Our son is deciding between Fairfield, Binghamton, Penn State - all for business, with a merit scholarship to Fairfield. He has visited all and doesn’t have an absolute favorite yet (in other words, we could easily sway him)…he will go back to accepted student days in the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, wanted to know from anyone who has an informed opinion about these business programs via ROI. I’ve done a ton of reading/research…they all seem very reputable. The difference is cost…we are NYer’s and clearly Binghamton will be much cheaper, and money is important. We have some, but either Fairfield or Penn State, he (we) will have considerable debt, which doesn’t phase us too, too much if where he gets his degree will make a big difference to job opportunity. He’d like to go into marketing or finance in NYC after college. My husband and I both attended SUNYs back in the day and were less than impressed, but had no other options. Times have changed, I know, but we’ve definitely been colored by our lackluster college experiences and want our S to have the best possible all around experience, not just career wise, but, too, socially and emotionally - would love to see him come away with a network of like-minded people who can call friends forever. Thoughts?
Thank you! Attitude and drive definitely there academically, but he’s the kind of kid that tends to reserve judgment until he’s actually living a scenario, and since he’s still “living” high school, I think he’s just not quite there about getting really revved up about any one school. Makes it feel a little tricky as we sit on the brink of a huge decision!
I think he should go to Binghamton. I don’t see any good reason why you should go into considerable debt to send him to the other two schools. Binghamton is an outstanding university and your son’s success will depend on his drive and what he does while in college.
How much debt is “considerable debt”? Realize that loans beyond the federal direct loans ($5,500 first year, $6,500/$7,500/$7,500 following years) would be parent loans or parent-cosigned loans.
If you compare the three school’s Common Data Sets, you’ll see that Binghamton is significantly more selective, and the enrolled students have significantly higher stats. Would go with Bing, and bank the savings for an MBA down the road. Also, based on ROI (from payscale best value colleges) Penn State is #267, Fairfield is #120, and Bing is #74
If indifferent, then yes, go with cheapest.
Least potential regret that way.
Then again, pain leads to justification/buy-in leads to more love for some. Shrug
All great feedback - and very much appreciated, thank you! Definitely considered the idea that Binghamton undergrad would allow for more financial resources for grad school.
My son is a freshman business major at Fairfield. The business school is top notch and with the opening of a state of the art business building, small class size, access to professors, internship and job shadowing opportunities and 98% of graduates employed (with one of the highest salaries) or in graduate school it’s a hard program to beat. That being said my husband and I would have loved if he went to Binghamton because it was the most affordable but my son absolutely does not like big schools, he wanted to be closer to home, he wanted to be close to a major city like NYC and he just didn’t like Binghamton. We are fortunate not to have to take loans or go into debt to send him to Fairfield. If your son does not have strong feelings either way between the three I would say Binghamton is the best value and he will get a fantastic education there.
ROI is a terrible way to pick a school unless your return is measured in utility. Did you meet your spouse at the SUNY school? If yes, then maybe it wasn’t so bad?
Are we voting? If so, I can’t see any reason why Bing isn’t the choice. The costs to attend as an instate student are favorable. Bing is a great school.
Fairfield is expensive and so is Penn State OOS.
What reasons would there be to choose Fairfield or Penn State over Bing?
Bing is my vote too. All 3 schools have been on my kids’ lists as final choices. All excellent. I’d give Penn state a few extra points in terms of name recognition ,Fairfield for personal attention. But nothing that Bing’s value for the money brings. Congratulations to your son on his great choices
Has your child done an overnight and attended classes at all three?
Can you afford all three without parent debt and limiting his debt to federal loans?