Hi,
So my situation is that I’ve applied to 12 schools. Due to staff benefits from one of my parents, I get free tuition to one of these schools. Unfortunately, the issue with this school is that it’s barely selective at all, and their student’s average SAT scores and GPAs are significantly lower than mine. It’s also a school that has low-ish rankings, and despite some good reviews, has kind of a not-so-great reputation.
The other 11 range in price, rigor, quality, selectivity, etc. – so it’s safe to say I’ve applied to a good number of diverse types of schools. The issue is that I think that I can get into and succeed in the higher tier of the schools I’ve applied to, yet most of these schools are VERY expensive. I’d be paying upwards of $55,000 to $72,000 per year for these schools, whereas the state school that I get the tuition benefit for, I’d only have to pay $10,000 - $12,000 per year (for room and board and extraneous costs).
So, if anyone knows anything about student loans and debt and whatnot, is it worth going to undergrad at that state school with free tuition, or should I go into (probably a lot of) student debt at a higher quality school?
BTW, I plan to major in architecture, and luckily the tuition benefit school has a pretty decent program for that.
It truly does depend on the specific schools, particularly the program you’re studying in, as well as your family’s overall financial situation.
Run the net price calculators with your parents and discuss what they are willing to pay. Apply for aid and scholarships, visit the campuses, and wait for the offers before making a final decision.
You cannot borrow much as an individual freshman, just $5,500. Any additional loans would be either parent loans or consigned loans that both you and your parents would be jointly responsible for.
This is good advice. The state university in question isn’t really bad, and as mentioned, the arch program is decent. A lot of people I’ve spoken to have recommended I go there for four years and then perhaps go somewhere else for grad school. The one thing that is causing me to pause about this is the fact that my parent who works there has had negative things to say about working there for my whole life. It has colored my view of the university because he is negative about it all the time. The open houses and events I went to associated with this school were fine. If my father wasn’t so down on this school for whatever his reasons are, I’d probably feel a lot better about the situation. I guess I’m worried that I’ll be “stuck” in my career because of going to a school that is less rigorous than I could handle. But maybe it’s better to be a big fish in a small pond?
Does the less-selective school have an honors college?
Are the architecture majors at the various schools NAAB-accredited BArch (5-year) programs, or are they 4-year BA/BS programs where you would have to continue to an MArch program afterward?
Architect is not the highest paid of jobs, so be wary of large amounts of debt. Compare the total cost of 5-year BArch programs to that of BA/BS + MArch.
You’ve posted several threads about this. Your dad works at Kent State, right? Are your parents willing and able to pay for the other colleges? You can only borrow ~$5500/year, so if your parents can’t pay the difference or have to borrow ~$50k/year or more to do it then the other schools aren’t affordable.
@pghbklyn In answer to your thread title question…I’d take free tuition over going into debt for an undergrad degree. Save the debt for grad school. Also, you will find that there are high stats kids at every university including state schools. You will not be the only one out of 10k students.