It’s between Ole Miss and Louisiana Tech. Both offer majors that will land me in the field I’m interested in (health and safety engineer), and I have/will have visited both.
Thanks to scholarships, Ole Miss will run me about $7,000 per year. I understand that is VERY low, but I will still have to take out some loans to cover it. I estimate that I will be ~$16,000 in debt when I graduate.
At Louisiana Tech, I have been gifted with a full ride PLUS some. I’ll be living the dream: getting paid to go to university. I estimate that I will have ~$10,000 in the bank when I graduate.
So, is the SEC experience, the larger campus, the smarter/prettier people and party scene worth it? More importantly, is the prestige of the larger institution deservant of a 26k dollar difference? Where I come from, $26,000 is quite a bit! However, Ole Miss is a very exciting campus, with more opportunities.
If it’s any help, I will be in the honors program at both colleges, and have been accepted into Ole Miss’ CME (Center for Manufacturing Excellence, real-world work for engineers while in college).
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I am excited to attend college, but I have to make a decision very soon! 
I don’t have an answer for you, but I did want to make sure you knew that you have to pay taxes on the scholarship $$ that exceeds tuition and fees. The tax rate on the excess at the kiddie tax rate based on your parents’ rate.
I did not know that, thank you! If anything, then, I will surely do better than break even. I have money saved up, at the moment, plans to work-study, etcetera. Thank you, again!
16k debt is in the realm of reasonableness. A 16k loan at 4.5% interest, w a 10 year repayment term, is ~$165/mo. Not fun to be paying back every month for 10 years, but not totally crippling either. With an engineering degree, it should be manageable.
By contrast, there are posters on CC trying to get people to support their notion that 80k debt is reasonable–not!
How does job recruiting in your desired major compare at these 2 schools?
A friend of my father that is a health and safety engineer has ~$55,000 in loans, and says that he doesn’t have much of a problem paying them back. He also iterated and reiterated that I won’t have much of a problem finding work with a mechanical engineering degree (or something similar).
Ole Miss, being considerably larger, would certainly possess better professional placement. Put that with the rest of the opportunities that the university provides. Again, however, both colleges will likely supply internships, work-study, and (hopefully!) a decent career.
Since the loan amount is not outrageous, and you’re planning on MechE rather than Anthropology, then go with your heart. You only live once.
You’re right… I’ll see how I like La Tech when I visit… Thank you!!