<p>I have a question for the parents here:</p>
<p>I've been offered a full scholarship at a public university (not a particularly well-known one, not particularly good in my area of study).</p>
<p>Meanwhile, I've got a good shot at getting into a better school (more well known, better in my area of study, etc. etc.)</p>
<p>In your experience, is it worth it to get out of school debt free? Or are the extra bucks worth it for the superior education/connections made?</p>
<p>You'll have to be more specific as to program, schools, level of debt and your future plans. For example, if you want to get into a field that doesn't pay much money (non-profit work, for example), then you really want to get out of school debt free. </p>
<p>No matter how good the school is or how great its program for XXX is, if you will come out of college with $100K+ debt--that is not good.</p>
<p>Agree with ellemenope. You need to figure out the specifics, if you have not already. Then go from there.</p>
<p>By all means, apply to those schools you are interested in, and then compare the scholarship packages and see if graduating with all that debt is worth it to you. If you plan on going onto law, med or grad school it might be especially alluring. If you got a free ride offer from public u due to National Merit, you might look into some of the other good schools that offer free rides to NMs....</p>
<p>If your "better" school acceptance comes, you can even use your current FA package as leverage. Then weigh your options. There are aid calculators that can let you estimate the total loans you might need to take and what the payments will be and for how long after graduation</p>
<p>Are you planning to go to graduate school? Connections are important in some fields and not so important in others. Sometime GPA is very important, sometime not so much. If you are looking for somewhat intelligent assessment, you need to provide more details.</p>
<p>It also matters how much better the better school is.</p>
<p>If you are talking about a very decent state university such as Maryland, Virginia, UC system, even UMass quality with a full ride vs. an ivy or semi ivy such as Tufts with full pay, I would take the full ride unless your dad has big bucks. </p>
<p>However, yes, a lot will depend on the quality of the school with the free ride and the quality of their majors that you would be interested in.</p>
<p>Or your mom has big bucks.:)</p>
<p>To state the obvious, and to agree with the other posters, it is a balancing act and we don't know what we balancing. ;) In my family's situation - a debt-adverse high achiever pre-med deciding between a Top 50 LAC and Top 3 uni, with the uni being $100K more (would fluctuate with FA each year), she chose the LAC and it is working out great. </p>
<p>Had it been the Top 3 uni and a school of less quality and rep to med/grad schools than her school? That's easy. Had it been her school and a school of lesser appeal than her uni there would have been no question,either. Had the difference been smaller, hmmmmmmm....how much smaller? Had she not been pre-med? Had she been interested in a career where the AB is considered an appropriate terminal degree? A career where connections/prestige gained at UG are paramount/very important? Several other factors including fit and feel and "druthers"?</p>
<p>She may have made a different decision. But then again, she loves her school. Maybe not.</p>
<p>curmudgeon,
That is exactly what we went thru with our D who is currently pre-med at state school. She loves her school and combined bs/md program that she is in.</p>
<p>I'm going into a social studies related field (not sure exactly, probably journalism or economics or politics related). The full ride would be to University of Alabama or University of Missouri. Our family couldn't afford to pay 4 years of a school, probably more like 1/4 of the cost for REALLY expensive schools (Ivies, etc.) We might get financial aid though.</p>
<p>Missouri-Columbia supposedly has a great program in journalism.</p>
<p>If you think you could qualify for finaid at Harvard or some other Ivy (not all give the same amount of aid), then by all means apply then compare offers in April.</p>
<p>If you do decide on Journalism, Mizzou is an excellent choice. I agree with the others, pursue everything and then figure out your options come April.</p>
<p>Journalism isn't generally a very lucrative field straight out of school and one that is getting increasingly more difficult to secure employment in at all. I would be hesitant to graduate with much debt in a field that won't pay much at the beginning.</p>
<p>Do you qualify for Bama's honors program? We have lots of friends whose children are there and they love it.</p>
<p>^Agree with you about journalism, LMM196. The newspaper business is especially hard hit.</p>
<p>I would assume if the OP thinks a full ride is possible at U of Alabama, then he/she qualifies for the Honors program.</p>
<p>Are you sure about your chances at a full ride at these schools? Are you a Missouri resident? They don't offer anything close to a full ride for out of state students and if you are an in state student, there is an extensive interviewing process. I HIGHLY doubt you will receive a full ride to Missouri.</p>
<p>At Alabama you must be a NMF for a full ride. They do offer some full tuitions that you may qualify for, but a full ride= everything covered.</p>
<p>Don't think schools that you are heavily qualified for will just hand over full rides to you. There are dozens of top of the line candidates who will apply to just about every state flagship public with a real intention of going there.</p>
<p>I thought I had a great shot at a number of institutions and I ended up only getting one offer for a full ride when someone else turned it down and I was first on the wait list.</p>
<p>Wait until you have all the offers on the table, and then weigh your options. Otherwise, you may decide on something only to find out that it's not an option.</p>
<p>I'm not sure about Mizzou but I was NMF so I know for sure I'd get a full ride at Alabma (they sent me a letter saying so). I'm thinking journalism may not be a career by the time I'm out of college, which is why I'm hesitant to go to a J school like Mizzou.</p>
<p>^ SaveonCollege brought up good points...don't decide until you actually have the options</p>
<p>Congrats on the NMF, Alabama and Oklahoma are the 2 schools who I believe are most frequently cited as giving full rides for NMF, so maybe you mixed up Oklahoma with Missouri.</p>
<p>Journalism is an evolving field. The traditional newspaper reporter may be vanishing, but new forms of the profession are coming to prominence.</p>
<p>The skills of journalism transfer well into other areas, so a bachelor's degree in journalism is not going to be a waste of time for someone with your intellect. There's plenty of graduate programs you could go into. Law school or working towards a PHD in mass communication are plausible options.</p>