<p>Lets say I get into northwestern. i get a financial aid package thats maybe lets say... 10k too much annually for my liking. i notice that i can co op, and i think that my earnings from co op later on can make up and even exceed this difference.</p>
<p>is it wrong for me to consider co op as an option with regards to my college tuition finances? and do people actually make enough in their time co oping that it becomes a very significant amount (like 50, 60k?). or is it moreso purely for experience and the salary obtained wont really help me at all? im thinking it should, but of course im no expert on this subject.</p>
<p>and most people co op for 18 months right? so that would include summers?</p>
<p>I read that CO-OP starts out at 60% of the entry-level salary and then increase by like 5% in each subsequent quarter of CO-OP. By your sixth quarter, it'd be like 85% of the entry-level salary. As far as what you can get while in school, CO-OP is likely better-paid than regular internships. It's also easier to land one of those CO-OP positions since this is how the employers actively recruit specificly NU students.</p>
<p>You do delay your graduation though. While you will graduate with more debt without CO-OP, you will start trimming those debt as a full-blown entry-level engineer earlier. To fairly compare the finance, you need to look at where your debt-level will be, say, by the end of the 5-th year. Once you do that, the difference is less than what it appears. That's assuming that you do get a job right after you graduate; in that sense, CO-OP gives you better guarantee. So I'd say, CO-OP is still a good way to go especially in this economy when internships are tough to get. But you should do enough research about the companies so you'd likely end up at a place where you'd be excited to come back in subsequent quarters.</p>
<p>thanks, but that didnt really answer what i was asking. </p>
<p>what i want to know basically, is, if i put all of my earnings to just costs of living and costs of attendance, can it significantly help me finance a northwestern education? my assumption was that by working 18 months at, lets say, 70% of entry level wage id be able to make enough so that it can reduce my own education costs. since, with the amount my parents would be able to pay, id graduate with like 60k in debt (in institutional and private loans), but i was thinking by co oping i could potentially eliminate that.</p>
<p>I didn't answer because you haven't given us the detailed breakdown of your estimate and what field you are going to be in. "Typical" entry-level salaries vary anywhere between 40K to 60K, depending on the field, env engg being the lowest while EE/ChemE being the highest. On the other hand, you can easily to this simple math: if you earn 2/3 of the entry level salary of 60K/yr, then yes, in 18months, you will get 60K. But that's assuming you use all the earnings to finance the tuition. However, keep in mind you do incur living expenses while working in case you haven't already taken this into account.</p>
<p>hmm, a conservative estimate would be to say that after grants id have to pay 160k for 4 years (so the 160k would include loans). my parents want to keep it under 120k if possible. im not concerned about saving any money for myself in the coming years. im hoping to do a iems and econ double major, since it seems attainable and very practical. i tried to take living expenses into account but am not really sure where theyd leave me. my hope is that i can maybe earn enough to maybe cut 5 year costs to 110k or 100k. is this logical?</p>
<p>It seems to me you need to look at what the NET you will have after deducting living expenses (does IRS tax such low amount?). Rent, which differ significantly among different cities, is going to be a big part of it during your CO-OP. Chicago is probably your best bet. In any case, there's no way you net can be anywhere near 50-60K. It's not easy to put 1000/month into savings (you'd have to be extremely frugal). Even at that rate, you are talking about 18K in 18 months. That's why it often takes quite a while to pay off school loans. </p>
<p>By the way, would your EFC increase due to COOP earnings? Sounds pretty unfair and totally discouraging but you may want to double-check that!!</p>
<p>nu says that youd get the same amount of grant aid, but that cooping seems to mess around with ur work study and loans and stuff, so ill count that all as parts of the cost of attending. yeah, i wondered about taxes, but on that kind of amount it cant end up ever being that significant of an amount. how bad are living expensives in the chicago area? i mean, i live in an urban area and i know taht i could at least function on 12k a year, and living expenses here are considered high.</p>
<p>since if entry level salary is like 60k, i could very well end up making 1.08x that or about 65k. and if living expenses for that 18 months is about 20k, then i dont see why i cant net around 40k?</p>
<p>dang it, cuz id need this to work out, cuz otherwise id prolly end up having to go to a state school lol.</p>
<p>can anyone who has done a coop before give some insight on this?</p>
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since if entry level salary is like 60k, i could very well end up making 1.08x that or about 65k. and if living expenses for that 18 months is about 20k, then i dont see why i cant net around 40k?
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<p>rent is ONE part, albeit a significant part, of living expenses. what about food/transportation/recreation/med insurance?</p>
<p>i was told not long ago $1,000 is the market rate in evanston. i think a studio in chicago may be cheaper than that in even the safe areas.</p>
<p>if the coop is in chicago during the school-year and accessible from nu campus, you may check if you can stay in your dorm room. i imagine you can since coop is technically part of the curriculum and you are therefore still in school.</p>
<p>gah, do you guys think that id have to pay lots of taxes on anything i make? since id say that if i dont have to pay more than like 1/10 of my earnings in taxes, id actually be ok, but its interesting. </p>
<p>how is northwesterns financial aid? how does it measure up to other top privates?</p>