I’m currently a senior in high school who want to attend a university afterward. I recently received all of my college decisions and got accepted into two universities (in-state) that I have applied. In addition, I also got admitted into a program in nearby community college with a free ride. Now, it’s almost that time to make an important decision on which college or university I should contribute to starting next fall. As usual for me, I will be the first person in my family to pursue higher education. I’m planning on majoring in computer science. The first university I applied offered me the best financial aid package overall. They also offered me a decent scholarship which will be enough to cover the tuition for at least two years without considering any aid from the FAFSA for instance. Second university which only offered me half of the scholarship money compared to the first one. The tuition for the first-year in both universities is fully covered thanks to FAFSA and scholarships. Nevertheless, I’m worried if the university I decided to attend matters significantly in the future. The second university has a better reputation and computer science program (rank) than the first one. What if FAFSA and scholarships would not be enough to cover the cost of tuition after the first year? I need some advice on this situation as it involves massive financial responsibility and potentially ruining some parts of my life. I’m also doing some brief research on those two universities to make the best decision as possible. I’m very grateful for the online resources available to me such as The Dave Ramsey Show, YouTube videos, and college forums.
Note: I’m not going to be living in a dorm as it’s already too expensive.
Fortunately CS is one of those fields where talent matters more than pedigree. So from a reputational standpoint, after your first year or two in the field, it won’t matter where you went to college.
One important question is this: were you directly admitted into the CS department such that there are no further obstacles standing between you and your degree other than taking the requisite classes and maintaining your scholarship? Or is your major dependent on other factors, such as you must keep a high GPA or get a certain GPA in weed-out classes, or go through another interview or application process, etc.? A “direct admit” is usually preferable. You don’t want to go through a year or two of college and find you are shut out of your desired major.
Since you are evidently close by to both, will you have the opportunity to revisit both schools before making a final choice? It seems that students who take the opportunity to revisit - whether just another walk-around on your own, another campus tour, or attending an admitted student day - are more content with their decision.
Best of luck, and congrats on some wonderful scholarships!
I can’t imagine you would be “outed” by saying the names of the schools. You’ve not provided much information about yourself so nobody will know who you are even if you name the schools. Seems like people could be far more helpful if you tell them the 2 schools you are considering because the impact of the school “name” could be minuscule or very important depending up which 2 schools you mean.
Choose the affordable university where you have direct admit to CS. It’d help if you named the two universities.
(It may be VERY difficult to transfer into CS from a community college AND transfers get lousy aid so you’d likely be full pay for your last 2 years. That’s why for lower income/first gen it’s often better, when possible, to attend a 4-year college directly because you don’t have any trouble transferring credits, getting into restricted majors, or figuring out changing financial aid.)
BTW, if you go to University #1, use the aid from FAFSA: “bank” the Pell Grants and save them.
All in all, for first-gen/lower income students, it’s better to attend the higher ranked 4-year university they can afford. (Once there, go to office hours, register with tutoring* and the First-Gen coordinator, etc.
See if the guide “Being not rich at University of …;” has been published for your campus (if not, you might start one! http://www.secondwavemedia.com/concentrate/features/notrich0489.aspx
and look up “Being not-rich at University of Michigan”.)
Get the book The Naked Roommate , you own copy if you can, from the library otherwise, and read it carefully because it’s very practical - all the stuff you need to know but don’t because you’re first gen + all the stuff HS students don’t know.
at university, tutoring isn't for failing students; It can be, but it would generally be used by students who got a B and wanted a B+, or students who got a B+ and need an A- for a program they're in, etc.