Our daughter (Bay Area resident) applied for undergrad business management and here is her list of colleges offering admissions:
Suffolk University Boston MA - 80% scholarship 20% financial aid/loan - guaranteed for 4 years. They also offer integrated program (undergraduate + graduate) in 5 years.
Bentley University, Waltham MA - $10K scholarships. No financial aid. We might need to get a private student loan. Total cost after scholarships will be approx. $50k including dorm, $40k without dorm.
UW Bothell WA - Out of state student fees + dorm
WSU Pullman WA - $10k scholarship, out of state student fees + dorm.
CalPoly Pomona CA - In-state student fees + dorm : approx $25k / year.
She has been waitlisted in UC Riverside CA and UMass Amherst MA.
Kindly advise which school is better for business management. Of the 5 above, Suffolk is the most attractive one from the financial standpoint.
Should we wait for UMASS Amherst waitlist to be cleared ? If she gets selected, we will need to pay out of state student fees only for the fall 2019 semester. We planned to move back to Boston where we have our home, so she will become in-state after 6 months as residents. Starting Spring 2020, she will need to pay only in-state student fees. This is provided, she gets admitted.
I have no idea about UC Riverside and whether she’ll get admitted (currently waitlisted).
Also I heard stuff about CalPoly (more favorable for engineering studies), but I’m not sure about business management.
In summary (financially):
Suffolk: $40k total cost for 4 years (without dorm)
Bentley: $160k total cost for 4 years (without dorm)
UW Bothell WA - $200k total cost for 4 years with dorm
WSU Pullman WA : $110k total cost for 4 years with dorm
CalPoly Pomona CA - $85K total cost for 4 years with dorm.
Any help/suggestions/advise is highly appreciated. Thank you.
How much can your family afford to pay out of pocket each year?
Which (if any) of these can your family afford with no debt other than the standard federal student loans?
Can she commute to Suffolk and Bentley? Is that why you have the 4 year costs listed without a dorm? What would the cost ve if she lives on campus?
On the numbers, it looks like the most affordable option is Suffolk. So she should deposit there. If she gets of any waiting list, that would be the time to decide if she likes the other place better.
@happymomof1 Thank you. //Can she commute to Suffolk and Bentley?// Yes, she can. I’ve requested a relocation from CA to MA (where we originally came from) as we have our house there still. If she takes up any of those two, she would commute from home (30 mins commute). Since we spent our savings for our first kid who is graduating next spring, we can probably stretch and pay about $12k to $15k out of pocket each year, apart from federal loans. Any out-of-state tuition + dorm would cost pretty much (or more than) Bentley, except for CalPoly Pomona. This includes UMASS and UC Riverside as well. On the numbers, Suffolk is certainly the most affordable given the scholarship award. She can also do 2 years there and transfer to UMASS or Bentley, or do her masters in a better business school. But I don’t know much about Suffolk or Bentley, so am confused.
Suffolk is easily accessible by public transportation, I would NOT suggest planning on driving in. There is no campus, but it is right on Boston Common, across from the State House. It’s where many of our local students are going, I know of a couple of Freshman currently that love it and one that just returned from a school sponsored trip to Malaga, Spain over Spring Break and all are securing internships over the summer, mostly at the State House or one of the nearby hospitals.
My daughter applied and considered it due to cost (she would have commuted), but she was accepted at an out of state school and really wanted a campus experience. I believe her best friend is strongly leaning towards Suffolk, however. I hope that helps!
@GrayStrong Thank you. yes, she intends to use public transportation, whether Suffolk or Waltham. We will be living not too far from those two campuses (Wayland or Natick).
@suninwest I’m not sure about the financial trouble, but I did have concerns about the frequent turnover in leadership, namely presidents. I asked a friend who is more familiar with Bentley and she felt that Bentley is a better choice for business academically but that Suffolk has more accessible internships and networking. I will see if I can get more details on the why.
@GrayStrong Thank you Sir. Much appreciate your insights. Also is it possible to transfer out of Suffolk, say after 2 years, to another University, in case if my daughter doesn’t like the way things are progressing (academically)? Say, can she transfer out to Bentley or UMASS?
@suninwest yes, you can definitely transfer. I know of one individual that ended up transferring to BU and had to retake some courses, but I don’t think that would be an issue either UMB or Bentley.
If your D has no friends in MA (since she went high school in CA) I’m not sure she will like commuting from your house in MA to college. She won’t have any connections at home. Has she visited Suffolk or Bentley?
I don’t know anything about Cal Poly.
I wonder if you call UMASS and ask for a spring start admission and explain your residency situation, perhaps she can the first semester at a UMASS branch near home or CC before starting in Spring at Amherst. If your D is living in your MA house starting May of this year, how long will it take for her to be officially a MA resident?
The strength of business programs at CPP are solid and tend to be more experiential, as opposed to the theoretical, than the Econ she’d experience at UC Riverside (if she gets off their wait list).
CPP has one of the more traditional campuses in the CSU system and almost all freshman live on campus. After that, they tend to move off campus and live in the surrounding areas, which are less expensive than the more urban areas of other CSU’s.
The one question I would have for your daughter is if she wants to remain in CA after graduation or not, regardless of where you’re relocating to? If she hopes to remain in CA after graduation, then one of the CA schools makes more sense as business internships and connections will typically be more CA-focused, even with international companies.
If she has moving back to the east coast in mind, then U Mass has an awesome business program and if she gets off the wait list, is likely to provide her with the best academic option. Bentley is terrific, but doesn’t make sense financially.
That said, she will need to decide on a school that she’s been accepted to and deposit to secure her space by May 1.
The wait list responses will not hit until after May 1 and you’ll want to be sure that she has a place, in case she doesn’t clear a wait list.
@suzyQ7 Our kids grew up in MA so they do have friends. We moved to CA 5 years ago due to my job transfer, but we rented our home there as we didn’t want to sell it and have been waiting to get back. More than commute, I want to make sure that wherever she gets in, it’s a good school for what she wants to do (business management) from academic standpoint. I’m taking her next week to visit Bentley, Suffolk and also UMASS Amherst.
I believe a 6 months stay in MA would qualify us to be MA residents (in some states it’s 1 year) for UMASS. High school gets over by mid June, and we’re planning to move back to MA by end June. By December, she’ll be a qualified MA resident. She is waitlisted and we will know by 4/15 if she gets admitted in UM-A, at this time Bentley / Suffolk are the ‘confirmed’ colleges in MA. Of course Bentley is expensive- with almost no financial aid, we will end up taking private loans, not a scenario we wanted to be in. Suffolk’s offer is the best offer among the 5 from the financial standpoint, but I’m unsure about their academic standing.
I hope you understand my confusion as a parent, trying to balance our finances vs. good education. I always think and believe that a dollar saved is a dollar earned. By going to Bentley we will end up with a $200k debt at the end of 4 years, which will take several years further to pay off, which is half the cost of a home in suburbs. By going to Suffolk, our loans would be approx $40k in 4 years, which is very much within our affordability to pay off quickly (1-2 years).
What about a gap year once you move back to MA? That would give her time to really check out her options, and would give the family time to lock down the in-state residency. You might even be able to save up some of the cash needed to help cover some more of the costs of a Bentley-level tuition. I really don’t like the thought that you could end up with 200k in parent debt for a degree that she had to commute to. More time in MA to really college hunt might give everyone better options.
How would she feel about Simmons? They have traditionally had strong business programs.
@happymomof1 Thank you. Giving a year gap is also an option, so she could even go to a community college in MA and potentially look at transferring some credits to the university she goes later. She didn’t apply for Simmons unfortunately. I’ve asked her to write to UMA admissions and request them to include/confirm her waitlist status for both Fall 19 and Spring 20. If she doesn’t get in for Fall 19, and if she gets in Spring 20, she could spend the next 6 months in community college in MA and start with UMA in spring, while establishing residency. All these options are open.
Just to clarify, our relocation to MA is not mandatory and will happen only if she decides to go to Suffolk/Bentley so we can save on boarding/dorm costs. Also she would become resident if UMA gets her off waitlist and accepts her.
@suninwest have you looked at UMB? They have a transfer agreement with UMass Amherst. It’s a little more challenging of a commute, but I know some very successful business people that speak highly of their academics.
Just to be clear, the only reason we’re planning to relocate to MA is : if our D chooses to go to any of those 3 universities (assuming UMA accepts her for fall or spring) to take advantage of either saving on dorms or availing in-state student tuitions.
