Debt worth it for CS major?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hi, I'm an international student. I've applied to some universities based on a university counselor's advice (my profile can be found here</a>) and this is the outcome so far:</p>

<p>University of Pittsburgh - Accepted, saying I'm not eligible for scholarships as I'm international
Illinois State University - Accepted
Long Island University - Accepted
Montana State University - Accepted with $7,500 merit scholarship</p>

<p>Still waiting to hear from the following universities:
University of Maryland
Penn State
Northeastern University
Stony Brook University
Syracuse University</p>

<p>Now, a good friend of mine from high school is at Montana State University, Bozeman and he told me he loves it there. He is studying Mechanical Engineering but he told me that the engineering program itself is very good there. All I want is to be able to study CS in a good, challenging program and ideally graduate with minimal debt. The scholarship requires me to maintain a 3.0 GPA which I believe I can do because I intend to work very hard. Also I have some experience programming with one or two small personal projects since high school and I'm working on improving my coding skills. </p>

<p>I'm waiting on hearing from Maryland right now. My financial situation is such, that if I go to MSU, then taking into account the fees and cost of living, I should just about be able to graduate with no debt even if I live on-campus for four years (don't plan to, but just saying). Since Maryland and Pitt won't offer any scholarships to international students (contrary to what my counselor had told me initially), I would only be able to afford maybe 2-3 years tuition and the rest (including food, boarding, etc) I would have to take a hefty loan and incur debt.</p>

<p>I was wondering if anyone could tell me whether there is a significant difference between a university like Maryland or Pittsburgh and MSU-Bozeman in terms of the opportunities I might have and whether it is worth the debt? I intend to work hard wherever I decide to go and look for opportunities to network and build a strong resume. I do wish to keep graduate school an option for the future and would prefer not to be working with the sole purpose of paying off debt.</p>

2

<p>If you plan to work in the US after graduation, be aware that MSU will likely be harder to look for jobs from as graduation nears. Montana is a sparsely populated state, so there will not be that many local employers coming to MSU’s career center. And MSU is not really on the radar for out of area companies to come recruit at. So if you go to MSU, you will have to be much more aggressive about looking for a job at graduation (and internships if you choose to do them between school terms). Looking for a job may also be more difficult if you need a work visa, as not all employers want to deal with the hassle.</p>

3

<p>I do plan to stay on and work in the US after graduation and plan to send my CV to as many companies as possible before graduation. I can afford to pay $60,000 really, the rest I would have to take on loan. I figure that if it is going to be hard with the whole work visa hassle, then it would be harder with another $60,000 debt as well.</p>

4

<p>If you want jobs in CS go live in places like Oregon, California, or Washington.</p>

5

<p>As much as I am against rankings when it comes to computer science…because of the supply-demand issue, I DO have to say that Montana State will be harder “sell” initially for that first job…only because the state of Montana is not really on folks radars.</p>