<p>I was accepted to Texas Tech a couple of months ago and was excited about Tech, but a few days ago I found out Baylor University accepted me for the fall semester as well. Baylor University was a long shot for me but was honored and twice as excited about being accepted into Baylor. I know which one is the overall better school (Baylor), but Im going to really consider attending Tech or Baylor. </p>
<p>Im currently in the military and by the end of my contract Im going to have 4 years under my belt. I ETS (getting out of the military) in June, and because of that I will eligible to 100% benefits of the post 9/11 GI Bill. This is great because with the GI Bill the government pays full tuition plus housing allowance. The only problem is that the GI Bill only covers all expenses for public universities, not private ones. I do know that Baylor has a yellow ribbon program, which is an agreement between the government and the school has to help the veteran pay for the tuition. The only problem with that is Baylor only has around 120 slots available and around 300 students trying to apply for it. Im just trying to plan out what the cost will be if I do not get accepted into the yellow ribbon program. I will be considered a sophomore because Ill be a transfer student, so I will only attend Baylor for 2 years if I choose to attend there. The cost is estimated around 50k-60K for me attending Baylor for 2 years because the GI Bill will only pay a max of 18K without the yellow ribbon program.</p>
<p>So the question is should I attend Baylor University: a well known private university. Or Texas Tech: an ok university but will have a full ride with a surplus of money. An education is extremely important to me and I want to set the bar high for my future children. In saying this, not having debt would be nice. Can you please help me out by giving me some advice because I know someone out there has had the same problem once?</p>
<p>First of all, thank you for your service to the country.
You might try posing this question on CC’s Financial Aid forum. You likely wouldn’t get a discussion of the merits of either university; you would get a near-unanimous response of “full ride with a surplus of money.” However you would get better reasons than I can provide. The only one that comes to mind at the moment is if you have any thoughts about going to grad school then undergrad debt creates a real hardship.</p>
<p>To me, this is not a close call. Go to Lubbock. Baylor is well known, but that doesn’t equate to being a particularly excellent school for undergrad education. Tech does a fine job of educating its students and has a strong alum base and decent career placement. Even taking cost out of the equation, many students would choose Tech over Baylor. Certainly in your situation the obvious choice is the free education at Texas Tech.</p>
<p>At the end of the day…a degree is a degree, that may not be the best advice, but if you must struggle to pay the Baylor tuition, it may not be worth it if you have a full ride as an option.</p>
<p>Go with Texas Tech, especially if you are getting a free ride. Tech is far more than an “ok” university. For example, it just surpassed its goal of $1 billion in its fundraising campaign. It has a huge beautiful campus, great Student Union, etc. Tech has a strong alumni network, especially in the DFW area, that will be helpful when you are job searching. Baylor is a fine univeristy too, but is not worth going into debt when Tech will be free for you.</p>
<p>I am in the same boat as you. I honestly didn’t know baylor was $52,000 a year until I got my financial aid package. Even with $34,000 worth of scholarships and military benefits, I still wouldn’t have been able to afford it. Go to Texas Tech, it is a great school, and you won’t have to worry about debt when you graduate.</p>