Dreams/Debt: Looking for Advice from Students and Parents Alike

<p>dairy state - i wasn’t being sarcastic. but, I’m not giving advice either. I’m just saying, it’s something to factor into the equation. i wouldn’t do it unless i were fairly certain where i’d ultimately get the money to pay back the loan. Something’s fishy here. Middlebury obviously thinks dave’s parents are sitting on a pile of cash and/or some other valuable assets somewhere. All I’m saying is that in ten years those assets will probably be worth more than the loan.</p>

<p>Dave has no idea what will happen in the future so it would be nuts for him to make a decision to take on a huge debt based on the possibility of hyper-inflation (we haven’t seen hyper-inflation since the days of Jimmy Carter) . . . What he does know is that he will be taking on a crazy amount of debt to go to Middlebury when he has an opportunity at a school of equal quality without taking on that debt. .</p>

<p>I am really glad (well not really glad cuz that would be mean) that someone else is in a similar situation - it has seemed to me that financial aid was no big deal to so many people applying to Midd, and that if you were accepted - it is basically understood that you attend. Midd has always been my #1, so I can totally relate. While I would be looking at 40k in debt total over four years (and that’s with me bumping up my grad a semester) - it still is way too much for me and my parents to risk - so I had to forego Middlebury and will be attending St. Mary’s College of Maryland - which is like Middlebury on a public school budget - so it’s quite an opportunity! While I was really bummed about Midd, I am really excited to go to SMCM and then I’ll have more options as to study abroad, graduate study, summer study while in school whereas with Midd anytime off school would mean only one thing: working a job. Good luck Dave - I’m sure you will make the rights decision - wherever you go will become “the school for you” - you get out what you put in so any school can become the “dream school.”</p>

<p>I am 99 percent sure that I am choosing the “compromise school” and attend DePauw U next year.</p>