<p>I'm trying to decide whether to go to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign or Illinois Institute of Technology. After 4 years of school, my loans will total $60,000 for UIUC and either $20,000 or $40,000 for IIT (still trying to figure out the housing cost). Both of these are for mechanical engineering, but I'm thinking about changing to aerospace or maybe civil engineering too.</p>
<p>I've heard that the rule of thumb is you shouldn't go in debt more than your first year starting salary, is this true?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Yes, however UIUC is FAR better than IIT. I think it would be worth it in this case.</p>
<p>I would say UIUC just has the prestige. The students that attend Illinois Institute have somewhat same stats at UIUC. Housing is 9k…at IIT. </p>
<p>Average SAT:
UIUC: 1970
IIT: 1820</p>
<p>I don’t think UIUC is worth more than 40k debt. 60k is extremely high. It might take you more than 6 years to pay it back. You might just think debt as a number right now but when its time to repay you will cry. If IIT costs 40k debt then goto UIUC, if IIT is only 20k debt then goto IIT.</p>
<p>It’s difficult to gauge the prestige differences from stats because large public engineering programs (UIUC, UMich, Georgia Tech, etc) often rely upon weeding out a large percentage of their engineers in the first 1-2 years. That being said, if your only concern is getting a job after graduation, it looks like IIT would be better for you. Just get a better idea of how much you’d actually have in loans, because $20,000 is a pretty large range.</p>
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<p>A more conservative rule would be the Stafford loan limit, or half your entry level job pay, whichever is less.</p>
<p>Note that many people overestimate the pay levels that they expect for jobs at graduation. You may want to look at the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys-4.html</a> . Note also that during economic or industry downturns, it is possible to graduate into the unemployment line.</p>
<p>Do you have any other lower debt choices?</p>
<p>You might try this loan payment calculator:
[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Loan Calculator](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Loan Payment Calculator - Finaid)</p>
<p>At $60,000 debt, the monthly payment is about $700.00. Personally I think $60k is too high, even $40k is a bit beyond the upper limit of reasonable debt.</p>
<p>To put the debt amounts against other items - do you dream of buying a “cool car” upon graduation? Giving that up makes college debt easier to manage. It’s all about opportunity cost.</p>
<p>As long as IIT is accredited, and has adequate facilities for your major, go to whichever school you like the best. Which school fits your personality better? Which school has activities on-campus and nearby that better captivate your interests? Which school has a more attractive campus (to you)?</p>
<p>No sense trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.</p>
<p>Thanks every for the input, I’m bumping this in hopes of getting a few more replies</p>