case, it’s really too much. Go to SUNY, and do well enough in MechE to get into a good grad school for Biomedical. You will ultimately learn the same thing, but have a major that offers higher paying internships along the way and the potential to get a good paying full-time job when you graduate.

19

Not too surprising for an out of state public school.

Is your lowest SUNY net price choice Stony Brook at $14,500 per year? Will your parents contribute about $4,500 so that you can stretch to cover the rest with a federal direct loan and some work earnings? If not, then the $6,000 net price at CCNY may be your only option (and would still be financially safer than stretching for Stony Brook).

20

I think mom2collegekids summed it up best.