Hey everyone! This is my first time posting on this site (I accidentally posted an unfinished version of this a while ago but here it is in full form), but I’ve been having trouble deciding between two options for college and was wondering what your thoughts are.
I’m interested in doing aerospace engineering. It’s always been a longstanding interest of mine, however I’m obviously just a student in high school with little real exposure to the field, so I acknowledge that I might explore some other things in college and that this could maybe change.
I got Rutgers Honors College full ride, UT Austin Engineering Honors program, and UIUC James Scholars Honors Program. With UT Austin and UIUC it would cost about 120k total vs almost nothing at Rutgers. I’m confused because UT and UIUC have better programs and from what I saw nicer labs/facilities, but Rutgers obviously is better financially. Plus, covid-19 is making things unpredictable now, so that’s also a factor.
Any thoughts are welcome! Thanks in advance 
Is this really a question? Free vs. $120K when all the program are ABET accredited? Would your parents happily pay the $120K? Are you sure that $120K is accurate? UT is ~$55K/year. UIUC is the same for OOS.
@Erin’s Dad Yeah the $120k is because my parents plan to move to whichever state I end up going to, if I do go out of state. That was the whole plan to begin with, so if coronavirus didn’t happen they planned to move this year and I could have received in state tuition the next 3 years at UT so it would have cost a lot less, but now because of the pandemic, moving isn’t really possible at the moment so it would be like 2 years out of state tuition and 2 years in state if things at least get better next year. That’s where I got the 120 number from.
I don’t think they would happily pay it, and quite honestly I don’t know how I would feel if I did choose that either. I see Rutgers makes the most practical sense but I guess I’m still drawn to other schools for the experience I envisioned, but maybe I’m just imagining things in both cases. Thanks for the help!