<p>I'm hoping to reach out to those of you familiar with the schools FSU and FIU. I live in Miami, approximately 5 minutes away from FIU. I was admitted in there with their merit-based scholarship that pays for 50% of their tuition, and the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship which pays $100 per credit hour. I'd be taking in around $4,000-6,000 straight into my pocket every year if I went to FIU.</p>
<p>I was also admitted into FSU.</p>
<p>I know FSU is a superior school, but I would be paying like $6,000 per year. They didn't give me a merit scholarship, but Bright Futures covers some of the tuition. My FAFSA money would pay for their tuition, and only a small portion of room, and nothing of board. They also offered me about $2,750 in loans each semester.</p>
<p>My question is, should I take the money, go to FIU, live with my parents and then transfer after I get my AA degree to a better school, OR, go to FSU, get into some debt, and experience college fully, and maybe have better opportunities? </p>
<p>I plan on to going to law school eventually, if that helps. My parents think I should stay away from debt as long as possible, as it is inevitable. </p>
<p>Long-story short: Is it worth getting into debt for undergrad and go to FSU, or should I go to FIU and save some money?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Law school is obscenely expensive, and there are very few scholarships. Most students come out of law school up past their eyeballs in debt. So the usual advice for pre-law students is to do it as inexpensively as possible.</p>
<p>Law school admission is very numbers-based. Your LSAT score and your undergraduate GPA will matter much much more than the name of the college or university on your diploma. So the usual advice for pre-law students is to choose a college or university where they have confidence that they can do well.</p>
<p>FIU looks like it fills those two requirements for you. Contact the admissions and financial aid offices, and ask about the scholarship money. What kind of GPA do you need to maintain in order to keep the scholarship? Is it fixed in dollars, or is it fixed as a certain percentage of the tuition? If it is in dollars, check out the rate at which tuition and fees have gone up over the past few years so that you know if there is likely to come a point at which you have to chip in more money of your own either from a loan or from a part-time job. Find out if the scholarship can be applied to the cost of a study-abroad program. If it can, that semester or year abroad can be pretty cheap for you!</p>
<p>Good luck with everything!</p>
<p>Thank you so much!</p>
<p>One of the biggest reasons I was considering going to FIU was that I would be able to live a “stress-free” life since I would be living with my parents; I wouldn’t have to worry about food/housing etc., and I think that it would allow my to focus more on my GPA.</p>
<p>As for studying abroad: when do you think would be the most adequate time to do so? Sophomore year of college?</p>
<p>Once you decide where you will attend, you can ask the folks in the study abroad office about when it might fit into your program. A lot might depend on your major. For example, if your major has a lot of courses that must be taken in a specific sequence, then you need to make certain that you can fit those sequences around your study abroad, or you might need to choose a program where you can take a course that fits into the sequence. Even if your major has no messy scheduling issues, your department may have some preferred programs for students in that major.</p>