I am from Florida and am deciding between these two schools.
UF is completely free (full ride).
Georgia Tech will cost roughly 20k/year. This is affordable for the most part, but money is definitely a factor.
Is it worth paying 80k more (over 4 years) for an ENGINEERING degree from Georgia Tech?
At the moment, I don’t think I’ll want to go to grad school.
Thank you everyone!
There’s an easy way to figure this out. Calculate the opportunity cost of the $80,000. That’s how much it would be worth if you invested it over your career rather than “investing” in choosing a different school. If you put that money in an investment vehicle earning 7% over the 40 years between age 22 and 62, without ever adding another dime to it, you’d end up with about $1,200,000. That’s the fully actualized difference in cost. You’d have to make that much MORE to break even if you chose GT. I don’t personally think it’s worth it to choose MIT over an average ABET accredited school for that difference and GT and FL are much closer peers.
Admittance to Georgia Tech engineering is a big deal–but so is $80,000 plus interest.
@eyemgh Interesting perspective, but I think 7% is far-fetched.
I could MAYBE earn 2% on a relatively safe investment (CD). Still yields a high opportunity cost, though… of around $200,000.
I would also say that GT is among the best engineering schools, definitely closer to MIT than it is to UF… considering this, might it be possible to earn 200k more over 40 years coming out of GT than UF?
Also, I must note that we have invested some money in a 529 plan that will be taxed and penalized if not used for college, which would be the case for UF.
Most private schools cost over 60k, GT would cost me 1/3 of that.
Is this borrowed money for GT? If you have to go into debt then my answer would be no- not worth it.
GT engineering degree is amazing, but UF isn’t anything to be embarrassed about, that’s for sure.
Full disclosure - I was disappointed when our son didn’t get into GT but looking back, now I’m very thankful. And we could afford to cover the difference. UF is a great school in many different ways and he has been very happy there. I can’t imagine it being any better at GT, which - at the end of the day - is still a state university.
JMO.
We will not have to go into debt, luckily @SouthFloridaMom9
Yes, UF is definitely awesome… no doubt
If there is really no difference between schools like UF (which are great) and tippy top schools (which are amazing), why would many people pay full cost for those top schools?
Good question OP! I do think there is wiggle room for “fit” as long as a family can afford the extra cost.
MIT, Stanford come to mind.
GT is not on that level (imho) but it certainly is up in a high stratosphere for engineering. Why don’t you visit and see what you think? It is absolutely worth your consideration and if it’s a great fit and you can afford it - why not?
We have a dear friend -granted he’s our age - who started at GT in electrical engineering and then transferred to UF (he’s from Florida).
I just don’t have quite the ‘love’ for GT that I once had, especially after seeing our son at UF. But that’s purely anecdotal experience.
I have a sibling in Atlanta and the traffic there is terrible. Just a parent gripe LOL. On the plus side you can fly pretty much anywhere from Atlanta which is not something you can easily do from Gainesville.
Also loved the idea of GTL.
Let us know how it all works out!
Choosing CDs over a 40 year period is irrational. That conclusion is based on a fundamental misunderstanding equating volatility and safety. They are both material, but VERY different. The 40 year time frame mitigates the volatility. Safety comes through diversification. If you invest your retirement in CDs based on your current understanding, be prepared to work a LONG time.
Back to the schools, there’s no doubt that something at GT might be better than FL. Conversely, there might be things better at FL. My contention is simply that, on a financial basis, GT is not worth the cost difference. Choosing to spend the extra buys experience, like paying for a gap year, not guaranteed future earnings, especially when considering what the money could be doing otherwise.
Digging into the specifics, GT’s latest reported data showed just under 80% of engineering graduates had a job at graduation. U of F, just under 80%. Average early salary (for ME), according to PayScale, right at $70,000, for both.
@SouthFloridaMom9, My dad went to MIT (BS/MS) and my uncle went to Stanford (PhD). Both suggested my son would get a better undergraduate engineering education elsewhere. Two former Caltech/JPL professors told him the same about their school. They based it on two factors, heavy reliance on TAs for undergraduate instruction and an inability to translate theory into practical applications. All of them recommended other schools unless a student knew they were planning on a research career. They ALL raved about the graduate programs. The take home message is this, understand where reputations are made…the graduate programs.
Taking it one step further, one of the Caltech profs, who managed one of the most famous NASA programs ever, said point blank, paraphrased, It doesn’t matter where you go. There’s no correlation between the school and quality of engineer. What does correlate is curiosity and drive. He went on to say that some of the Caltech engineers (“engineers from my school”) he employed were simply average and that some of the best went to schools you’ve never heard of…Podunk U to use his exact phrase. His final words, don’t spend a bunch of money.
That said, my son didn’t choose the cheapest option either. He did though have a very well vetted list of schools that had zero to do with ranking and reputation and a lot of emphasis placed on the undergraduate experience (quality and number of labs, class size, use of TAs, or not, employment outcomes, etc.) and other non-academic qualities important to him.
What do your parents think (assuming they would be paying the 80K extra) ?
@AimingTop50 “Also, I must note that we have invested some money in a 529 plan that will be taxed and penalized if not used for college, which would be the case for UF.”
Actually, there is a caveat to the 529. My understanding is that, if you receive a scholarship that voids the need for the 529 funds, you can take the principal out without penalty. Capital gains would be taxed, however.
My parents are definitely okay with paying the premiums, probably more happy about it than me @colorado_mom
The caveat on the 529s is correct. Only the capital gains would be taxed. That being said, the 529s can be used for educational expenses or for graduate school (just sayin’).
@eyemgh is correct on the long-term value of the investment of the funds. I could quibble that 7% is high and that I would use 6%. But, there really isn’t much of a difference there. Putting that much in a CD is ridiculous. That being said, if you know of a CD paying 2% these days, let me know. I may have some short-term capital that could find a good home.
If your parents can comfortably afford GT (no hardship, no loans) and if you prefer GT then go for it. Uf not, then UF is a fantastic option to have. Congratulations!
Let’s use a very conservative 5%. That’s still close to $600,000.
I agree with @happy1. If you want to go to GT, go to GT. You asked the question though “is it worth it?” The answer to that depends on how you choose to define worth. On a pure dollars and cents basis, the answer is clearly no. My son however ended up spending about $50k more than his cheapest option.
If your parents can afford it, go to GT. I know it’s a favorite saying on cc that it doesn’t matter where you go for undergraduate degree but I disagree. GT is one step below MIT unlike UF.
@Ballerina016, based on what evidence? Will the OP make more money if they choose GT? The placement surveys from the respective schools don’t support that? Will the OP have a higher chance at finding a job? Again, the placement surveys don’t support that. I’m in no way saying GT is not a good program or that it’s better or worse than FL. I just see no outcome based metric that, in the OP’s words, it’s “worth it” on a pure financial basis. What’s your reasoning?
@eyemgh I don’t know if you recall us having similar discussion two years ago when my D16 needed to choose between full pay at MIT, instate for UCLA or free ride at few other fine schools. Not even covering the value of education at MIT, opportunities that only available to top school students, here are pure financial facts. DD had paid internships from the winter of her freshmen year for every winter, summer and part-time during school year. By now she outearns me. From this sophomore year she covers more than 2/3 of the cost with her internship earnings. So to answer your question, yes I think OP might make more money if they choose GT. Of course it depends on intended major. OP does not need to go into debt to obtain degree from GT otherwise my recommendations would be completely different.
@Ballerina016, You’re making a very erroneous assumption, that any student in question wouldn’t get the internship opportunities at their alternative school. My son is a senior at one of the great value schools your daughter passed over in favor of full priced MIT, Cal Poly. He has had an internship position every Summer, Spring Break first year and Winter Break fourth year. He has a near six figure job offer from the company he interned with most recently. This is anecdotal, based simply on two peoples experiences, but I don’t see that as solid evidence that choosing a school that is $80k more is wise from a financial perspective. Again, between the two schools in question, placement at graduation and starting salaries are identical.
It does matter where you attend school for your BS degree. It just doesn’t matter much. I don’t think any sane person here would tell you that all programs are created equal, but I think most would also readily admit that the difference in opportunities for engineering career paths is barely perceptible in most cases.
There are some real additional opportunities available to students who attend certain programs as opposed to others, but for the average student, there isn’t a whole lot of difference.