<p>This is my first post, so I apologize if this discussion is in the wrong forum.</p>
<p>At the college I plan to attend this fall, I received tuition, dorms, meals, and books for four years. Although it is a well-known college, it is certainly not the top school in my state. However, I could only receive tuition at the top school, and my father (who is disabled) cannot afford the remaining costs, so I would have to take out loans. Many people have told me I will be much more successful and it will be much easier to find jobs if I go to a "better" college. Would it be wiser to attend a more prestigious college or to be debt-free? </p>
<p>Your success will depend in large part upon what you do, not where you go to college. Do what you need to do to be successful. Financially, you’ve made the right choice, it sounds like. Now go prove your friends wrong. Do it.</p>
<p>If you work hard and get good grades, you will have plenty of opportunities, even if you went to a less prestigious school. Where you go to college is not nearly as important as some people think it is. Just read some of the horror stories in the news lately about students who have gotten way over their heads in debt. I second jkeil911’s advice. I am guessing that some of the people who have been giving you advice are high schoolers who really don’t have the perspective (or the financial IQ) to be offering that advice.</p>
<p>It depends. Since you did not name the schools or your academic and professional goals, there is no answer that can be 100% correct. Examples where the answer could be different (using a highly prestigious college versus one with negative prestige among residents of the same state):</p>
<ul>
<li>Princeton (financial aid covers tuition) versus Rutgers (full ride), professional goal is investment banking or management consulting.</li>
<li>Princeton (financial aid covers tuition) versus Rutgers (full ride), intended major is philosophy preparing for PhD study, with no interest in investment banking or management consulting.</li>
</ul>
<p>In general, however, if you need more debt than the federal direct loan limit, the school is too expensive.</p>
<p>You’ll be fine, as long as your college has something that prepares you for your field of interest- i.e., it’s structured so that the opportunities you want are available.</p>
<p>My decision came down to three schools (one $100k cheaper than the rest), and what ended up making the difference for me was the way each school structured their programs. Neither of the three had a HYPMS-level reputation, so a common line from the three was “People on the street might not know us, but [X] will.”</p>
<p>For one college, X was the world of academia. For another, it was big businesses. And for the one I ended up choosing, it was the startup world + the sort of employers I wanted to work for.</p>
<p>So there’s no objectively “better” college- they’re just designed for different groups of people and provide different opportunity structures. And it’s almost never limiting- a motivated individual wouldn’t have much more difficulty finding what they need at a state school than at a prestigious private school.</p>
<p>Unless the opportunity structures are radically different and somehow limiting (which is extremely rare for undergrad), you’ll be fine and it looks like you made the right decision.</p>
<p>The first goal of any college student is to finish - and you can’t finish what you can’t afford. So we go to the best school that lets us in and we can afford. End of story. Except, it’s really the beginning of the story. You make you choice, you go, you do your best, and you keep moving forward, making the best decision you can at the time with the information you have available. Do not look back, look to how you can improve your current situation with the resources you currently have available.</p>
<p>Something your average 18 year-old doesn’t understand is that all of us in middle age have all made terrible mistakes - and some of those mistakes have lead us to wonderful opportunities. We wouldn’t get to the opportunities without the mistakes - eliminate the mistakes and you eliminate the opportunities. I could tell you my story of woe about how I owned the world’s most expensive Toyota Celica - to buy the car I made the unfortunate decision to sell Sun Microsystems stock - 5 years later, the stock, which I made what seemed like a pretty nice 300% profit on, was worth $800,000. But the car helped me get the girl, or so I tell myself. And she’s still my wife, plus two kids. No car, no girl, no wife, no kids. Or I can have the $800k. But not both. I’d like both, but I’ll take the girl and all that came with it.</p>
<p>Funny thing is, when you make a choice, you can’t tell if it’s an opportunity or a mistake, it might even be both. Maybe the school you just chose is the best decision you could have ever made - you just don’t know it yet.</p>
<p>Just with this basic information, it seems you have taken a full ride at a well known uni vs 60k loans at the best instate. No contest you made the right choice. Now if it was less debt there might be something to discuss. What “people” tell you is often not based in any fact. Especially if those people are in HS, but others aren’t exempt either.</p>
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However, I could only receive tuition at the top school, and my father (who is disabled) cannot afford the remaining costs, so I would have to take out loans. Many people have told me I will be much more successful and it will be much easier to find jobs if I go to a “better” college. Would it be wiser to attend a more prestigious college or to be debt-free?
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<p>First of all, your dad is disabled and likely will not (or cannot) cosign those loans, so this conversation may be moot. (sounds like you would need about $15k per year in loans…which YOU cannot borrow without your cosigner). Besides, $60k of debt is toooooo much.</p>
<p>…and you will be sooooooo glad when you graduate debt-free!!! </p>
<p>There is only about 1-2 careers where the name of your undergrad can matter. For most careers…MD, attorney, teaching, engineering, nursing, PT, business, accounting, communications, psychology, etc…your undergrad doesnt matter.</p>
<p>You say that your free ride is at a well-known school (sounds like MichiganState or similar). a situation like that is totally fine.</p>
<p>I dont know who you are talking to, but they probably do not know what they are talking about. If they bother you, then ask them to give you the money.</p>