<p>I am a Florida student who was just recently admitted into Georgia Tech. As an out of state student, the estimated cost is about $42,000 per year. I plan on majoring in either mechanical or civil engineering, which works out because Georgia Tech is such a great engineering school. I'm probably going to only have a few thousand dollars in scholarships, so I was just wondering how worth it GT really would be?</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure I'll be accepted to the University of Florida, but that would still probably run me about $10,00 per year.</p>
<p>My other option is a full ride to the honors college at UCF, which is definitely appealing. </p>
<p>Is the debt worth it? Or is a virtually free degree the smarter move?</p>
<p>Can your family easly afford the differential? If they can, if cost is not an issue, and you and they can do it on your Stafford loans ($5500 freshman year, slight increase thereafter) then go for it. My son is going to an OOS school that is costing about twice what the instate counterpart would be and even more than that if one compares to a full tution offer. But we offered to pay so much, and he is chiipping in some, and so he’s going to his preferred school If the differntial were much more, it would not be affordable, but we can make it work. If you are looking at cosigened loans that you and your parents will have to take adding up to six figures, and your parents have financial issues as it is, then that would not be worth it. Use your great math skills that got you these deals and think it through.</p>
<p>GT for engineering (which is very good), is not worth $32k more per year than UFlorida for eng’g (which is very good).</p>
<p>Go to UFlorida.</p>
<p>Do you realize that you’re not going to be paid more as a GT grad than a UF grad (or even a UCF grad for that matter)?</p>
<p>What are your PARENTS saying? If you’re very affluent and your parents won’t miss the $200k, then go to GT. That is the virtually the only reason to go to GT in this situation.</p>
<p>Is the debt worth it?</p>
<p>Oh wow…just saw that. Your parents aren’t affluent. HOW MUCH debt? How much will your parents pay?</p>
<p>Do YOU realize that YOU can only borrow $5,500 as a frosh?</p>
<p>I’m a GT grad and GT faculty member. I love my school, but UF at $10K/year or UCF for free are much better deals than paying OOS for GT. UF and UCF both have good engineering departments.</p>
<p>Average pay for a GT grad will be higher than for a UCF grad, but the difference is not that large. Starting engineering pay is much more dependent on the person than the school attended.</p>