Should I go to Boston College for 2 years at full tuition cost (1st year I’d be able to pay it all, while 2nd year will require some amount of debt), or should I stay at small LAC with a scholarship?
Not enough information in order to offer reasonable advice.
Why do you want to transfer to BC ?
Need more information. Specifically, how much of the $75K+ yearly cost of BC will “require some amount of debt”? It’s one thing you need a $10K loan, but quite another if you need a $50K loan.
Also, while you might be paying for your Junior year all cash, what will that do to your (your family’s) cashflow/savings situation? For instance, if you have $100K available in savings and you spend $75K to attend BC for your Junior year and the remaining $25K for partial payment of Senior year, leaving you with zero in savings, how will that affect your life post graduation? Looking at it another way, how would it affect you after graduation if you had $100K in the bank to help you start your life in a new city working a new job - without that money, would you have just as easy a time securing your first apartment and everything else?
If the cash your family would spend to get you through BC is an inconsequential amount to your family, that makes it an easy decision. If that money is enough to make a fundamental difference in quality of life for your family, you have more to think about.
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And how ‘unknown’ is the Unknown LAC??
What are your post college plans? grad school, working (if so, any particular sectors or locations in mind)?
What are the career services like at Unknown LAC? Where have recent grads gone? What are their internship services like?
Agree with @EconPop on the money questions too…@publisher is correct that we do not have enough info to advise you properly at the moment
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Without more information & assuming a full tuition scholarship at the LAC:
If you have to ask the opinion of others, then your reasons for transferring may be insufficient to justify taking on student loan debt.
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@EconPop
we are probably talking $30k-$35k debt for that second year.
@CollegeMamb0
‘unknown LAC’ is very unknown in the Northeast. Horrible career services with no good internships and alumni in the financial industry are almost non-existent.
I want to go into financial services after college, ideally investment banking. And the current college is not preparing me for that path or helping in any way.
you are probably right
A couple of questions and comments.
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Have you actually applied to and already been accepted to BC? It’s not the easiest college to be admitted into and this could be a lot of what-iffing over something that is not really possible anyway.
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If you have already been accepted to transfer to BC, that speaks well of your stats. If you have good enough stats to get into BC, you may be able to transfer to a less-selective/less-expensive private university in the NE that would provide enough merit money to come in much less than 2 years of BC at a total of $150K ($35K debt + $115K cash/savings). Spending $150K over two years, no matter how much is in a college fund vs loan, may not be the best option here.
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If you consider transferring to be almost a must have at this point, is it possible to transfer to a public university in your home state where you could get a better education for your preferred career? In-state tuition prices would definitely negate the need for a loan and probably leave money in your savings for post-graduation options.
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Why BC specifically? How much of the choice of BC has to do with reasons other than your stated education/career goals? I ask because if your goal is to get into a NE college with better education and post-grad opportunities in your field, there are many other options besides BC. You should widen your scope to improve the odds of getting a more affordable option. Now, if you want to go to BC for other reasons, you’ll have to decide if those other reasons are worth the cost.
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EDIT: Also, verify that all your current credits will transfer to BC. It’s possible that some will not and you’ll need to add an extra semester or two of tuition into your budget. If that happens, BC will cost even more.
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The problem with transferring is losing credits. Which means that the $35k will likely be much higher. Different schools mean a different curriculum. Also, investment banking is literally one out of thousands of occupations you can do with a business degree. Many students go into heavy undergraduate debt chasing investment banking. If (big IF) they get in, most often, they end up hating it, and now they’re saddled with debt with limited options.
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@coolguy40
I would be a first semester junior at BC (I am 99% sure).
you are also right that many people end up hating IB and trying to get out of it. But I have an internship in IB this summer so I hope I will be able to see if that is what I wanna do after college.
I would advise talking to an advisor at BC and have them go over your transcripts before doing ANYTHING. 
Same with financial aid.
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Based on the additional information about the lack of career services at your current school combined with your career objective of entering into a financial services profession, then transferring may or may not be the best solution.
What is your current major ?
Are you on a full tuition scholarship ?
If studying a business related major (such as economics) on a full tuition scholarship, then consider staying and using part of the BC money (2 years at BC may cost about $150,000) for a one year specialty masters degree in a business or quantitative field or go to Duke University’s one year Masters in Business Foundations (I think) degree program for about $80,000 (if you don’t get a partial scholarship) & enjoy the recruiting / job opportunities as a member of that Duke University masters degree program.
I really like the structure of this program open only to recent college graduates with less than one year of post-undergraduate work experience.
P.S. If you do not want to spend a lot of money on a one year masters degree at Duke, there are more cost effective options for masters degrees & there are reputable certificate programs for IB training.
P.P.S. If you share your current major area of study, I may be able to recommend other target transfer schools which may be more affordable, but I do understand that IB tends to like degrees from prestigious schools–but if you are quant oriented that may not be an insurmountable hill.
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If you have an internship this summer- how terrible could your current college be?
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Are you already at the small LAC in the northeast? Can you tell us the name of the LAC? Someone here should at least have heard of it.
$35,000 in debt is quite a bit. Did you apply for financial aid at BC? If so, have you appealed your lack of financial aid?
I do wonder about the option as suggested by @Publisher of completing your bachelor’s where you are and then going for a master’s at a more famous school.
Where are you right now? Gpa? Major? Math classes taken?
What sort of scholarship do you have? Fill tuition? Have you taken federal loans already? Banked them?
@Publisher thanks for sharing the Duke Masters opportunity, I will look into it.
My current major is Econ, and right now BC seems to be the only ‘prestigious’ college I have a shot at attending this fall.
Yes, I did all that. Fact remains that if I end up going to BC then it will have to be at full tuition cost.
@Publisher is making a good point, but wouldn’t going to a better undergrad program help me with my career in the long term?
What do you know about Investment Banking ?
I ask because economics is a great major & your posts suggest that you currently have a full tuition scholarship. Two years at BC will cost about $150,000.
Are you familiar with financial modeling such as free cash flow modeling ?
Financial statement analysis ?
Are you comfortable with Excel spreadsheets ? PowerPoint ?
Have you taken Financial & Managerial Accounting ? A basic course in Finance ?
Is your current econ curriculum quant oriented ?
There are lots of prototype Excel modeling spreadsheets available online for free.
Also, lots of beginner through advanced Excel modeling courses online for free.
Make sure that you are familiar with PowerPoint.
Study up on Free Cash Flow Modeling.
Additionally, there are some very good IB certificate courses available online.
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@Decisionmaker101: Via PM, I will send you a link for IB & related courses & certificate programs.
I suggest that you study the outlines of the courses & certificates offered in order to get a picture of the financial services industry.
Do NOT register for in-person courses due to Covid concerns & because the online, on demand offerings are dramatically less costly.
I encourage you to focus on your college courses as an “A” average can be very effective when seeking job interviews or when applying to graduate programs.
While Boston College is a prestigious school with a great reputation, I cannot in good conscience advise one to give up a significant scholarship & assume student loan debt --at least not based on the scant knowledge that I have about your situation.
What is the unknown LAC? Perhaps it is not as unknown (or ill-respected) as you think.
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