How much debt is Berkeley worth to you?

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>I was accepted into Berkeley as an Electrical Engineer, with my financial aid panning out thus: $20k in gift aid, $10k in subsidized loans, $20k in personal loans. On the other hand, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has given me $40k per year in gift aid with $8k per year in subsidized loans.</p>

<p>Is Berkeley worth this amount of debt? From my thread in the UIUC forum (<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-illinois-urbana-champaign/1110070-did-i-make-right-choice.html%5B/url%5D):"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-illinois-urbana-champaign/1110070-did-i-make-right-choice.html):&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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Lately, I have been talking quite a bit about "experiences." Life isn't worth it unless you experience what it has to offer and take opportunities when they come to you. Berkeley would certainly qualify as one of these "experiences," but, yep.</p>

<p>UIUC would be the most cost-effective option without a doubt, but I live in Wisconsin and going down to Illinois seems like it would be more of a continuation of my Midwestern lifestyle than an entirely new experience. I know that only I can decide how much that experience means to me, but I do have a few questions that should be a bit more concrete.</p>

<p>A few years after college, how respected is Berkeley compared to UIUC? How much easier would it be to get into graduate school coming from Berkeley rather than UIUC? Are the Silicon Valley connections made in Berkeley worth more than the connections made at UIUC? And lastly, if I did attend Berkeley and incur $104k in loans by the end of my four years, how difficult would it be/how long would it take to pay off these loans, assuming a ~$75k job? I wouldn't want to live like a despot just to attend Berkeley =(</p>

<p>Also, how I thought about it and how people are talking about it when I think about the loans is, "Dude, it's mother******* Berkeley. Worry about the money later, you got into one of the best schools in the nation." Going along with the question before this, is this mentality even close to rational?

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<p>To everyone else in a similar situation, how much is Berkeley worth to you?</p>

2

<p>I’d personally like to think of it this way:</p>

<p>You graduate, get a job that pays $80K/yr, you keep your living expenses at $30K/yr, and you pay off the loans in four years. At that time, you’re still at the ripe young age of 25 and you hopefully still have that $80K/yr job, ready to become a homeowner.</p>

3

<p>You can always petition to change your state of residency to CA after your first year here.</p>

4

<p>30k per year versus 8k per year? That’s a total of 88k – a hefty amount… I don’t think Berkeley is superior to UIUC for EE, even.</p>

5

<p>You also need to research if both schools will continue to give you that kind of aid. From your CC thing, you’re out-of-state for both—is your gift aid a sure thing for all four years?</p>

6

<p>woah woah woah woah woah woah woah! @neonseri, is that legit? Can you actually do that? I live in the east coast, but I pay CA tax (some kind of stocks or partial business ownership or something that my dad did under my name, but its not residential tax. Its called out-of-state CA tax), so if what your saying is legit, would that help me?</p>

7

<p>Cal is for grad school, not UG. And claiming Cali residence at UG is virtually impossible. IMHO, Silicon Valley employers I’ve dealt with have not been overly impressed by Cal BSEEs. Save your $$ to pay for an MS.</p>

8

<p>For UIUC, $27k of it is dependent on keeping a 3.0+ GPA, and the rest is dependent on my financial situation, which is not going to change drastically within the next few years. For Berkeley then, my gift aid is entirely dependent on keeping a 3.5+ GPA.</p>

<p>At UIUC, I got an incredibly strong vibe that they care about their undergraduates and devote quite a bit of time toward their growth. Could the same be said about Berkeley?</p>

9

<p>At Berkeley, you’ll have advisers and whatnot, but you’re basically on your own. This sounds kind of scary but you’ll become better at taking initiatives and your willpower grows. Sounds cheesy, but I was a lazya$$ before coming to Berkeley. I’m still lazy, but I feel like if I had gone to a “hand-holding school” (Dunno if UIUC is one, but to give an example: my friend at a small liberal arts college has his adviser find internships for him and he gets advice on basically every step of his college career… which sounds nice but I feel like my friend’s gonna leave thinking everything will just come to him) I wouldn’t have become so independent.</p>

<p>/end cheesiness</p>

10

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<p>The schools are similar enough in reputation and quality for your major that the large difference in net cost after non-loan financial aid is probably the biggest difference. Especially since the UCB grants /scholarships require a significantly above average GPA to retain, while the UIUC grants / scholarships require a below average GPA to retain.</p>

<p>[UCB</a> average GPA in 2006 was 3.27](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/Ucberkeley.html]UCB”>UC-Berkeley)
[UIUC</a> average GPA in 2005 was 3.1943](<a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/Illinois.html]UIUC”>University of Illinois)</p>

<p>But one major factor in favor of UCB is that it is much more convenient for “Silicon Valley” employers to visit its career center than it is to visit UIUC’s career center. UIUC is a target school for those employers who travel to do university recruiting, but some employers (especially smaller ones) may not have the time or resources to travel to do university recruiting. Still, that does not seem to be worth $120,000 of debt ($40,000 subsidized, $80,000 not subsidized) versus $32,000 of debt (all subsidized) at graduation.</p>

11

<p>88K additional debt. thats like UIUC throwing in a porsche 911 upon graduation. if it was just a prius, maybe, but I’d take the porsche.</p>

12

<p>^^ So, if I were to offer you a Porsche 911 or Berkeley acceptance letter you would take the Porsche?</p>

13

<p>I know that California is running low on money, and California universities have accepted more students to get more money. </p>

<p>But how does that negatively affect students who decide to enroll? Could someone point out the negatives? I am actually not sure.</p>

14

<p>^ I’d like to know the answer to this question. I’m having a hard time deciding between Berkeley and another school.</p>

15

<p>In my opinion: Since CA is having budget problems, the state schools have had to do a lot to compensate for lack of funds. They have raised tuition, cut classes, and are accepting more students. All this causes students who should graduate in 4 years, to graduate in 6.25 years. I just learned this from a friend of mine who works for UC Irvine. I am a resident of CA, and have been accepted to many state schools, but because of this problem, I don’t plan on attending any of them. I don’t know if Berkeley is having the problem with graduating in 4 years, but all UCs are having trouble with providing enough classes for everyone to get ones they need.</p>

16

<p>Take UIUC. The money is in their favor and the strength of their EE program is equal or in their favor. You lose out on weather (nothing you can do about that) and proximity to SV. You can compensate for the last one by flying out to the Bay Area every summer and doing an internship - this will position you for good jobs and allow you to graduate debt-free if $8k/year is all you need to worry about. Make sure to include some CS in your curriculum to improve your job prospects.</p>

<p>If you were lucky enough to get CA residency in one year and reduce your loans by $20k/year I would suggest Cal. But as it stands it is silly to accrue $90k more in debt (and remember you’re paying interested on the unsubsidized loans).</p>

17

<p>Of course it’s all a matter of personal opinion, but your experience at a given school (or anywhere, for that matter) is more a function of what you do to make that experience a fulfilling one, not so much a function of the school itself. You can always apply to Berkeley for grad school (which is extremely strong in EECS anyway) if you want the Berkeley experience and/or letterhead on your diploma.</p>

<p>Berkeley undergrad EECS is indeed world renowned, and I had a roommate in undergrad who loved the department, had great research and academic opportunities, took advantage of them, and is now in a PhD program at MIT, but I also knew other students in the department who struggled just to pass classes, felt lost, and didn’t enjoy their time at Cal at all.</p>

<p>So if I were you, I’d take the option with less undergrad debt. But again, it’s a matter of personal opinion. I did choose to go to Berkeley over a less expensive (for me) and less prestigious school (Davis) and haven’t regretted the choice for a second, but the difference in cost wasn’t nearly as high as $90,000. Lots of things you can do with that much money…</p>