<p>Son just returned from Duke Up Close and LOVED Duke. Met incredibly talented kids, thought the campus was amazing and really thought it was the place for him. How can we justify spending 50 K for Duke when he can go to UMD Honors Humanities?! He would come out of Md debt free and out of Duke with about 60K of personal debt. Should he "settle" for Md or go to his dream school?</p>
<p>Duke is an incredible school, (we live in NC), however, the question really is if he went to UMD so he would be debt free would he be happy? He needs to understand that living with a regret for the next 50 yrs, is not worth it. If it is Duke he wants, than he should go....I should know, I graduated from an almost free ride 20 years ago instead of going to Duke, I still think about what could have been had I gone. Do not read into this too much, I got a great education, made great friends and had a great time, but I always wonder WHAT IF</p>
<p>Also our DS just came out of the same situation, AFA or UMD...in the end we asked him, if you can get the same degree, and money was not the issue, where would you go...in 10 secs. he said UMD. He also had an almost full ride to UMiami and didn't even think twice about ever going there (it was his safety).</p>
<p>its one thing if its a random school...but if its ur son's DREAM school and he doesn't attend...he might regret the decision...esp. if he ends up not liking md. duke is a really great school</p>
<p>There's one question: grad school or not?</p>
<p>Duke it is!</p>
<p>go to duke, if things turn out bad, there's always maryland to transfer. It's harder to go from maryland to duke.</p>
<p>go to Duke...just pay the thousands of dollars of debt over the years</p>
<p>Last minute change of heart-S decided to accept the Banneker Key scholarship at UMCP. </p>
<p>At the 11th hour the expense (50K/yr) was just too much of a burden for the entire family. Our S is relieved that he'll graduate without debt and is excited about the Honors Humanities program at MD. We're all relieved and confident he'll do well there. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the prestige thing lost its luster the more we imagined the burden of the financial reality of attending Duke. </p>
<p>(Also posted on Duke forum)</p>
<p>Maryland won at the eleventh hour for me as well (I also received the full BK)! Granted, if I get off the waitlist into my dream school (Brown) then I'll likely go, but for me the choice was between Maryland, Boston University and George Washington University - both of them at 25k/year after merit aid. And at the end of the day I decided that the difference in the experience just wasn't worth the extra $100,000. I'll save up the money for grad or law school and experience city living then.</p>