A 4 hour commute for a student doesn’t seem very realistic even if it’s possible to work on the train.
It seems this students college selection is driven by where his girlfriend is living…which is Philadelphia.
But he did have NYU on his list…which would be the SAME commute as CUNY…and NYU is guaranteed to be far less affordable.
He also had Fordham in his list so apparently he is entertaining coming into the city. As I sad there are people who commute to NYC from Philadelphia and other parts of PA everyday for work. Op would ultimately like to work in NYC. Is he wants to study business Bauruch is definite a better choice than Fordham. and IME having attended both Baruch and Stern, I think I got a better education at Baruch
Seems to me like a finance student would be calculating the risks (and quantifying their impact) on a plan which relies on living with a GF and splitting expenses.
A GF is not a spouse. So there is a risk which is NOT zero that the relationship doesn’t last as long as it needs to in order to make the math work on the monthly expenses.
Rent in Philly is reasonable for the East Coast. But health insurance and everything else (books, fees) are not cheaper than they would be elsewhere. Rent in Boston is horrendous.
I’d be sharpening my pencil and making sure I’m not making overly optimistic assumptions here. What happens if the GF decides she’s done with the relationship and the living situation before the finance degree gets completed?
figure 5% and a 10 year note on 50000 comes out to about 6400/year in payments, (close enough for our purposes anyway) so the “prestige” job is going to have to pay about 10-12k more per year than the State U graduate gets just to break even because you’re getting into the highest marginal tax rates at that point. I.E. 10k gross is going to yield you around 6k after tax. By the time you’re 3 years out of school, your future is based mostly on the energy and drive you show at work, and there are few things more sad than the 40 year old who interjects their ivy league alma mater into every conversation.
SO… plan a says take 50k in debt to go to a pretty school, come out a little upside down.
plan b maybe says take the finance degree without debt, then for the first two years, take MBA classes on your own if you must. Three years out of school plan b puts you so far ahead plan a may never catch up.
Yes the prestige schools do offer some connections, But to be perfectly candid a lot of those connections are already parents, uncles & aunts, neighbors, etc.
As far as I know, no college other than a service academy gaurantees you a specific salary on graduation. In my experience (and that of others here on CC), corporate jobs may get a bonus based on GPA, but extraordinarily rarely based on the college.
Maybe it’s me…but I am surprised that a student who is studying finance already hasn’t been required to take a personal finance course.
Nope. Personal finance may be offered in high school, may be offered as an online module in college, but is not related to what finance majors learn.
MYOS, Finance majors learn about net present value, how to quantify risk, how to project cost increases using inflationary estimates and fluctuating interest rates, and how to calculate a payback table with varying assumptions.
This is exactly what the OP is asking- how much debt is “safe” given the number of variables. But the OP seems to want to hear “go for broke, it’s worth it” without actually doing the sensitivity analysis.
I just find it ironic that finance majors want to handle the money of others…when they don’t seem to understand how to do so themselves,
Ok point by point
-personal finance is included in finance curriculums sometimes but is a major, non transferable class lol.
-applied to Baruch, queens, and Brooklyn (can do up to 4 in one application)
-I am acutely aware that a girlfriend right now does not mean a girlfriend forever, but we have been together for longer than some people have been married (coming up on 4 years) and we have already lived together for many years so there’s no surprises that are going to happen there.
- she was accepted to grad schools in many places and I've applied to like 15 undergraduate schools so I should hopefully have plenty of options
-also, since she got the jack kent cooke scholarship, she’s offering to pay for housing if I don’t get mine
blossom, I was joking, along the lines of thumper1.
“personal finance” and finance courses are quite different - here’s a description “Why do we pay taxes? How do credit cards work? Learn proper money management skills and how to achieve financial success in this one-semester course. Find out how to avoid common financial mistakes, how to invest in your future, and how to manage your personal and family finances effectively.” Personal finance is also included in “Independent Living” or " Choices" classes.
Myos- gotcha. We are on the same page.
OP- best of luck to you. I’ll buy you a fancy dinner if you guys move to NY or Philadelphia and discover “no surprises that are going to happen there”. Even after dating for four, long, years. I’ve been married for 35 years and every single move, job change, promotion, etc. (not to mention parental illness or a financial setback) brings us surprises. Some wonderful, some terrible, some neither wonderful nor terrible but still incredibly stressful.
I would encourage you to keep an open mind as you take this next step. Whether you end up in a fabulous career in finance doing interesting and cutting edge, creative things, or just end up crunching numbers in the Treasurers office fifteen levels down in an industrial corporation… learning to keep an open mind- particularly when you elicit advice and then don’t want to take it- is going to help you tremendously in the corporate world.
Sometimes seeing facts from another person’s perspective is really, really helpful.
Baruch has outstanding career services btw, if you are prepared to take advantage of them. Better than Queens and Brooklyn. All three have fine finance departments, but career services at Baruch is top notch. But they don’t come to your apartment and look for you. You have to be proactive.
I don’t really understand what advice it is I’m not taking?
I came here to ask what $$ a finance degree is worth but got lectured about how I don’t know anything about personal finances? Seems a bit unfair.
It’s not like I was asking where I should apply, I already had those discussions months ago and came up with my own list.
Your money discussion is very much tied to,your application list.
I think we are all saying the same thing…don’t incur a huge amount of debt.
For CUNy, you should not do business anywhere but at Baruch- that is the CUNY business school. Bklyn and Queens strengths are more liberal arts )both) Theatre/performing arts (Brooklyn) They do not have strong business programs. they would also be a bear of a commute if you have to come from Philadelphia (both are about a good hour to 90 minutes from Penn station)
Well for starters, you posted your original list which did not include Baruch- and I’m going to guess that Baruch might be a safety for you, and it has a much stronger reputation in finance than the other safeties on your list.
So you’ve asked for help and are doling out relevant facts post by post… as if somehow you want us to tell you that BC is worth a load of debt, or that Drexel is an elite business school, or that living with your GF is a rock solid plan for avoiding debt because she’s already got a fantastic aid package.
That’s what I call asking for advice without wanting to hear it.
If Baruch is affordable once all the numbers are in you should go there unless you are looking at close to free at one of your other choices. And you should not live in Philadelphia- you should find a safe but scuzzy apartment that’s a half hour subway ride from Baruch (probably in Queens) and share it with a few fellow students who will be your study group and your “wingmen” when you go to networking events and speeches and roundtable talks and symposia. Living in Philly to attend an NYC college you might as well get an online degree. If you are running for the train every afternoon, you are NOT going to the special events and opportunities which make studying in NY worthwhile. You’ll be running for the train while your classmates are sitting in a room hearing three famous economists debate the impact of a rise in the minimum wage on employment trends.
What something may be worth when you’re paying out-of-pocket and what it’s worth when you’re paying with credit are two different things. You have parents whose EFC is ~$300 and you’re considering asking them to cosign ~$50-100k worth of loans so you can go to an OOS school. I think a more prudent financial decision is to attend a school you can afford without taking parent loans. You can go to one of the more expensive universities for grad school when you can [borrow the money](How to Pay for Graduate School - YouCanDealWithIt) on your own.
I’ll respond when I’m not on mobile, I think there have been some misunderstandings
There really is a LOT to think about and explore further. You are affecting YOUR future as well as all folks who may go-sign any of your loans.
One thing is be very cautious about is whether parents who have an EFC of close to $0 will even be accepted as co-signers of 5-figure loans not once but multiple times. Also what happens when there is no job for months or even a year or more after graduation to pay back the loans? Students have been known to graduate and have difficulty getting a job–lots of excellent students in all fields.