GWU is double the price of U Of M

Paying for College
21

<p>Minnesota is one of the great underrated bargains in education. They have an excellent math dept. I would have sent my D there in a heartbeat, but she is also majoring in music and didn’t click with the prof there.</p>

<p>Have you visited? It’s quite pretty with the river running through middle of campus. There is a brand new stadium and just finished light rail through campus as well. </p>

<p>A couple of things to consider. Are you out of state? Currently their OOS tuition is quite cheap, but they’ve been discussing raising it substantially. I stopped following, but it seemed like it won’t happen for fall '13. If/when they do raise it, it isn’t clear whether current students would be grandfathered, so that is something to ask about.</p>

<p>Are you bothered by large classes? I’m guessing GWU must have small class size. At UMN it will vary. If you got into honors, you can take many of your gen eds in small honors sections size 20. If large classes are an issue and you decide on UMN, you will want to think about your major. Poli sci is very popular and they run large classes. Even at upper division they still have classes over 100. But finance, for example, is better, with no classes over 55 even at lower level. You can browse the catalog to get a feel for this.</p>

<p>[Class</a> Schedule - Select Term & Subject](<a href=“http://onestop2.umn.edu/courseinfo/classschedule_selectsubject.jsp?campus=UMNTC&searchTerm=UMNTC%2C1133%2CSpring%2C2013%2Cfalse]Class”>http://onestop2.umn.edu/courseinfo/classschedule_selectsubject.jsp?campus=UMNTC&searchTerm=UMNTC%2C1133%2CSpring%2C2013%2Cfalse)</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

22

<p>GWgrad makes a valid and important point that more teenagers should listen to. (On the other hand, GWgrad could also consider using exclamation points a little more sparingly.) At the age of 17 or 18, a person has a hard time imagining the expenses that a young adult will need to meet (not just rent and food, but also work clothes and dry cleaning, car payment and auto insurance, health insurance, etc.) and the things that a young adult needs to be saving for (retirement–yes, already–and a down payment on a house being two big ticket items).</p>

<p>Some professional degrees (M.D. or M.B.A., for example) *may *be worth significant educational debt; a B.A. is not.</p>

<p>When I said that I don’t think GW’s name travels particularly well, I didn’t mean to disparage GW. Few college names do travel well, unless they’re associated with basketball or football. Right now, for instance, I’m sure Wichita State has better name recognition than Oberlin, but that doesn’t mean that I think Oberlin is a second-rate college. I do mean to say this, however: the number of colleges and universities known throughout the country by regular people for their academic distinction is pretty small. Go to Omaha, and it won’t be hard to find people who say, “M.I.T. What’s that?” Go to Spokane, and you’ll find plenty of people who say, “Vassar College? Never heard of it.” Yes, highly educated people know. But a lot of people don’t.</p>

23

<p>I am a graduate of U of MN (both undergrad and grad in Computer Science). I work at the place that hires from UIUC, CMU, MIT, etc. </p>

<p>Go to U of MN, do well in classes, get to know your professors. They will be invaluable at helping you with internships and job leads.</p>

<p>P.S. I never had any educational debt, and let me tell you - it is a blessing. Life has ups and downs and it is better to be down without worrying about educational debt on top of other things.</p>

24

<p>I don’t know how much stock you put in USNWR rankings, but they have UMN #11 for grad school in econ (GWU is #58) and #19 for poli sci(GWU is #36.)</p>

<p>[Best</a> Economics Programs | Top Economics Schools | US News Best Graduate Schools](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/economics-rankings?int=grad_school_rankings]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/economics-rankings?int=grad_school_rankings)</p>

<p>[Best</a> Political Science Programs | Top Political Science Schools | US News Best Graduate Schools](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/political-science-rankings?int=grad_school_rankings]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/political-science-rankings?int=grad_school_rankings)</p>

25

<p>As a parent of a recent GWU grad, I think the OP should go to UMN to avoid a lot of debt. However, (for gwgrad) my D loved her time there (is debt-free) and is making A LOT more than $40,000 a year!</p>

26

<p>Ouch!</p>

<p>I’m sure GWgrad feels a whole lot better now…</p>

<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC</p>

27

<p>Sorry. Got tired of the many times repeated ‘you won’t make over $40,000’. Not necessarily true. This is for someone from international affairs school, not a STEM person.</p>

28

<p>The mid-$30,000s is what the average recent graduate makes here.</p>

<p>That’s fact. Bottom line, most graduates make $30,000something after graduation.</p>

<p>It’s possible to make more than $40,000, but that’s not the norm. Some people do, but not most. If you graduate with a JD and become a lawyer, you’ll be making a good bit more within a handful of years after graduation. If you do social work, you’ll make less.</p>

<p>I’m not suggesting the OP will be making $40,000 still in 20 years. After they graduate, that’s ($30k-$40k) the normal entry-level salary for college graduates that is a realistic expectation.</p>

<p>The OP should plan their future based on realistic expectations and statistics, not “I’ll make so much more” dreams. If, later, they do make more, great. If not, they will have planned realistically. And, yes, I know people who make less and more than this. There are always out-liers in statistics, but we’re talking the average starting salary in DC for graduates.</p>

29

<p>The OP was not offered any need-based aid or merit aid. They’re looking at $100,000 in loans (!!!). This indicates that the parents didn’t offer to pay (or can’t pay) that kind of additional cash for college. GWU is more than $100,000, so it sounds like the parents contributions still leave a $100,000 (!!!) deficit. Yeah, I’ll emphasis that again. $100,000 is too much debt to pay for college. </p>

<p>If the OP got a near-full or full-ride, by all means, I would’ve said GWU would be fun.</p>

<p>I liked many things about GWU, but a dream college isn’t worth $100,000 in debt. It’s just not. The return on investment on a BA just isn’t there. A JD or MD, maybe.</p>

<p>Sure, I had fun at GWU. I learned a lot. But, neither of those things is worth $100,000 in debt that the OP will be paying for many years (!!!) to come. It’s just not. The OP should pick another school. U of M sounds perfectly acceptable. They’ll have fun at U of M and make a wise financial decision. The OP can always attend GWU for law school or grad school, preferably while working full-time staff at GWU to get the tuition benefits. The OP can always move to DC after graduation, and still get many of the cool experiences without sacrificing their future and straddling themselves with huge debt.</p>

<p>If the OP has parents making hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and can afford to pay cash, by all means… spend that cash. Not that I think anyone should pay that kind of cash for just a college BA, but if they have huge excess cash, go for it.</p>

<p>No school is worth $100,000 in debt for a <em>BA</em>… not GWU, not Harvard, nowhere. I liked GWU. But, I like $100,000 a whole lot more. Save your top tier school for a MD, JD, or even an MA… something that is cheaper and has a greater average pay-off than BA.</p>

30

<p>lerkin–</p>

<p>Wow, debt free from college. And, computer engineering jobs. That’s gotta be nice.</p>

<p>You’re right. Life has challenges and college debt is one more thing to worry about. College debt also affects the “fun” things you want to do after graduating, such as having a nice apartment, international travel, buying a house, buying nicer furniture/clothes, even eating out. Then there’s saving money for other things, even retirement. $100,000 would mean large monthly loan payments, wiping out plenty of a recent graduate’s salary. You then have to make life sacrifices because of college debt.</p>

31

<p>I definitely second the recommendation to ask the parents if they can contribute anything to your college at some school, and how much they would be interested in contributing to whichever school. I wouldn’t say “I want to attend GWU… how much can you give me?” But, make it about multiple colleges and they’ll make it a realistic number they can live with and perhaps what they planned on contributing (or not) all along.</p>

<p>You don’t want to start college assuming your parents are upper-middle class and can help when they can’t. You also don’t want to start college thinking your parents can’t help, then they give you money. Put dream school chats aside, and talk numbers.</p>