OP is a parent, likely student will get parental loan.
The best debt is no debt. Plus Texas Tech did great in basketball this year. That should bring a renewed excitement to campus.
If you think it is just 50K in debt, then you aren’t a math major. The initial principal may be 50K, but the loan repayment will include interest, plus there is the opportunity cost tied to the repayment of the debt. Wha tis also lacking in this discussion is that Texas Tech’s Honors College is consistently ranked as one of the finest in the country. So, the cohort this student would be with likely would be the same in Lubbock as it would be in Nashville.
Again though, is VB’s cost the OPs 80K in savings plus 50K borrowed, or is Vanderbilt literally going to cost 12500 a year before loans?
OP says she has $80K for his education and Vanderbilt means $50K debt, so I would think Vanderbilt will cost $130,000 total? With a “full ride” TT will cost nothing? And the $80K still in the bank? We may be talking a $130,000 difference, not just $50,000.
bjscheel is correct.
My nephew was facing a similar situation. It was Texas Tech or a private college. My BIL was on the hook to pay the full price of either. He had gone through similar choice scenarios with his older twin sons, and now some years later, the one who had gone instate Texas was doing as well or better than his twin. THe OOSer returned to TX with his expensive degree and is in exactly the same position as his peers who stayed instate, though he did get his dream school experience including being in a whole other environment for 4 years.
An offer was put on the table that the youngest would get half the difference in cost between the two choices as a graduation gift. He would not have to work in college, could go abroad, have a car, not have to take out any loans, and get a full expense allowance. He chose to go to Texas tech.
full ride! He will get more individualized attention in the honors program.
I want to add that the decision should take fully into account the family financial situation. It’s not a one size fits all decision. If this is how a family chooses to spend their money–on name recognition schools, that ‘s fine. A warning not to get into so much debt or spend so much retirement savings that it jeopardizes future quality of life. Its a fact of life that money does play a huge role in this. I’ve seen families ruin their credit, have huge ever growing loans looming over both parent/students’ heads, be strapped for the rest of their lives because they spent way way too much on college. Those loans are not static figures. The interest rates are substantial enough that they go way out of control quickly, and with capitalized interest.
No parent should want to put that kind of burden on their kids who are often too young, inexperienced, emotional to make a sensible financial decision like this. No child should want to put their parents into financial jeopardy in old age, with stress, too much work, depleting funds, bad credit for a college of choice. It should be laid out on the table that way
130K vs full ride is a completely different question.
Another issue is that Math is a very snotty field and grad school recruitment is specific. Texas tech is a very good university and its honors college is excellent but may be what a professor called “a handicap to overcome” for PhD admission.
Look at how many math majors graduate per year, in relation to the number of students enrolled, and ask how many enrolled in a PHD program. You can also find the origin of actual awarded PhD.
On another front, Vanderbilt costs 130k over 4 years, of which 80k are covered. 50k= if he wants Vanderbilt, he’d be to work part time from now till graduation and full time all summer (=4k) as well as 8-10 hours a week (2.5k per semester) + take his subsidized loans (5.5k), and achieve this level of summer/academic year earnings each year. Is that doable? Or are the 50k AFTER a financial aid package that includes a federal loan and work study?
I’m not usually against taking on a bit of debt for better fit, but 130k is way too much of a difference in cost, and it is actually going to be more than that. Cost of attendance goes up. In both of my kids’ cases, almost 4% year. A full ride scholarship will be insulated against that; a flat-rate merit scholarship probably will not be. Need-based aid is recalculated annually and is a variable, although likely to adjust a bit for COA. Also, don’t forget about interest rates. One of you do a simple spreadsheet and do the math projections on that, it’s pretty easy to project what it could actually cost.
Also, if you save the money you were going to spend on Vanderbilt, you’ll be able to help him later if you want. It’s pretty rare that people regret not spending money.
So no UT or TAMU? UTD with NMF was less desirable than TT for you guys?
Math world can definitely be snotty. FWIW math phds earned from 2013-17 by those who went to TTech undergrad were 11 (3,2,3,2,1), Vandy 7 (1,2,0,3,1)
You can see how those numbers stack up in this handy, searchable tableau database for undergrad institution of those granted phds from 2013-2017
https://highereddatastories.blogspot.com/2019/02/doctoral-recipients-2013-2017.html You can cut it by carnegie classification, state, subject, etc.
If the link isn’t allowed, google highered data stories doctoral recipients.
I don’t think that it’s so much that math grad schools are snotty as it is that math major math (at a program that is looking to prepare students for PhD programs) is at a whole nother level above AP Calculus. And PhD Math is a whole nother level above that while the top unis tend to take the top scorers on the AIME.
Speaking of which, why does he think he’d want to consider a PhD in math (rather than applying math as in engineering or actuary work)? Has he taken the AIME? How did he do?
If you can swing Vanderbilt with your $80,000 in savings and the remainder paid through current income with your son taking out $27,000 in his own loans…l would say do that. My next choice would be UT Austin or TAMU.
As a math major and an actuary with 30+ years of experience, I can’t imagine why anyone would go for a PhD instead - but I certainly recognize we’re all different.
By the way, @PurpleTitan, what’s a “nother”?
@RandyErika, nother way of communicating.
I think actuarial science is a real possibility for him. Thank you for your thoughts and feedback.
Actuarial science is very different from math research. For math/actuarial science, TTU Honors is perfectly ok 
Does he have a preference?