<p>Hey im a senior trying to weigh my options when applying for colleges. Ive got some tough choices to make when deciding which schools to apply for. Im pretty sure that i wont qualify for much if any need based aid. I may be able to get around 40k from my parents. But with most top schools running at least 150k if not closer to 200k, a large portion would be left. Would a degree from a top school(ivy or similar) be worth the debt. Ill probably end up in academia, so its not like ill just be rolling in benjamins after college. My research would lead me to predict that i have a good shot a merit aid at a place like Tulane or NYU, decent partial scholarship, maybe more maybe less. My main question is whether id be better off with a degree from Tulane or NYU with minimal debt or a degree from Columbia or Brown with fairly substantial debt. Thanks, any advice would be helpful.</p>
<p>I would aim for as little debt as possible for undergraduate studies, and then, possibly loans for graduate school. You are talking about a whole lot of debt. It can handcuff you for years to come. Try to go to as highly ranked school that you like with as little, if any debt as possible. You can always get to a top school for graduate work, and your parents could help you out there, if you had few expenses for undergraduate studies. If you excel at a school like Tulane or NYU, you can usually get some kind of financial help for grad school.<br>
$100,000+ debt is a whole lot of money and it will take you a whole lot of time to pay it back, especially if you end up in academia.</p>
<p>Run your potential loan amounts through the loan calculator here
FinAid</a> | Calculators | Loan Calculator
to get an idea of what your monthly payments would be. For instance if you are talking about $150K in loans at 8% then you are looking at monthly *payments of *$1800 for 10 years.with a recommended annual salary of over $200,000. Is it likely that you will earn $200,000 a year right out of college?</p>
<p>And that is assuming you are paying the interest on the loans while you are in college so that they have not grown before you even graduate. For instance if you were borrowing $37,500 a year at 8% for 4 years and deferring the interest until you graduate your debt would have grown to over $182,000 before you graduate. That would increase your monthly payment to $2200 a month.</p>
<p>Such debt would severely hamper your choices for the 10-20 years after you graduate. </p>
<p>Debt free ot minimal debt sounds awfully attractive to me.</p>
<p>I think it should be illegal for a student to be able to acquire that kind of debt for an undergraduate degree.</p>
<p>There really needs to be more discussion of this topic on the boards and at the dinner table. </p>
<p>Too many people seem to be in awe of the great and mighty top 20 and are willing to go profoundly in debt.</p>
<p>Be wise grasshopper...see the big picture.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Im pretty sure that i wont qualify for much if any need based aid.
[/quote]
Make sure you run through the financial aid numbers with your parents before making that assumption. Several schools like Princeton have good aid calculators on their web site. The need-based aid picture has changes substantially for a number of the elite colleges in the past year, whereby middle class families making up to $150 K or more may qualify for aid. In most cases, the aid will be in the form of outright grants no loans. NYU, which is not known to be generous with merit or need-based aid may end up costing more than Columbia for instance.</p>
<p>"NYU, which is not known to be generous with merit or need-based aid"</p>
<p>yeah, sorry, i meant the schools to be more of Tiers. not necessarily those schools as i havent decided which schools to apply to yet. Im just looking for a broad assessment of the situation........</p>
<p>Good school + little or no debt --or-- really prestigious school + big debt</p>
<p>Well you may be eligible for FA even if your income is up to 200k at the most selective universities. And, if you're not, I'd apply to as many outside scholarships as possible. For now, I'd apply to the schools you like, costly and non-costly, then make a decision on whether or not you can afford it. The decision to attend one of these top tier schools depends on what kind of career you wish to start out with and whether or not you want to go to graduate school. I mean, if you plan on working on Wall Street after college 100k, usually even 150k won't be life-damning debt. But, if you want to become a teacher you'll be paying that debt until you're dead. So yeah, a lot of things go into the decision. I personally think its worth it to go to your school of your dreams as long as you have a rough plan on how to pay off the debt. I think it is pretty silly to make choices on your education based on something like finances; you can't put a price on an education as much as some people would like to tell you. However, that's easy for me to say because I'm not taking out any loans to go to college so take that last point with a grain of salt...</p>
<p>well, i said in my first post that i planned to go into academia (anthropology). so that would involve grad school. </p>
<p>Also are people with incomes above 200k generally eligible for need based FA?????</p>
<p>thanks for the good thoughtful posts so far everybody. But i seem to be getting mixed responses.</p>
<p>In a word - "no".</p>
<p>With very, very few exceptions it makes no sense. As I keep pointing out no one asks you where you got your undergrad degree after you get your first job.</p>
<p>lazydog, well no, I wouldn't do it in your scenario, considering you're not going to enter a very lucrative career. And I'm saying that as the kind of person who wouldn't want anything getting in between the school of my dreams. But, may I ask, if your parents are making over 200k/yr how can they only afford 10k/yr? If there is a really good reason, and you're accepted to schools like HYPSM, they will be willing to work with you to make it affordable. They <em>hate</em> kids turning them down because of something like money. This can't be said for the other Ivy League schools. Even if it's something like your parents are refusing to pay-I've seen this on CC where a kid who was on really bad terms with his parents (though he had documentation) was able to work it out with an HYPS college and they made it very affordable. Thus, I still would advise you to apply to all the schools you'd like to go to. Also, you may be surprised that some top 10 schools award merit scholarships, like Duke, UChicago, Caltech. In fact, a lot of the top 25 schools also award merit scholarships such as WashU, Vandy, Emory, CMU, etc. Just know though, that you'd have to have extremely stellar stats with great extracurricular accomplishments to qualify for these. Lastly, I know Tulane offers a really good education, it's close to your home, and has lots of merit $$. I don't know if this helps.</p>