<p>My first time posting, so bear with me. D has a full ride at Rutgers Business School and SAS (she wants to study international relations/international economics/economics - this is to say not completely decided). She was also admitted at a few other schools (U Pitt - $10,000 per year scholarship, U Maryland - $48,000 scholarship, WUSL - financial aid of $8,000, UNC Chapel Hill, UVA, U Michigan - $2,000 per year financial aid, NYU Stern and Georgetown SFS) and she thinks that the best fit for her is Georgetown. We, as parents also think that Georgetown might be a good fit for her as she is focused on studying and likes to be challenged, but can't help to think if the Georgetown Education is worth $250,000 more than the Rutgers Honors Program. We might be able to pay the large Georgetown bill but we will definitely have to make sacrifices. This is only if both of us have jobs for the next four years, otherwise, we won't be able to pay the tuition. We would also hate to see her graduate with a student loan on her hands so we would like to balance the money - good education equation and get the best out of both. Any suggestions/prior experience greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>We were in exactly same boat as you 2 years ago. Our son got a full ride at Rutgers and some other scholarships in other schools. Also got accepted to Tufts with no money at all. He wanted to study premed. To us it was a no brainer. We told him to go to Rutgers and we would pay for his med school, throw in a new car, pay for his summer abroad, etc… He unfortunately didn’t listen. A lot of our friends told us that we shouldn’t let him go to Tufts and pay full tuition for him, since it was up to us. But how could we not. If we didn’t want him to go to Tufts because of money then we should of told him that before he applied and got accepted. He was miserable trying to make the decision. In the end he chose Tufts and he never looked back. I guess we will never know what would of happened at Rutgers, but he had amazing opportunities at Tufts and made really great friends. He’s doing a world class research since his freshman year, traveled abroad after his freshman year for his research, paid by the school. He has very close relationships with Professors in his department. I think for him, as much as it pains me to admit, this was the right decision. Yes, he would of gotten a good education at Rutgers. But I don’t think he would’ve been happy there. Every time we came to visit Rutgers, he absolutely hated it. Not a great platform to start your academic career.<br>
How does your child feels? Is she absolutely adamant about going to georgetown? It is a great school. My daughter will be applying there next year. She will not be applying to Rutgers. I don’t think I can go through this again. Lol</p>
<p>Yea, decisions where money is a major motivating factor between choices are usually the most difficult. Like most college decisions, it is very personal, and the weighting of various criteria can be highly variable from applicant to applicant (and parent to parent!). It is definitely something that should be carefully weighed and talked through openly. For many HS seniors, this is the first truly momentous decision in their lives where they are in the driver’s seat, so tackling it in a thorough and rational way can set a good precedent for future challenges.</p>
<p>The one aspect I’ll highlight specific to your case: you write, “We would also hate to see her graduate with a student loan on her hands…”</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the system as it exists now is largely driven by, and predicated on, the assumption that the vast majority of students will be taking on some student debt. For people who did not grow up or go to college during a time when that was a widespread assumption (and even for many who did), this is a very unsettling state of affairs.</p>
<p>My own take on it, having both benefited from significant financial aid and also having 5-digit loan totals to start, is that this situation isn’t limited to financing college. Mortgages, car payments, and various other things are largely financed through loans these days. Student loans can be planned and budgeted for, and many recent grads today are in a similar boat. With income-based repayment now a standard, federal loans are now much less stressful, I think, from a “oh my God I’m going to get hit with a giant monthly payment” perspective. Even if the bottom-line total looks scary, the monthly installment can be significantly less so.</p>
<p>Having said that, obviously, all things being equal less debt is better. But all things aren’t equal. Personally, I think my experience at Georgetown and the opportunities that being in DC have afforded me have all been well worth the extra cost and ongoing repayments. But, inevitably, Your Mileage May Vary.</p>
<p>I’m pro Georgetown as my daughter is having a wonderful experience there. However, my response to your question is think twice about the scholarship. My daughter turned down a provost merit scholarship (half tuition) at a wonderful university to go to Georgetown. In your case of full scholarship, it would not be a bad option to take the scholarship and put the money to other use such as graduate school or a down payment on an apartment or condo. Plus, she can probably transfer to Georgetown if she doesn’t like Rutgers. All in all though, I’m glad our D. is at Georgetown because her experience has really been great. As they say, “its a good problem to have” but like momworried mentioned, she doesn’t want to go through making a decision like that again. It’s never easy but either way, your daughter has an amazing choice to make.</p>
<p>@momworried, @dzleprechaus, @avarose Thank you very much for the great input, it is really helpful. It will be a tough decision. will post it when we we get there. Thanks again</p>
<p>@RomMom Do you mind sharing what your daughter’s GPA/Test Scores/Class Rank were? Also, what state are you from? This would help so soooo much, because I’m also going after the full ride at Rutgers and Maryland! And do you remember if Maryland was the Banner/Key scholarship? Thanks so much, you have no idea how greatly appreciated this would be.</p>
<p>@Screenager
We are from New Jersey
My daughter’s stats:
SAT 2310 (R 710, W 800 M 800), 3.9 GPA, SAT II: 660 Bio,710 Math II, 740 Lit, 750 USH and 450 on chem (did not report). She also wrote a great essay for Rutgers.
9 APs
The UMD scholarship was for 4 years not per year, sorry for the confusion.
However, she chose Georgetown and she likes it very much being there:-))).
Good luck to you</p>
<p>Thank you so much! Best of luck to your daughter at Georgetown.</p>
<p>Been reading the previous posts. I am a parent of a Rutgers presidential scholar. Almost three years ago, we labored on the same predicament. My son was accepted at several universities, but Rutgers offered a free ride. Since he was planning to go to med school. or ms in engineering after, we begged him to take the Rutgers offer. My son was worried that he will not be happy at RU, which was the common fear of high performing students like my son. After some agony, he took the RU free ride. Tell you what, he is extremely happy with that decision after three years at RU. The school has plenty to offer and it satisfied him. He is extremely happy with his extra-curricular activities (there are PLENTY to choose from). His research work for the school was excellent. He will be graduating next semester and he has job offers from several Fortune 500 firms. He says he might delay his med schooling and would like to try applying his engineering skills within the real world. All in all, it has been a solid and happy undergraduate education for him and he has no regrets. He says taking the RU free ride and not having to spend a lot for college was the best decision that he made. We agree.</p>