Honors Program at State Univ vs Private?

Paying for College
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<p>I have been accepted to the Rutgers Honors Engineering Program with some scholarship money. They have a really strong Biomedical Engineering program, and it is somewhat selective. They enroll about 10% of their applicants to the Engineering school (about 650 freshman), and then about 10% of that qualify for Honors distinction. And it will run me about $20K/yr, with the scholarship money. My dilemna is that I have also been accepted to Lehigh University, although without any financial aid (need or merit based). It has a $55K/yr pricetag! And I was waitlisted at Johns Hopkins at a similar price, and I am still holding out hope that there might be an offer of admissions in May. So can anyone share their thoughts on whether they think I am crazy to even 2nd guess my decision to enroll in the Rutgers Honors Engineering Program at half the price of these other schools? I was also accepted at Penn State and U Maryland, although with no aid, putting their out of state cost to me to be $45K/yr. My family and I have enough money saved to cover the cost of the Rutgers for the 4 years, with some to spare for possible grad school. But Lehigh or these others would represent probably about $100K short over 4 years. </p>

<p>Also, from what I know about Rutgers, and the huge concentration of pharma and biotech companies here, and the UMDNJ med school, and the big hospitals located in New Brunswick, it appears to have great resources at its reach.</p>

<p>Thoughts?</p>

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<p>My recommendation in your case would be to grab the Rutgers offer. Congrats for getting into such a selective program and snagging a good deal to boot. Unless your family can pay for Lehigh or other private options, and you really can’t stand Rutgers, this is clearly a wonderful opportunity. I agree that it has great resources and you’ll do well if you stick to the program Also, if you decide to switch out, you’ll have no lack of choices at Rutgers.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the sanity check! There are so many factors to consider, and it being such a big decision, I want to be sure there isn’t something I am missing. Of course, the financial advantages of attending Rutgers Honors can’t be ignored, at 35% of the cost of some of the other private schools I have been accepted to, but I don’t want to be short sighted. I don’t think I am, given the great status of the Rutgers Biomedical program, there.</p>

<p>Thanks again.</p>