<p>First a bit about myself,</p>
<p>"Gifted" Student
top 10% of class
4.7 GPA 3.6 unweighted
14 AP classes all 5s and 4s except 3 in APUSH
National Merit Commended
Active Varsity Sports Captain
Chemical Engineering Major</p>
<p>I was accepted Early Action into both Georgia Tech and Northeastern University. I reside in Florida. NEU gave me an 18k per year scholarship and estimated net price of 17k (my CSS is overestimated, actual family income will be filed in a lower bracket). My again overestimated tentative fafsa gave me an EFC of 004544. Georgia Tech estimated net price will be 26k per year. </p>
<p>Here is the dilemma: I visited Tech and fell in love. I care about prestige, rigor, and excellence from my college choice along with Sporting events, and greek life. Georgia tech is my first choice. My parents have committed to pay 12k a year. I admit I really slacked in high school (primarily due to my lack of desire to do busy work: my test averages always were high As.) I just need some advice. Personally, I see a better ROI from Georgia Tech and better experience to justify more debt, as I will be in debt regardless. </p>
<p>Thanks for any advice.</p>
<p>How would you come up with the larger gap from Georgia Tech? This is a lot of money over four years.</p>
<p>And while you have certain preferences now for college life, perhaps you would enjoy life in a vibrant city. Boston is an amazing place to go to college. There are many excellent universities there and it’s a fabulous city. It’s easy to get around and very international in feel. Atlanta just doesn’t have the same going for it.</p>
<p>I assume your net price takes into account all aid, which includes all guaranteed loans. If you are considering taking on additional debt, where will this money come from? Will you be able to borrow private loans without a cosigner? With or without the cosigner, have you considered the “real” cost of borrowing … that is, the total, including interest, that you will be repaying? </p>
<p>Both schools are too expensive, IMHO.</p>
<p>Both net prices exclude all possible loans, I specifically checked. So I still have federal subsidized and subsidized loans at my disposal and private loans. They only take into consideration scholarship and grant aid. I also applied to UF but the cost is quite nearly the same.</p>
<p>NEU is my close second. Georgia Tech does not give back Financial aid awards/estimates until April. As of now for NEU I’d personally have to borrow 5-7k a year and for Georgia Tech around 14k a year. Does a high caliber internationally renowned school warrant that? Also is 14k a year doable with just subsidized and unsubsidized loans?</p>
<p>You can only borrow $5500 as a frosh (that’s combined unsub/sub). You might be given a small Perkins loan as well ( maybe 1500). Your parents would have to cosign and qualify for larger loans. Will they do that? If not, then it’s possible that neither school will be affordable.</p>
<p>BTW…$60k debt is too much anyway.</p>
<p>Can you copy/paste your NPC results from GT?</p>
<p>“and greek life”</p>
<p>Do you realize how expensive that is? how will you pay for that?</p>
<p>Florida is really going to be your best option. If your parents will pay 12000 a year, plus about 3000 for bright futures, you’ll only have to take out federal loans. Private loans are almost always a bad idea. As a freshman you can take out 3500 in subsidized loans and 2000 unsubsidized. </p>
<p>Oh and I forgot, with an EFC of about $4500 you should qualify for about $1000/year Pell grant </p>
<p>I’ll get the Georgia tech NPC. And yes my parents would sign for a larger loan. What about the parent plus loan? Also I think I can get maybe 1-2k from my grandfather for costs. I have about 10k saved for misc costs hopefully including Greek life. Of course I’d also have a part time job somewhere. I also have many internship offers for the summer after my freshman year (it helps to know people at the local engineering firms). I qualify for some pell grants and that EFC will most likely fall a bit as the “will file” fields of my Fafsa are about 10-15k over estimated. I just have to wait for 1/31 for efile to open.</p>
<p>Too bad you didn’t apply to University of Alabama where you would have gotten significant merit aid.</p>
<p>NEU does NOT guarantee to meet full need. Their most significant merit awards go to the top applicants. The school very well could end up being unaffordable.</p>
<p>GA Tech is a fine school. But any school with ABET accreditation and your major will also be a fine school for an engineering degree.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that $2000 of your $10,000 will be added to your EFC.</p>
<p>You are trying to get your PARENTS to take out loans…and a significant amount of them? Really? How nice that you’re willing to strap your parents with Plus Loans when you have a number of more affordable options. But if this is OK with THEM, than that is what matters. But please, do NOT guilt your parents into sending you to a school they do NOT feel is affordable.</p>
<p>And free advice…it is very disingenuous to say you “slacked in high school” with your 3.6 unweighted GPA and the number of AP courses you have taken. To be honest, it’s a veiled brag.</p>
<p>There is no way UF is going to cost the same as G-Tech. Full price for UF, living in the dorms, in-state tuition would be under $20k, then take off Bright Futures ($3k) and any other grants. If you have an EFC under $5k, you’ll get Pell grants. There are a number of scholarships available that must be used at a Florida school, especially for engineers.</p>
<p>My daughter is going to Florida Tech and while it is smaller and less prestegious than Georgia Tech, she’ll only pay about $6k/yr after school merit, Bright Futures, FRAG, and some other small scholarships.</p>
<p>With an EFC of under $5K, you are really putting a load on your family to come up with the money to pay for college. They will have to apply for the loans if that is how you are expecting to come up with the money to make either of your EA choices possible, and may not get approved. If they do, it will go your parent’s or cosigner’s credit history, and they are stuck repayment. </p>
<p>That’s a lot of money you have to pay over 4 years, and not an “investment” that is going to be easy to pay off. Unless your final aid packages come up with a lot more money, my opinion is that this is not a good “investment” for you. Going to a FL school, possible commuting or if you can get BF or other grants in state, and getting in state tuition there is the best financial path for you to take. If you get an engineering degree from an instate FL school, the differential in terms of future pay vs loans you amass, is going to be favorable vs going to a private or OOS choice, unless they can match that bottom line cost to you. That’s really what you have to compare, is what each school will cost you. </p>
<p>Neither GT nor NEU guarantee to meet need, so the chances that you get you EFC are very small, IMO I would wait and see what the final numbers are, but make sure all other choices are being fully explored as well. If one of these schools does ante up enough to make it doable without a lot of debt on you and your parents, then good for you, but please do have some instate options at hand too.</p>
<p>
This suggests you don’t know how to compute an ROI. As everyone else here has been telling you, you can’t afford either of these schools. You need to look in-state to take advantage of Bright Futures. If you did, indeed, “slack off” during HS and do become engaged in college you can take advantage of a paid position at a Graduate School OOS.</p>