Columbia vs UT Austin

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I know, Columbia seems like the obvious choice. But at Columbia, I'd be incurring well over $100k in debt by the time I graduate. This will mean making HUGE sacrifices lifestyle-wise and paying for grad school on my own. At UT, we can pay tuition without any loans and my parents will help out with grad school as well as study abroad programs. I'll also only be about a 3 hour drive from home, so I won't have to worry about travel costs.
Considering I probably won't be majoring in a particularly lucrative field (I'm leaning toward psychology or english at this point), I'm not sure I can justify the cost of Columbia. I really love both schools, but I'm afraid I'll be missing out on some amazing opportunities/experiences if I choose UT.</p>

<p>So, does the prestige/overall experience of any ivy justify going into debt? Does it really make that much of a difference where I go for undergrad? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!</p>

2

<p>No, Columbia is not worth 100 thousand in debt. You’d be moronic to go there when you have a great alternative. Columbia is not an option.</p>

<p>p.s - however, it may be worth talking to Columbia’s financial aid department about your offer. Let them know that if it can’t be improved, you will not be able to attend. See what they can do!</p>

3

<p>This one is a no-brainer: go to UT.</p>

<p>If you want to understand the formal argument, run both of your aid packages through this calculator: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Award Letter Requirements - Finaid)</p>

<p>If you want to know what happens to people who graduate with 100k in debt, visit [Project</a> on Student Debt: Home](<a href=“http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org%5DProject”>http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org)</p>

<p>No undergraduate program is worth 100k of debt.</p>

4

<p>A lot of families are dealing with the same issue. If your EFC is higher than you can reasonably afford and you don’t have much in the way of assets you and your family must take out loans. I personally wish I had thought about this when I attended college. Years later, I regret that my family had to sacrifice so much to send me to a private university. I later took some classes at the local state school and realized the education I got at the private school wasn’t any better than the one I was getting at the state school.</p>

5

<p>Do not borrow $100k for undergrad. Period.</p>

6

<p>I am as a big a Columbia booster as you can get, but UT is an excellent school and $100,000 is a significant amount of money for most people. Given your career aspirations, I don’t really see going to Columbia or any other ivy as giving you a ‘leg up’ on getting into a top grad school since UT is such a fine university. You can always try Columbia for grad school.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>