<p>My top choice college isn't prestigious, or perfect, but I love it. However, it gives lousy financial aid and will cost me roughly 100K for 4 years undergraduate education. The other college I was accepted to that I am considering would cost about 10K less per year, but I would have to transfer, as they don't have my intended major. I don't want to deal with transfering, and going through this whole process again next year, but I also don't know if I can take on such a huge amount of debt...at graduation, I would be left with about 55K worth. Is it worth it? Is anyone else in a similar situation?</p>
<p>Personally, my advice would be to skip both those schools and go somewhere cheaper, unless you're sure those schools give a proportional bang for the buck in terms of starting salary. My experience (many moons ago) was that I wound up with a debt that was about half the starting salary of my first job. It was manageable, and well worth it. But all my debt was subsidized, so it had low interest rates and interest didn't start accruing until after graduation. </p>
<p>Since the average starting salary now is supposedly around 50k in some fields, but much less in others, you're probably looking at a debt equivelant to your salary. Plus, it will be greater if most of that debt isn't subsidized (higher interest rate and accrues while you're in school).</p>
<p>I would really try to calculate what you think the payments are worth, vs. what you hope your paycheck is going to be and see if it's manageable. (And believe me, no matter how much you make, it won't go nearly as far as you think it will.)</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>