College debt advice? Please help!

<p>OK, I just completed my freshman year at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. Good school. I liked the professors in my major's department (math) and everyone was very friendly. However, tuition for next year will be $32,000. I have one scholarship for $12,500 and my parents are willing to contribute $12,000/year (which seems more than fair to me). Last year, tuition was $30,000 and I was able to cover the remaining $5,500 with money I had earned at a summer job for the past three years. I won't be able to do that this year, and now the difference is at $7,500. With work this summer and work study during the year, it looks like I could take it down to a $4,000 unsubsidizied loan. And next year it will be $6,000, and the last year, $8,000. So I'm looking at roughly $20,000 in loans (before interest) to go to Concordia. Or, I could go to my hometown college, Minot State University, in ND. My parents would cover all the costs (except books). I plan to go on to graduate school once I finish my first four years, and I'm wondering if where you go for under-grad is important if you can get into a good graduate program? Certainly MSU is not as prestigious as Concordia, but if I work hard and perform well there, will it even matter? The question I really need answered: is it worth it to go to Concordia?</p>

<p>Any advice would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Only you can decide the answer to that. $20k in undergrad loans isn’t too bad - but if you don’t really care enough to really want to stay at Concordia, it is possible that it’s not worth the money to you. There is nothing wrong with that - you can save your debt for grad school (and if you get an assistanceship or fellowship, you’ll save it forever!). Working hard & performing well at MSU will get you to grad school. It’s your attitude that really matters, and yours is excellent.</p>

<p>What about room/board? Are you including that with tuition? Seems like that would be a significant cost to weigh in also. My trusted advisers have said that its where you go to grad school that matters, not undergrad. </p>

<p>What grad school do you want to get into, and can you still get into that school if you attend MSU for undergrad? If you can answer yes to that question, and you have no other reasons for wanting to stay at Concordia, seems like the wise thing to do would be to go to MSU.</p>