<p>A free ride might suggest those schools value you highly. Will they be able to offer you any additional perks that will enhance your undergraduate degree?
Schools look to their top students to help put them on the map. Will internships be easy to come by? Will they help groom you for top awards? WIll they help pay for study abroad? </p>
<p>Do your more expensive choices offer scholarships to sophmores and juniors who excel? Could this possibly be you? Are you willing to be an RA? All questions to ask financial aid people.</p>
<p>I suggest you talk to the financial aid people at Vanderbilt, they are very helpful in giving out aid. My friend's brother goes to Vanderbilt now and he pays but it is cheaper to pay for Vanderbilt than attend our worst state school.</p>
<p>If money is that big of an issue, take the fullride at Rutgers. You'll save a ton of money for grad school. I know a ton of people who turned down ivies for fullrides at Rutgers. It's in a great location with New York being only a short train ride away.</p>
<p>quote: "That's what I was thinking. I mean, we wouldn't lose our house"</p>
<p>As a parent, I find this statement funny. "We" and "our" ? It's not your house - it's your parent's house. </p>
<p>I realize that parent's want their kids to have the best (I want that for mine as well), but sometimes we have to be realistic and to turn down a full ride at two well regarded schools to put your PARENTS into debt is...well, I'll just be blunt, selfish. </p>
<p>Unless you have tried to pay off a large debt yourself, you really have no idea how difficult this is. It WILL be a burden to your folks. Question is: is it worth it? And the answer: there are very few undergraduate degrees that will justify accumulating huge debt to obtain them when you could have done it for FREE.</p>
<p>If you are so very confident that you will be making the big bucks and will be able to pay your parents back - go ahead and get those loans in YOUR name and take on the responsibility yourself if you choose to forgo the tuition free options.</p>
<p>Your parents can just about do it? They are entitled to live a comfortable life and you giving up a free ride to a good college for them to just about make it for the next 4 years and beyond shouldn't even be a consideration imo.. I think you should be adult enough to thank them for being willing to make such a sacrifice but refuse it.</p>
<p>I don't think it is fair to judge the OP/the OP's family. Financial values are very individual...it is not for us to say definitively whether or not the OP should spend the big bucks or take the free ride. In some families, the best possible education is held in such a high regard that as long as a way can be found, it will be paid for. Others' values are different, but that does not make them right or wrong. </p>
<p>To the OP: it seems that you need to really have a talk with your parents about the financial aspects of the decision. You need to find out what "barely able to make it" means. If it means depleting life savings/retirement funds, then I would say that your parents really can't afford it and that you either need to personally take on loans to cover the difference, or go with the free ride. If it means lean living (no more vacations or restaurant dinners for the next few years) and a <em>little</em> bit of your parents' savings, then I would feel much better about telling you not to worry too much about the finances. </p>
<p>Yes, you can be successful from nearly any college, and certainly Rutgers is a solid, well-reputed college, but at the same time, if you will be misearably unhappy and will spend the rest of your life thinking about what could have been, then it would behoove you to figure out some way to attend your dream college.</p>
<p>I also agree wholeheartedly with Pearl. You have been offered a free ride at two great schools. If you choose not to take either one up on their offer, then I think you ought to take out loans in your name rather than expect your parents to pay the difference out of their retirement funds.</p>
<p>Why don't you try appealing first? My friend got into Georgetown and he got a bad package too so he is appealing. They may give you a better deal. If that still doesn't work, Rutgers would be a good option if you want to work in the City.</p>
<p>Just to clear up, I am in no way trying to be selfish. I absolutely plan to take the loans in my name. But I can only take so many loans....my parents would have to pay out the rest. I told them that I would reimburse them after college for money they pulled from their savings. However, I don't know how much money that will actually be. My parents haven't really said to me what exactly "barely able to make it" means. Whether that is just not going on vacations and having fancy dinners, or it really means trouble for their savings, I'm not sure. I'm leaving it to them to decide. </p>
<p>It just kills me that Wake Forest and Vanderbilt didn't give me any merit scholarships, while my peers with lower GPAs, lower SATs, and not as great ECs did. I know it's subjective, and those kids deserve it, but it's just frustrating that I didn't receive the same reward. :-</p>
<p>Save yourself (and your parents) the financial strain/burden and take one of those full rides - Loyola or Rutgers either one. </p>
<p>Imagine how good it will feel four years from now when you graduate with a degree completely debt free. Just think, you might even be able to afford graduate school or a new car, or even a down payment on a condo rather than sweating it out on how you are going to be able to land a decent paying job to pay of that looming debt. </p>
<p>Remember also, a four year degree does NOT guarentee immediate employment and those "average wages" that the college career office likes to quote - those are averages - you can be sure that your starting salary more often than not will be much less.</p>
<p>If you really want to go to Gtown or ND and your parents support you, go for it. You can always get small jobs during vacations and stuff to help your family and like you said, going to either Gtown of ND will hopefully pay off later and you will be able to repay your parents.</p>
<p>I can't see how we can confidently tell you to do one thing or the other.
We have no specific information. We don't have the numbers from Georgetown or ND. We don't know your parents income, ages, health, savings, etc.
I think most of the responses you are getting are just a litmus test of peoples biases on the free ride/prestige issue.
I think you should sit down with your parents and crunch actual numbers and don't listen to us again until you have.</p>
<p>When I think about people who got into Rutgers from my class my opinion of Rutgers plummets. Loyola is a great college. I say go there. Much better than RU. And this may be irrelevant, but girls at Loyola are hot. (And no, I don't go to Loyola myself so I wouldn't say I'm being biased.</p>
<p>I agree with Artic16 about some of the people who get into Rutgers, but that is only one side of the spectrum. The honors program has a ton of advantages, and the students are quite bright.</p>
<p>Polihist: the OP posted this originally in April 07. He/She is probably long gone from the site. Always note the dates of threads. Smalllab dredged this one up from WAAAAY back. LOL</p>