<p>Hello! I'm a high school senior (graduating on the 22nd, this Saturday!) planning to concentrate my major around all kinds of writing (journalistic, fiction, and film writing). I applied to several colleges and had a hard time deciding, as I was accepted to Northwestern, American, Rice, and Tulane, among others. I recently made my college decision, which came down to two schools: NYU (Gallatin), my dream school, which gave me about $16.900 in aid; and Loyola University in New Orleans, which gave me a full ride. After visiting both schools and several hours of deliberating, I picked Loyola (with quite a bit of pressure from my mother). While I know that this decision is good for our financial well-being, I'm very unsure about my decision and am keeping a list of possible transfer schools close by.</p>
<p>My case was interesting, as I am the first of two daughters with a single mom (my dad died a couple years ago), but my mom's salary is still in the "we're not really going to help you" range. All of my financial aid came from merit scholarships. Though I live in Texas, I have family in New Jersey, so homesickness wasn't really an issue. However, New Orleans is about a fourth of a day's drive from my home. Another interesting event that happened was that, when I talked to the students at Loyola, they all told me to go to NYU. However, Loyola's communications department has been gaining prestige in the past few years. Their English film major is relatively new, which makes me nervous, but I thought there was a method to it, when I inquired about it.</p>
<p>Anyway, though I am shaky on my decision, I figure that at least this way, I'm getting a free year in college to figure it out.</p>
<p>My decision has already been made, but my question to you is whether or not any of you have dealt with a situation like this before or seen someone else dealing with it. What decision did the student make? How did it work out? What kinds of factors went into the student's decision? I'm curious to hear what you have to say.</p>
<p>We always have a tendency in life to second guess ourselves. If you go to school with a list of possible tranfers in hand, and always think could I better off somewhere else, I do not think you will ever give Loyola a true chance. Go to school with the idea that I am going to make this work and have the best year of my life. Throw your self into university life, make friends, join clubs, study hard and take advantage of all the school has to offer. Then, if at the end of the year you gave it your all and it is not working, consider transferring. As an exceptionally lucky individual, who’s parents paid for my education, and allowed me to graduate without any debt, I cannot stress enough the importance of not accumulating debt from college if it can be avoided. Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>Look at the cover of this week’s New Yorker for the answer. In this economy, going for the full ride is for most people the intelligent choice. </p>
<p>(FYI-New Yorker cover this week shows a young man/recent grad hanging his PhD diploma in his old room at his parents’ house where he has just moved back. Parents (frightened/mystified)are shown peeking around his door.</p>
<p>It sounds like NYU would have required big loans for you and your mom. That is not a good idea.</p>
<p>I imagine that you’d like to have a good life after you graduate, correct? If so, that wouldn’t happen if you’re saddled with debt. </p>
<p>It also sounds like you have a sibling who will also be going to college. Your mom can’t borrow big for NYU and then borrow big for your sibling. Your mom would be drowning in debt for the rest of her life. </p>
<p>Of course the students are Loyola are telling you to pick NYU. To them, going to school in NY sounds exciting and prestigious. However, they aren’t thinking in terms of how such debt would ruin your future life. </p>
<p>NYU only gave you $16k in aid. That mean that you and your mom would be expected to come up with about $35k-40k per year. How was that supposed to happen? And, if that $16k in aid was a merit scholarship, it’s doubtful that they would offer that again as a transfer student. It’s likely if you were to apply again, you’d get another merit scholarship from them. </p>
<p>You mention the possibility of looking to transfer. You may not realize that the merit offers you got this year are for incoming freshmen only. Applying as a transfer generally means little or no merit aid, and often lousy FA (except for some top schools/ivies). </p>
<p>Go to Loyola with the idea that you’ll be staying there. IF you go to Loyola with the idea that this is just a one year deal, you won’t take advantage of what it has to offer. Dig in and get involved with clubs and activities related to your major.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>And congrats on the free ride…which scholarship did you get?</p>
<p>I had to deal with this situation this year. I was accepted to some pretty prestigious places. Only problem, not enough merit aid or financial aid. However, my safety of safeties offered me a full cost of attendance scholarship. So I thought what the heck, I can graduate debt free. So there I go. </p>
<p>Going to a so-called lower tier college isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You might end up at the cream of the crop, and find out it’s a whole lot easier finding and making use of opportunities because you stand out more.</p>
<p>There is a dad on the parents forum whose daughter turned down Yale, Amherst and other elite schools for a full ride at a small southern LAC. The decision was purely financial. Four years later, the same young woman got into Yale again, this time to its med school, and this time she will matriculate. She starts med school without any undergraduate debt. Smart girl.</p>
<p>That’s what were banking on for our younger son. He took a near full ride to Alabama. He’s pre-med. When he goes to med school, he’ll have no undergrad debt. We can help him with med school costs because we have saved so much for undergrad.</p>
<p>A school like NYU is not worth debt. Honestly, apart from a handful of top privates, anything below Ivy League should come second to a full ride.</p>
<p>Definitely agree with Bedouin. Especially for writing, which is a low paying field. What you really need is a chance to work on the school paper as much as possible, or the school radio station, etc. You need to write one-act plays for the drama department, to work with a professor on editing her next book, to give poetry readings, to publish in the literary magazine, to get a summer internship on a magazine, website, or for a PR firm. Believe me, just going to NYU or any other college isn’t going to make the difference–it’s bylines and experience that make the difference in the writing world.</p>
<p>There are many ways to afford college. The full ride makes sense given your situation. But remember, you get merit money when the school you are applying to needs you more than you need it. I think that Loyola’s courses will be fine, especially the introductory ones, for the first two years. You will probably be able to get a high GPA that will give you excellent flexibility to transfer if you wish.</p>
<p>In the last two years, you may need to be at a place that has a more established reputation in your chosen field. Networking and internships will also be crucial, especially later on, so you may want to be in a good journalism city, like NY, Chicago, Wash DC, etc. </p>
<p>Doing a “half and half” strategy might make you able to swing college without going into debt. Full ride for first two years, followed by second two years with some financial aid and loans, might put you within striking distance. Try to think outside the box on this. Many people transfer. And it can be a very good strategy. Nothing is sacrosanct about staying four years at one place.</p>
<p>Thank you so much! Y’all have been really helpful. And thanks for all the links!</p>
<p>To answer some questions, I received the Ignatian Scholarship, which pays for full tuition and housing.</p>
<p>We could definitely afford the tuition at NYU, and I’d graduate $20,000 in debt–not too bad, because I work and could pay off a good piece of it before I graduate. But it would definitely require a little tightening of the belt.</p>
<p>I would have been more secure in my decision if I’d been pre-law or pre-med, but the writing’s a field that requires connections and for me to pretty much hit the ground running. That’s the only reason for my hesitation</p>
<p>You all are completely right about entering college with an open mind. I plan on doing that and giving my free school the best shot.</p>
<p>Y’all have given me so much perspective. Thank you again. :)</p>
<p>The general rule of thumb seems to be that you should never have more debt than what you will be making after college. $20,000 doesn’t seem to bad but you are in a writing major so it may be a bit harder to find a job after college (hopefully the economy will recover by the time you graduate). So while NYU is ok, the full ride may be great and start off your career good financially. If necessary, you can use that money saved for graduate school.</p>
<p>There are many ways to afford college. The full ride makes sense given your situation. But remember, you get merit money when the school you are applying to needs you more than you need it. I think that Loyola’s courses will be fine, especially the introductory ones, for the first two years.</p>
<p>That’s actually one thing I’m worried about right now. Loyola isn’t very challenging, and I know a lot of people (like 10-15) who have either already switched out, are thinking of switching out, or will switch out at the end of this semester. I also know a lot of people who have had to drop out because of money issues. So I’m going to stay one more semester and see how I feel. I’m super on the fence about this.</p>