I don’t think taking on a lot of debt to go anywhere (certainly not more than requires a few percent of likely first year income to service) is wise, regardless of the program. Too much debt can really set a kid back in terms of becoming financially independent, or having the freedom to take risk early in the career.
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I’ll put in a plug for Rose Hulman. My son attended a summer program between junior and senior year of high school and after getting accepted said, “Rose would be my first choice, hands down, if it were not in the middle of nowhere, Indiana.” He ultimately chose another school because of this, but we were very impressed with RHIT, mainly because the professors self select to teach rather than perform research. Rose also awarded our son a merit scholarship equal to 50% of tuition; did they do the same for your daughter?
Something to consider re Purdue… last year at an admitted student function the university rep let slip that even if an engineering student earns over a 3.2 GPA their freshman year they still may not be guaranteed their desired major, despite Purdue’s published policy. They may be back to honoring their policy now that things have had a chance to normalize after COVID madness, but it is worth checking.
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Stale reply, but I get it. My D23 decided on ND, w/strong support from my wife. I’m ok with it, and think she’ll get a great education and launch, but could probably do as well at other schools. Part of the way I reconcile it is that I’m in some measure subsidizing need-based aid for kids who likely really need it.
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Wishing her all the best at ND – it is a great university.
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I graduated from Notre Dame decades ago and saw the price rise higher with inflation. Factor in the increase in general items and travel due to inflation, and its get much larger than normally expected. Looking back, I wish I had gone to ND as a graduate student instead of as a freshman. I came from a small, rural town in the Pac-12 region of the southwest. My small, rural HS was extremely easy. The town was blue-collar with mostly low or middle income students. By contrast, Notre Dame had many students from wealthy suburban areas of large towns in the Midwest or East Coast. Their high schools were very superior compared to my small, rural HS. A typical ND STEM major usually scored at about the top 10% of the range for the SAT or ACT and had multiple AP courses. It was common to find ND freshmen students who had tested out of the 1st or even 2nd semester of chemistry, physics, biology, calculus, etc. It was a struggle to keep up, and I burned out my sophomore year. I nearly transferred but went the distance - barely. I never really adapted to the rigor of STEM courses until a few years after finishing at Notre Dame. I retook some of the undergraduate courses I had struggled with at ND at an in-state university out west, and I eventually made it into graduate school. I started doing well in rigorous STEM courses of graduate school after many years of playing catch up.
So, what am I getting at? it was a mistake to go to Notre Dame as a freshman. I was completely unprepared due to the HS I had attended which was too easy with a weak curriculum - especially for Notre Dame. I should have gone to a community college first then transferred to an in-state university as a junior. I also should have taken my time in courses - 12 or 13 credits instead of 15 or more per semester. It would have taken about 5-6 years, but it would have given me time to catch up. Then, as a mature graduate student I could have gone to Notre Dame without having to deal with catch-up scenarios and rapid burnout. Moreover, the financial aid is much larger to graduate students who often get tuition and a stipend if successful.
So, I would recommend seriously considering graduate school for Notre Dame and defer to in-state public universities for the undergraduate years. As someone noted, Purdue has a strong engineering program at less cost. This allows an unprepared student to “catch up” by stretching out the coursework over the summer or an extra semester or two. That pattern would be too expensive at ND.
Graduate school has great fellowships and stipends. Some even provide health insurance. Looking back, it would have been far more realistic to go to ND for graduate school rather than as unprepared freshman of only age 18 thousands of miles from home.
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This had been an interesting thread!
It got me thinking about justifying the cost of any school. And how my spouse and I approached it. We paid $100K for DC’s 4-years at school at (that was our max budget).
We were able to spend $100K (no loans for DC or us) due to years of saving and living simply.
We said we are in for undergrad only and here is the budget. But maybe we should have had DC live at home and go to state flagship (15 min from us). Or start at CC and then transfer. We could have spent $35K to $50K and given them the rest for a car, grad school, a down payment on a house, etc. (Or put it in our retirement fund, traveled with the kid more when they were younger, etc.)
$100K or $200K or $348K is a lot of money for a 4-year experience…for a teenager no less. (I know it can extend beyond those 4 years, a lot depends on the kid, etc.)
Just food for thought.
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I feel your middle class pain! lol. Exact same boat. 300K is hard to swallow, but my son would be heartbroken if we said no. And he’s worth it. What else are we going to spend our money on if not our kids’ happiness? My daughter also goes there, but she got a full tuition scholarship. She absolutely loves it and would not allow her brother to go anywhere else.
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Is your daughter paying for her brother?
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And on that note, we wish her luck and close the thread.
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