Currently I am torn between two colleges. These are Uva and Umd. I will be an aerospace engineering major at each. For uva the coa for me will be about $15k. For umd the coa will be significantly more at $47k. However, for umd I would be in the Honors College Gemstone and possibly Flexus. I just want to know in regards to price and opportunities which one is better in the long run.
By the way any cost for college I have to take loans out for.
Any thoughts would be great thanks.
Hands down UVA. There is no reason to take on that amount of debt for UMD given such an excellent, less expensive option.
You can only borrow ~$5500/year or ~$27k over 4 years. Are your parents cosigning for the other ~$40k?
Your parents can’t contribute anything? Where else did you get accepted and what are the next costs at those schools?
It sounds like UVA is in-state, which would be a safer bet. UMD is pretty much out of the question. If you’re low income, it’s much more likely financial aid can be adjusted to meet full need. If not, you would need to start at community college or apply for a scholarship.
@austinmshauri I also got accepted to embry Riddle in Daytona with Honors college for about $30k.
Rutgers w/ Honors College- $25k
Penn State- $50k
Florida Tech- 25k
Waitlisted at Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech
My parents are retiring after I graduate and are moving to a different state so them helping me out is sort of out of the question since neither will really have an expendable income to help out. All of the schools I got into were out of state since there aren’t many accessible aerospace programs where I am from.
UVA is the only thing possibly viable option. And at that it is only going to work if your parents can give you some help and you find well paid summer and school year jobs.
Sit down with your parents and run the numbers here: https://www.finaid.org/calculators/awardletteradvanced.phtml