<p>@mom2collegekids Thanks for your thoughts mom2. That brings to mind that I actually have the tools in Linked In’s advanced search feature to see exactly where the people I’ve most respected in my time in Si Valley actually went to undergrad. That - as opposed to relying on some anecdotes that stick in my mind. </p>
<p>You should run NPCs for the schools that interest him and see what come up. ALso, if you contact CMU, and thell they often will run a preliminary estimate of what their full aid package would come to if your son should apply ED. CMU is a school that only guarantees to meet full need (as THEY define it) for ED students. </p>
<p>That gives you a very good idea of what it would likely cost to go there. As for student loans, if the shortfall is, say $25K a year AFTER student financial aid has been dispensed, there is a good chance that the aid package already includes the loans that the student can take. First year students can borrow $5500 a year, but often schools will take $3500 of it as subsidized and stick it in the aid package. I know CMU does this. </p>
<p>The next step would be PLUS which are the parent loans which a parent applies for. About 7% interest a year and it’s all on the parent. Student or parent dies, loan is forgiven. BUt it’s hardly a bargain. IF a parent gets turned down, student get to borrow $4K more as a freshman on top of the Direct student loan, hardly the $25K you are estimating he will need in loan procedes.</p>
<p>The other way to go is with co signed loans, and those generally have much more stringent terms than PLUS and not much better rates if better at all. In those the loans and responsibility are for both parent and student, and usually if anything happens to one party, it’s all on the other. That’s when you get those tear jerker stories of parents stuck paying the loan after their child dies. Can’t discharge these due to bankruptcy and repaystructuring terms tend to be harsh.</p>
<p>So if you really believe that this is something that will benefit your son and he’s gung ho, take out the PLUS and get a separate agreement from him to help you repay. I suggest you start repaying the loans immediately so that you can feel the impact of this debt and get a head start on them. By the time he graduates, you’ll have paid more than three years of the first year’s loan with just 7 more to go, and about a half year’s worth of the last one, so there will be 9 1/2 years to go on that That’s what we did, and boy, did we feel those payment. </p>
<p>Really, you are the adult here, and you can’t really expect a teenager to make a decision on this sort of thing in a rational matter. You decide if it’s affordable and worth while. Don’t put it on the head of an 18 year old. There is a good reason why no one will lend this kind of money to undergrads without a credit worthy co signer that they can go after if the kid reneges.</p>
<p>@patertrium </p>
<p>I think you will find that many of these folks undergrads were as “common” as SLO, CPP, San Jose State, Santa Clara, UCD, UCI, CSUF, CSULB, LMU, as well as UCLA, Berkeley and so forth. </p>
<p>A quick analysis showed UC or CS for nearly half. At this point 8 UCB, 8 UCLA, 1 UCI, 1 CPP, 2 UCSD, 1 SJSU, , 1 SFSU, 1 SDSU, 1 UCSB. Another thing I was reminded of is just how International Si Valley is. Seeing undergrad in China, India, Ireland, Brazil, New Zealand.</p>
<p>Most studies show that those who are accepted to elite schools but go elsewhere tend to do as well as their peers who went on to these schools. Yes, a CMU Computer science major is more likely to do well than, say a State U major when you look at the numbers that so define success, but how many of those State U grads can say they applied to CMU and were accepted? So it is with just about every discipline. </p>
<p>IMO the resources at CMU and the peer brainpower would be awesome. But is it worth $100K right up front? That’s the $100K question. Bear in mind that it won’t just be $100K owed, as interest starts cranking on the loans as soon as the funds are disbursed and these loans are not great bargains in the interest rates. Not at all in this low interest climate. Also do understand that costs go up every single year, and anyone with any sense will tell you to expect the same for future years. You need to borrow $25K freshman year, it’s likely more will be needed for later years. Any emergencies come up, and they will, root canals needed, eye glasses, medical issues, need to come home urgently, etc, etc. and it will cost money. </p>
<p>That said, CMU does do well giving their students on campus employment and cheap off campus housing is available and a common option among upperclassmen. There are certainly benefits being at the very best program with the very best resources and brain power. You need to decide if it’s worth the cost.</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse:</p>
<p>Actually, in CS, it’s not even the case that CMU grads do better than Cal or UIUC grads (and if they do better than UCLA/UT-Austin/UMich/GTech grads, it’s to a marginal, almost insignificant extent; you could throw UDub, UW-Madison, UCSD, CalPoly SLO, and Purdue in there as well as several other publics). In engineering and CS, many of the powerhouse programs are publics.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2014/best-schools-by-major/computer-science”>http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2014/best-schools-by-major/computer-science</a></p>
<p>CS mid-career payscale comparison.</p>
<p>Cal = #1
Cal Poly = #2
UCSB = #3</p>
<p>CMU = #16</p>
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<p>But is it worth $100k in STUDENT DEBT up front. We aren’t talking about whether it is worth $100k in parents’ resources…huge difference.</p>
<p>There will be “peer brainpower” in any good CS school…especially at schools where CS admission is competitive. And, even at schools where a student doesn’t apply to his major, the CS dept will have “peer brainpower” once the first year weeding takes place…which means when the student is actually in-depth in his major, the weaker ones will have declared other majors. </p>
<p>Once you have a group of students who have 1350+ SATs (M+CR), you are going to have a pretty smart bunch.<br>
I don’t know what the OP’s son’s stats are, but if he is a 1550+ student, the I don’t think he’ll feel that he is amongst addle-brained classmates if there is a range of 1350-1500 folks also in the seats. </p>
<p>A bit more information on this is that I’m from the east coast and my parents are Bostonians. I loved my school which was not CMU but near Beantown. S1 is at 1550 M+CR and other scores are similar. The grandparents assume that means applications to certain schools on a certain coast. And as my positive college experience was Boston based back when the cost was not insane - I have a bias there too. Thanks everyone for helping me think it through.</p>
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The grandparents assume that means applications to certain schools on a certain coast.
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<p>Unless the Grands are paying, what they think is irrelevant…</p>
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<p>UMass - Amherst? 
Has respectable CS and is $20,000 less than the expensive privates… but the UCs and CSUs are still significantly less expensive as a California resident.</p>
<p>Would it be correct that your family, like so many northeasterners, tends to underrate public universities and overrate private universities?</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids The Grands are a little cagey on the subject of paying. They are separated and each has indicated a willingness to help. So the delta could end up getting covered in full, in part large or in part small or no part. (It’s a long story. 
) The uncertainty is an added stress. And as you note - any old way it’s a lot of money.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus Yes I think there is family bias toward Boston/east coast private. It’s what we know. I’m a transplant.</p>
<p>I had read about Amherst’s good ratings. But no - not really looking there.</p>
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<p>You should assume no grandparent contribution in this circumstance.</p>
<p>But back to the original subject – $100,000 in extra debt does not look like a good idea.</p>
<p>I agree with PurpleTitan regarding UIUC CS. The couple I knew in Silicon Valley were both from UIUC. The husband hit the jackpot with CISCO and the wife hit the jackpot with Apple when it was less $20 a share.
I gave my daughter a list of Midwestern schools to apply for rolling admission/EA, she picked U of Michigan and Purdue but not UIUC, I was slightly regretted about that.
But even in one company that I worked, there full ex-CISCO people with UCB EECS degrees, guess who were the director of engineering, a Brooklyn city something graduate. I also worked in the East Coast when I first graduated with lots of MIT people, so I’m aware of the East Coast bias, but there are a lot of good CS schools in California. Why go into debt for $100K while you don’t have to?
I would dig deeper, some of the UCs are able to attract top candidates from top schools like MIT, Caltech, Stanford.</p>
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@mom2collegekids The Grands are a little cagey on the subject of paying. They are separated and each has indicated a willingness to help. So the delta could end up getting covered in full, in part large or in part small or no part. (It’s a long story. ) The uncertainty is an added stress. And as you note - any old way it’s a lot of money</p>
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<p>Unless they are willing to promise (and a real promise that is based on each Grand’s true ability to contribute) to each give XXXXX dollars PER YEAR, then you can’t depend on them or expect much from them. Their offer to help may be just their way of permitting themselves to have input on the app process, when in truth they may not be able to actually contribute much/anything or at least not for EACH year. If your parents are separated, unless they are quite affluent, then providing for two households and each contributing to your children’s college costs may be something two retired folks may not be able to really sustain.</p>
<p>Why not be upfront and say, “S1 needs an additional $25k per year to attend a pricey school that you would like. Can each of you give $10k per year? If not, how much can you each give per year? We need to know so S1 can put together a realistic college list.” I would not mention the possibility of taking out large loans. </p>