I’m dead set on majoring on finance and breaking into the world of investment banking, but I’m not sure if I can afford the cost of going to a top 10 university.
NYU, U Mich, and London School of Economics are on the top of my list right now, but I only have around 60k saved for college. None of the schools I mentioned offer much financial aid at all. Is it worth going to one of them and taking out massive loans? Or would it be a better idea to go to UW Madison (my state school) and graduate debt-free?
Not worth the debt. You’re talking about a crazy amount of debt.
And your parents would be silly to cosign those loans. What are they saying?
If you are serious about going into finance you should understand that you don’t want to graduate with an overwhelming amount of debt.
You only have 60k saved but what can your parents contribute each year? Are you running the NPCs?
I would say debt-free if the school is good. I wish I would have graduated undergrad without debt. The only acceptable amount is the $27k total you can get from federal loans. Anything more, especially involving private lenders, is not worth it.
If you want to be a finance major, I would suggest you start by learning about personal finances.
Here is an example…NYU is over $70,000 a year, but I’ll use $70,000 in my example. The total cost to attend for four years would be $280,000. You have only $60,000 saved…which leaves you with a balance of $220,000 to somehow fund. If you take out loans, your loan payments will likely be in the $3000 a month range when you graduate. Think about how much that payment alone will impact your ability to do anything else…and certainly discretionary things…like…buying a car, or going on vacations, or even being able to pay rent in a high rent district (if you stay in NYC, you can anticipate a $2000 a month rental bill).
You say your schools don’t offer much aid. While NYU is not particularly generous with need based or merit aid, University of Michigan IS pretty generous with need based aid…but then you are out of state for Michigan and OOS students don’t have the guarantee of full need met. @billcsho what’s the income limit for free tuition at Michigan?
Tuition at London School of Economics is more reasonable, but the cost of living in London is VERY high…plus you won’t really be able to work while attending school there…most likely…due to visa restrictions.
You can graduate debt free from Wisconsin…which is a great school. Do they have a study abroad option that could take you to London…or an away semester or year option that could take you to NY or wherever? That is worth checking.
Graduate debt free and go to grad school at one of those schools.
Yes, to the above.
Graduate debt free from Wisc. Get top grades there, and then apply to a top grad school.
My parents won’t be contributing anything more than that amount (they are actually only contributing 50k, 10k is from my savings). I do plan to continue working while in college, though.
What are the NPCs?
NPC…net price calculator. There is one on every college website.
But would the potential earnings from the other schools outweigh the debt I would have to go into? I’m worried that I won’t be able to get the best jobs I could by going to Madison.
I don’t care much for study abroad programs—my biggest concern is the value of the degree I’m getting.
Furthermore, I think I’d probably be more likely to recieve merit-based aid than need-based aid. My parents tell me that I won’t be able to get any need-based aid, though I don’t know what their income is. Do you know what the merit-based aid might be like for the schools I mentioned? (Such as what qualifications would I need? How much could I get?)
The potential earnings would not outweigh the debt. A UW Madison degree is nothing to scoff at. That said, when it comes to job hunting, your degree matters but what matters more is how you present yourself. No one is guaranteed a job anywhere because of what school they attend.
I don’t know much about specific merit, but I know NYU doesn’t give the greatest FA packages. From their site:
“NYU awards very few exclusively merit-based scholarships, as we are committed to using the vast majority of our scholarship funds to assist students whose families are unable to pay the full cost of an NYU education.”
My parents have, they told me I won’t be receiving any need-based aid.
Try to run the NPCs. They take your stats into account, and you’ll see your net cost for each school after grants.
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To get merit aid you have to go to a school where your HS stats are higher than most of the others who attend there. So, that would not meet your goal to go to one of the most competitive schools. The purpose of merit money is to attract students who would not otherwise go there.
Look at the website Wall Street Oasis to see what the Wall Street “target” schools are and what kind of jobs the firms recruit for at each school.
If you go to UW-Madison, get Wall Street internships every summer.
That’s true, but I know degrees are extremely important in finance—I’ve even heard that many large companies won’t even recruit at schools that aren’t top 10. Of course nobody is guaranteed a job because of the school that they attended, but don’t you think that certain schools open up doors that may not have been otherwise available?
What kind of stats do you think would qualify someone for merit aid at a top school?
Merit aid from London School of Econ and NYU? Very unlikely if not impossible. From Mich? Also unlikely.
I knew a guy who went to Colo State who got a job at Goldman Sachs. Everyone said it was impossible and often people didn’t believe him when he said where he went to college. Is it easier to get a Wall St job out of NYU or Columbia? Yes. Is it impossible to get one out of another school? No, but it is easier with a grad degree added to that undergrad.
There was a thread on here recently from an SMU grad who had $120k in debt. He was fine with it and claimed he’d have it paid off ‘soon.’ His parents were willing to co-sign the debt. I don’t agree with that strategy, but it worked for him.
NYU @ $75k x 4 years= $300k. Less $60k you have = $240k borrowed (unlikely to happen, but play along). Let’s say you strike it big and make $200k per year. Well, you’ll have a $200k NYC lifestyle to maintain too, so let’s just say you can pay $30k per year toward those student loans. It would still take you more than 8 years to pay back those loans. Ike buying a brand new car every year and never getting to drive that car.
Now really, are you going to be paid $200k? No. Will you really pay $30k in student loans per year? Unlikely.
Just be a Badger and enjoy your life.
What did he do at Goldman Sachs? I’m starting to think that I should consider majoring in something else if Madison is my only feasible option.
Well there are London school of economics summer programs. I’ve known kids from SC and other colleges to go. BTW, You can do investment banking in many parts of US, you don’t have to be in NYC.