Hi everyone! I am a sophomore in college and gearing up to transfer for fall 2016. I’ve been accepted into 5 schools so far
BAYLOR
TEXAS STATE
TEXAS TECH
TEXAS A&M CORPUS CHRISTI
TEXAS CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
Baylor has always been my dream school They offered me a awesome Financial Aid Package (34k in grants and scholarships). However I will still have to take a lot out in loans. The debt after graduation is what scares me the most.
The other schools are safety schools for me, but they do not offer my major which is Neuroscience. I am a pre med student with a 3.6 GPA. Im having a hard time making a decision so can you guys give me some insight?
You can approximate a neuroscience major by taking some bio and some psych. So look at which have the strongest of those programs. Look for research topics you are interested in -as you could work in a lab in a topic area you might want to pursue. Lack of a dept or major called “Neuroscience” should not deter you. It is often an interdisciplinary area rather than a major of one particular dept.
Can you list
1° your parents’ budget
2° how much debt you have for now (if any)
3° the result of this calculation for each university
(tuition+fees+room+board) - (grants+scholarships) =
It’ll help posters here make a cost/value analysis. 
I’m choosing the same major you are, I wouldn’t worry about major being an issue here. I think affordability should be your number 1 concern, do you want to graduate with a huge amount of debt that you are going to find difficult to pay off? I think @MYOS1634 asks the right questions here. However, in terms of academics and reputation then Baylor is definitely the best university on your list and $34,000 in scholarships and grants does seem to be a very generous offer. The total costs are $54,000 so if your parents can contribute $15,000 there isn’t much of a loan to take out or debt to pay?
Thank you @Ali1302 , unfortunately I come from a low income family,
therefore my family is unable to contribute t to my college.
Can you list
1° your parents’ budget = $0 => will they at least refund you the AOTC ($4,500) that they’ll get to defray costs paying for your college? This is money they’ll get to pay for your college so it should really go to what it’s meant for.
2° how much debt you have for now (if any) => this is important, because if you’ve not taken the federal loans freshman and sophomore years, I believe you can stack them now and it’d help you pay for your last 2 years.
3° the result of this calculation for each university
(tuition+fees+room+board) - (grants+scholarships) =
It’ll help posters here make a cost/value analysis.
If that’s the case then you’d have to take out a loan of $20,000 a year so $80,000 in 4 years. I mean that is still manageable especially if you have a subsidized loan. If you plan on going to graduate or professional school then you’d have a large amount of debt but it could still be manageable depending on your profession and potential earnings. You may be able to get financial aid while in grad school too especially if you are from a low income household?
What are the other universities offering you in terms of financial aid?
What school are you transferring from, and what is your price for the schools besides Baylor?
80k is a ridiculous amount of debt for UG, and there’s no way for the OP to take out that much anyway except with parents as cosigners, which is also not manageable because the family is low-income.
It sounds like Baylor is simply not an option. You can try to call them and ask for more aid, especially if another college (TCU is probably most similar and best for this purpose if you have an affordable package there) has given you more aid, but that won’t necessarily work.
In addition to cost, I would consider graduation rates, percent of premeds who begin the program who also complete the program, and precent of premed graduates who are admitted to a medical school.
I am pretty sure that graduation rates from Baylor are higher than Texas Tech, in general, but don’t know for your major.
In my opinion, finishing college and starting med school with student debt is much better than dropping out debt-free.
@Ali1302: that’s not possible. Loans are strictly limited (despite everything you may hear). Students can borrow $5,500 for freshman year, $6,500 for sophomore year, $7,500 for each of junior and senior year. That’s it because 27K (31K with interest) is what a college graduate can reasonably expect to be able to pay back in 10 years. After 10years, s/he may want a loan to purchase a new car, or perhaps a condo or a house… so s/he’ll be glad to be done.
Also, grad schools don’t care one bit whether you’re from a low income household. At that level, it’s merit only. If you’re a star, with great GRE scores, a great GPA, and a great GPA in your major and related courses, plus relevant research or high-impact activities, you’ll get a TAship covering your full tuition as well as well as a stipend to cover your living costs if you live frugally. You may even get a fellowship. Whether you’re rich or poor is not taken into account.
@Much2learn - I’m guessing graduation rate is related more to strength of the student body in this case. And graduating with some student debt isn’t bad, but 80k is terrible. It sounds like OP would “only” have 40k in debt since they’d be going in as a junior, but that’s still very high.
@usualhopeful That is possible. I really don’t have enough information to know. It is just something I would want to be sure that I understood first as part of my due diligence.
OP is transferring as a junior, so debt burden would be 2 years as opposed to 4, correct?
TCU does offer a neuroscience major! Baylor seems cost prohibitive; of the schools remaining, I’d go with TCU. It has a good reputation and students I know who have enrolled there have been very happy.
http://www.admissions.tcu.edu/academics/Neuroscience
Can TCU be any cheaper? They cost $60K/year.
OP, what is the NET PRICE you would need to pay at each school?
I doubt low-income parents would be eligible for $80,000 of loans. Even if they were, this will just make their financial situation worse!
I tried talking to the Financial aid office, however they said they were unable to give me more aid. My mom applied for the parent plus loan and her credit was actually approved for that (surprisingly since she was denied any private loans). But the more I thought about it, I did not see putting her at risk, or me in so much debt worth it.
So far I have taken out 0 loans so no debt here. I’m leaving a junior college so that made it easy for me to keep the debt down. HOWEVER after my advising session, I was told I will graduate in another 3 years on Baylor’s path so I will be taking out 20-25k each year to help pay for the rest of tuition.
Texas Tech estimated net cost $0-12181/year
Texas State estimated net cost $9145-9945/year
Texas A&M Corpus-$3327-19390/year
So you do not have firm financial offers from your remaining colleges then? I would speak to an advisor at each of them (in addition to Baylor) to determine how much time will be required at each to graduate as that will have a bearing on your financials.
Once you have firm numbers in place, I would go with the cheapest option. Earlier, when you said that TCU was a safety, I assumed that it was also a financial safety as compared to Baylor. I gather that’s not correct?
If you are unwilling for your mother to assume Parent Plus loans (probably a good idea!) then I don’t see how Baylor is possible. I doubt you will be approved for that level of personal borrowing.
I’m afraid Baylor simply isn’t affordable. 
Since you’re premed, you must keep debt to the lowest level.
Texas State isn’t very good with premed advising; go visit, ask to speak with
people doing Health Advising and ask about their success rate, if they do committee
letters, interview prep, what the median MCAT score is. Find out how easily you’ll
be able to jump into a research lab and do meaningful research. Will you be able to
take an Honors course? Honors college with a thesis?
Will you be able to TA intro to bio, intro to chem when you’re a senior?
(being a TA is a GREAT way to review all the basics you need for the MCAT).
If you felt like it, would you be able to work in a lab for a year after graduation and how
often is hat done (this would be for a glide year: this way, you’d apply to med schools in
June senior year and do interview during your glide year. MUCH better than applying June of
Junior year and doing interview while handling senior year classes.)
Ask the same questions at Texas Tech.
Compare the answers before making your choice.
TAMU- Corpus Christi is so-so and the price differential doesn’t make it worth
it compared to Texas State.
Your best bet so far is thus Texas Tech -but why is the range in price so huge?
Anyway…
DO GREAT now, kick butt, get A’s, present your research at an undergraduate research
conference, and GET INTO BAYLOR’s MED SCHOOL!!! 
That’s the goal, right?
Also… sweet deal for you: at that point, Baylor med school will be at “instate rates” for you since you’re a TX resident.