So the deadline for committing to colleges is fast approaching and I am still undecided. I’m trying to find the best balance between price, opportunity to play soccer, quality of education, and internship/networking opportunities. As of right now, my top schools are Lawrence University and St. Olaf College. Lawrence is the only school that I have been guaranteed a roster spot at, though it’s likely that I’d be able to play at any of the schools I’ve listed or am going to list. Both schools have excellent academic reputations, alumni networks, and internship opportunities from my understanding. Also, I visited Lawrence and absolutely loved it and will be visiting St. Olaf in the immediate future. However they’d both cost me about $26K/year. On the flip side, I have UW-Superior and UW-Platteville as options in terms of state schools. Obviously both would be far more affordable (around $13k/year), but also have far lesser academic reputations, etc. I think UW-Platteville is considered a little stronger that UW-Superior, however UWS is much closer to home and my brother attends which would make it really convenient. I think that I’d enjoy my experience more at either of the private schools more, but my question is: is the extra debt and possibly better experience worth it in the long run? How much more opportunity will I really have at one of those schools? Also, it doesn’t help that I have NO idea what I want to major in. I’d really appreciate some feedback as to where you guys think I should attend!
When you say you have no idea what to major in, do you truly have no idea? I.e. are you as likely to become a business major as you are a nursing major? Or as likely to major in economics as you are in biology? If you can narrow down your major even a little bit, that may help. For example, I know that UW-Platteville is quite well regarded for engineering.
Also, which respect to cost, just how much more costly are the private schools? Are we talking a few thousand over ~4 years or tens of thousands?
I assume you have visited UW-Superior since your brother lives there, but have you visited UW-Platteville?
At Lawrence you mention that you have been guaranteed a roster spot on the soccer team. Does that include a scholarship?
I suppose I do have some idea, but I’m still considering English, History, Political Science, Economics, Biology, and Chemistry and am not really strongly leaning in any one direction.
As of right now, the private schools will probably cost about $10K/year more but from what I’ve heard Lawrence (I’m not sure about St. Olaf though) is a school where more scholarship opportunities will become available the longer I’m there.
I have visited UW-Superior and wasn’t super impressed, though it’s not like it was terrible or anything. Also, no, I haven’t yet had the chance to visit UW-Platteville.
No, since all of these schools are Division 3, none can offer athletic scholarships, however playing soccer is something that’s really important to me and the assurance of a s[pt from Lawrence definitely helps.
my mistake, probably more like $13K/year more for the private schools
If the extra cost isn’t the problem, I would go with Lawrence. That’s where you seem to be leaning.
If your parents have saved for you to go to college and have enough to cover Lawrence’s extra expense, by all means go there. However, if you have to take out loans, in my opinion it is NOT worth it. $13,000 x 4 years = $52,000. As someone working to pay back even less than that in student loans, it’s just not worth it.
Not knowing what you want to do is kind of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s a fair argument that it doesn’t make sense to overspend on an education that is still in an exploratory phase. On the other hand, a school where you’ll get close contact with faculty who care about undergrad teaching can be the best incubator for your developing knowledge of yourself and your interests. I’m not assessing what the UW campuses are like in that regard, as I’m not familiar enough with those to say; but Lawrence does seem to be a good school for students who are going in undecided. Between the Freshman Studies program and the terrific availability of faculty mentoring and tutorials, you’d have a lot of support in finding your path. Plus, a semester at their London campus could be a great fit with your interests, if the soccer schedule allows.
For sure, if you had to borrow every cent of the additional cost, that would be problematic. But if it’s affordable for your family without incurring an unreasonable amount of debt, it does seem like a great fit. I really loved the vibe of Lawrence when we visited. Will be interested to hear how you think St. Olaf compares!
Okay so after visiting St. Olaf, here’s my update: I thought it was really great except they basically flat-out said that they won’t offer any additional scholarships plus tuition will go up by an average of about $2300 (I think that’s what it was) every year and aid won’t be increased to match it. This basically means that barring a big outside scholarship, St. Olaf is out.
Also, at St. Olaf, they really emphasized the importance of getting quality internships, a personalized education, and resources to help you find a career that fits you. So even though my visit kinda eliminated St. Olaf, it made the value of Lawrence seem even greater.
Another thing: I’m likely to receive a couple thousand in outside scholarships plus I have a few thousand saved and my parents said they’ll try to help out with a couple thousand a semester, so it’s likely that I’d only end up taking out like $18kish/year (nothing’s really set so it’s kinda tough to tell for sure) at Lawrence initially and hopefully less as I progress.
So right now, I’m leaning toward Lawrence but if anyone has a good argument either for or against, I’d love to hear it!
I think you are underestimating how that extra debt will impact you after college. If I’m interpreting this correctly, you and your family can contribute 8K per year, and the rest will be paid via loans. Is that correct?
The private schools are unaffordable. Go to UW-Superior or UW-Platteville.
You wouldn’t be borrowing $18k/year. The federal student loan is only ~$5500/year, so $13k would be your parents’ loan. I wouldn’t ask them to borrow $52k + interest so you can attend a private college. The publics will be fine.
So, here’s the thing about internships: you have to choose a field and sell yourself in it. “Quality” internships don’t just happen. For somebody who is equally interested in “English, History, Political Science, Economics, Biology, and Chemistry” -what sort of internship would you even apply for? So, the fact that a (private) university includes as part of its sales pitch (you did understand that’s what a re-visit day is, right? now that they have said yes, they want a high conversion rate, so they want you to say yes also) that they help get ‘quality’ internships is of limited use to you at this point.
From what you have said so far, this is like buying something now that you won’t use for another year or two- but paying for it up front. Do your parents drive $75,000 cars? because the extra cost of going to one of your private school options could buy one for cash. A brand-new Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe could be sitting in your driveway.
My suggestion is that you go to either of the UW’s with a plan to transfer in 2 years. Go taste-test all the areas that you might major in, knock out your GenEds, get super grades, get to know a couple of your profs, and then winter of sophomore year apply to transfer to some of the private schools that you really like. Your debt will be much less, you will have paid less for the basic classes, and you will be able to write great essays on why you want those particular schools for your major- because by then you will have figured out what you want to study.
The debt thing is real- you could be paying off student loans for a long time, even if you end up in a field with high paying jobs (I know a medical doctor who paid off the last of her med school loans when her daughter was 14. They lived very very frugally for a long time). But it will also impact your choices in the meantime. For example, many (most) internships are poorly paid- will you be able to afford to take the great, but lower paid internship? same with entry level jobs. When you have to service debt, you have to take the jobs that will cover that as well as your living expenses.
Hey, OP here, thought I’d give you an update.
Though both Lawrence and St. Olaf offered me the opportunity to play soccer and I really loved both when I visited, neither would come down from $26K/year.
Also, UW-Superior also ended up coming up with an extra $7K in scholarships, which (combined with the $2500 I received in outside scholarships) meant that it would only cost me about $4K/year.
Because of this I decided to attend UWS at least for this year and we’ll see where it goes from there.
Thanks for all your help!
I think you made the right choice much as I have a personal penchant for LACs and both of those were excellent.
I’m impressed that ST Olaf’s was upfront with you about future possibilities. Though they are often possible, they are not guaranteed but cost increases almost certainly are.
Yeah, these things are always a dance between what the parents say they can afford, what colleges think they can and how much of the gap can be covered by the maximum allowable debt (~$7,000 a year) a student can take out in their own name over four years. The parents self-assessment of $8,000 a year, effectively puts private college out of range for a middle-class family.
bvr