How much debt is a degree in Statistics and Machine Learning worth?

I was accepted to CMU for Statistics and Machine Learning. I am very excited, but I would need to take pretty serious debt to attend (COA is 41k a year, my parents can afford maybe 20k before loans; we’re going to appeal for more aid). I am also considering applying for a double major (or minor) in CS at the end of my freshman year if I want to, although I do not want to factor this into my decision to or to not attend as I am obviously not guaranteed to be accepted for the double major. I know that Stat ML has a pretty strong CS base (per the courses required) but would it be respected and strong enough to get a job in a computer science related field? Would it compare to a CS degree, and would a dual major or minor in cs help me get into the CS workforce? Also, I would like to try and do Machine Learning research during my undergrad (machine learning is something I feel very passionate and excited about as a field, hence why I applied to this major over CS in the first place), would this be possible? And would I need grad school to do Machine Learning industry work? And to top it all off, assuming the fin aid appeal goes poorly (which it might, even though my families income went down by 20%) do you think this degree would be worth 80k in loans, or would this be inadvisable for the relative value of the degree?

Sorry for the barrage of questions and I would appreciate any answers to any of them, thanks!

Why do think your overall loans would only be $80k. Like most schools, CMU does not guaranty that tuition will remain the same for all 4 years. Nor, like most schools, does CMU guaranty that financial aid will be indexed to the same percentage as awarded during your freshman year.

Before asking how much loans can I and my parents take out, ask your parents how much have they saved for their retirement? Is their house paid off or almost paid off. In all likelihood, your parents are approaching or in their fifties. Statistically (since you want to major in statistics), their maximum earning years are nearing an end If they have fully funded their retirement and their home is paid off or almost paid off, then $80k of loans (a substantial portion of which they will have to guaranty) is okay. Otherwise, no—$80k of loans for a statistics degree (or any undergraduate degree) is not worth it.

People need to stop being so fricking financially irresponsible in the name of pursuing a degree from your “dream” school.

Do you have an affordable option? That is a lot of debt for undergrad studies.

They say total debt shouldn’t exceed your starting salary once you graduate. Check how much cmu stats/ml majors make from their website and don’t exceed that.

ML degrees are brand new, so no one will have very much expertise in this. The field is booming and there is huge demand, so if you have the skills you can get a job with or without a graduate degree.

I don’t believe in taking loans above the standard federal student loans, still if you could live frugally it wouldn’t be impossible to manage these loans. Imagine payments of about $1000 per month as a slight overestimate.

If you have a lower cost option take that, but if this is your only option it is not terrible.

Many machine learning jobs require a masters or PhD degree in CS. You should be able to get undergrad research work at CMU through their summer programs, but it may not be guaranteed after freshman year, but after sophomore year, probably. You can also go to a machine learning program over the summers using REU’s they are competitive programs funded by the NSF, for any undergrad, most need to be a US Citizen but not all of them. You will have to develop a research statement and get two letters of recommendation to land an REU. They pay about $5000 and you work one on one with a professor. Its usually free room and board and a plane ticket too. So not as good pay as a low level Facebook job but much better for learning machine learning!

By the way, many schools are teaching machine learning and AI, GaTech, MIT, Purdue, Ohio State, Case Western and others. I know students who are getting these jobs at Yelp, Google, etc but all have masters degrees for the most part. CMU may get a student in with a bachelors though, its possible. Otherwise student will get a data science job if he majors in statistics. Look up Indeed and Data Science, there are thousands of open jobs. Many require a PhD but CMU will open doors.

I am currently a rising senior and want to apply for stats and ML. Any tips on how you got in and also how is the COA determined because I thought it was 74k?