Daughter got capped at first choice, UT Austin. Planned to attend Texas Tech, but was offered great scholarships (equates to full ride) at Texas State. Her planned major is Public Relations, but may change to another major related to Journalism/Communications. Both schools seem to be equal in those departments. Not interested in Greek life, enjoys theatre (very involved in high school), not into sports and tends to be more liberal, politically.
Texas Tech: Pros–8 hours from home (pro for her, con for me lol), best friend would be roommate. Cons–some scholarships, but would have to take out student loans; Lubbock in the middle of nowhere
Texas State: Pros–Full ride; more opportunity for internships due to proximity to Austin and San Antonio? Cons–1 hour from home (con for her, pro for me), “everyone goes there,” She feels that Texas State is not as highly regarded as Tech.
I would strongly discourage the loans , but let her take them if she insists (no more than the federal limit). She will be the one who has to pay them back.
This article may be of use in helping your daughter decide.
“College debt also has a big impact, on the negative side. Only 2 percent of those with $20,000 to $40,000 in undergraduate loans reported they were “thriving.” That’s pretty troubling, since $29,400 is the national average for the 7 in 10 students who borrow.”
I don’t know anything about those particular schools, but I did have a DD’19 who was reluctant to go to a semi-local school (1.75 hours) because “everybody goes there”. Otherwise it was a perfect fit and no loans. Mainly she wanted people to say “Wow” to her choice and not “Oh yeah so and so is there”. But other people’s reaction to her choice was not going to be our guiding factor!
When she got on the accepted students FB page, she realized it was going to be a lot different from HS. Yes, there are some classmates there but she doesn’t see much of them unless she chooses to.
We had many talks about how going to school debt-free in a non-exotic location would give her a lot more freedom to go where she wants afterward. After all, the time spent at college is maybe 32 months of time on campus in all. For her, it wasn’t worth hocking the next 10 years, simply to go somewhere “different”. (Her other choices were not better academically.)
I would go for Texas State. Tech is in Lubbock, which is sort of an isolated love it or hate it city. There’s literally nothing around except Lubbock. San Marcos is directly between Austin and San Antonio, giving her the best of both cities. This usually equates to internships and job prospects. Plus the university is right on the San Marcos river, which is a big swimming hotspot for students. The only downside to the campus is that everything is either uphill or downhill. Bring walking shoes.
Texas State - PR is a brutal field to get into, pays crap, and oh by the way, her having a roomie set up at Tech is a con, not a pro. College is about expanding and meeting new people. Walking in with a friend brings an initial comfort level and later burns you as you didn’t take that chance to expand yourself. Also, I’ve been to Lubbock twice for work - let’s be honest - it’s not the nicest city.
She and her friend are both outgoing and have different majors and interests, so I’m not worried about that. I’m more concerned that living in such close quarters might ruin their friendship. Lol.
Thanks for your input! You’ve made some great points. I’ve also told my daughter that the “others” that you want to impress won’t be paying your student loans.
So true! DD does love her school, and wrote me a letter a month or two in to thank me and apologize for her stubbornness during the process. She realized she was in the right place. Hope your DD ends up happy too!
I think the “party school” reputation isn’t as strong as it was many years ago. Most of the lists I’ve seen recently have UT-Austin at #1 and both Tech and Texas State in the top 5.
Top U.S. party schools doesn’t have any TX schools in the top 20. However, a search for Texas party schools shows UT on top with SMU second and TX State, TX Tech and TCU in the next group. It’s what you make of it. All of these schools are large enough that the vast majority aren’t Greek or that like to work hard in addition to playing hard.
Maybe your daughter could go to TX State with the focus on PR, journ/comm and if she decides that it’s not an ideal fit, she can transfer to UT where those majors are among the best in the nation. They say that “the majority of our journalism coursework is classified as upper-division and is limited to those students with 60 or more hours.” Congrats on great scholarship support at TX State and best wishes on the journey.