<p>Sou, you don’t want that much debt. I have less than half of that and its manageable, but its still a pain in the rear end. </p>
<p>The other thing is CASE is a great school nationally (even out here on the Left Coast) and you will have a GREAT degree that will be you in a GREAT position for your future. If you do well at CASE it will catapult you into whatever you are looking. $155,000 is more than some people pay for their HOMES (depending upon where in the country you live) and that is like an albatross you do not want around your neck.</p>
<p>I’m talking within the engineering field. Employers in the field know the school well. It’s like the Cooper Union, in that way - not well known by the guy on the street, but <em>very</em> well known within the fields in which it operates. </p>
<p>But to your last point - absolutely! This person can’t make a bad decision on this choice. It’s really down to whichever school he feels is the best fit for him. And if finances are a concern, they must weigh into the decision. </p>
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<p>Being in debt won’t affect your ability to find a job in engineering, but it will affect which jobs you can accept. For example, let’s say you find a great job at a not-for-profit - you won’t have the freedom to take it, because the pay will be too low. </p>
<p>Lower debt gives you freedom - freedom to do things like go to grad school (although I want to talk about that in a minute, so hold, please…), to take a lower paying job that you love instead of a higher paying job that you don’t love. Debt ties you down, and can make you have to chose paths that aren’t ideal fits, just so you can pay off your debt. It is something that you need to think about. </p>
<p>The thing about grad school in engineering is that, for most engineers, you’ll work a couple of years first, as both grad schools and the employers hiring out of grad schools strongly prefer that you’ve worked in the field before you went to grad school. </p>
<p>If you chose to go back to grad school, your employer will likely pay for it, if you go part-time. If you go full time, that’s another issue - you’d need to fund that - but most engineers go part-time, and work while they get their masters (usually either in engineering or in business.)</p>
<p>You will be a successful engineer coming out of either Harvey Mudd or Case Western. There is no doubt of that. You need to chose the best school for you, personally, considering all things - fit, funding, everything.</p>
<p>OP, you have listed only tuition costs. Remember that there is room/board/books, fees, etc. which are NOT included in the figures you cited in your first post. That takes the COA for both schools over $50k. </p>
<p>Neertheless, a $27k/year scholarship at Case is nothing to sneeze at. Did you get any merit $$ from HMC? Do you qualify for FA? What do your FA packages look like? Do they assume you are taking out Staffords already? Are they giving you work-study?</p>
<p>It is hard to compare FA packages and assess how much you’d have to borrow without analyzing the amount of loans each school already expects you to take, whether the school has gapped your package, what your parents can contribute to the cause, and what YOU are willing to contribute.</p>
<p>Mudd is an amazing place – it was one of S1’s final two choices last year – but you’ve got to take a cold, hard look at the $$. It may be that the effective difference in cost for you between the two schools over four years is $20k – but it may be $100k. Big difference, and you’ll be paying it for quite a while. DH borrowed $55k for grad school and the loans were $700/mo. for a number of years. Makes buying a house, paying for child care, etc. a lot more complicated.</p>