<p>I can respond the same way that I told my kid, who is in the same boat with her MSU application (we’re even the same price range). I told my kid to put together a proposal - school #2 vs. MSU. What is the total cost of each one, after factoring in tuition, room, board, and fees.</p>
<p>Assume school #2 is $25K and MSU is $40,800 (just guessing LOL) OOS. Are your parents paying the $25K, or are you already borrowing money to go to school #2? That’s a $15,800 price difference by year. If you aren’t already borrowing money, that would mean that you’d be borrowing $63K to get your degree at MSU. I’m not factoring inflation or tuition increases into this calculation. If you are already borrowing money, that would mean $63K on top of what you’re already borrowing. Assume that you might be able to do work study or have a part-time job to help in your proposal.</p>
<p>That’s a LOT of money. It’s not just the price of a luxury car. Those loan payments could be the difference between being able to save for a down payment on a house or affording car payments, qualifying for a mortgage (your debt ratio would be very high), possibly studying abroad or being able to borrow money for grad school someday. It might mean you’d have to go home to live with the parents after graduating, since entry level jobs are notoriously not well-paying enough to cover apartment rents, car payments, entertainment and those big student loan payments. </p>
<p>There’s always a risk that the part-time job might affect your ability to do college level work. If you get even a half grade lower because you were flipping burgers instead of studying for that exam, that job isn’t necessarily going to be worth it.</p>
<p>Depending on your grades and major, you figure on getting a scholarship or two in the future. Maybe your proposal will contemplate tapping grandparents, selling blood or doing those grad school psychology tests for $25 a pop. Maybe you’ll figure on taking community college classes or having enough AP credits to graduate early and save a semester’s tuition. Maybe you’ll live off-campus for a year or two and save room + board. Put it all together and see how it looks.</p>
<p>If you’re talking about assuming so much debt for undergrad, there had better be a really good reason for it. Good reasons are a major or academic opportunities that isn’t available at a cheaper school. Having friends that go to MSU, loving the campus and Big 10 football are obviously not good reasons.</p>
<p>I told D to figure it all out, and come back to me with her proposal and a bottom line. In the course of doing this, D discovered that as much as she loves MSU, it doesn’t make sense from an OOS cost. (Then again, I think she might still be trying to figure out a way to get there, even as a grad student someday.) Your parents may not agree with your conclusions, but at least they’ll be well-reasoned instead of emotional. </p>
<p>As a parent, I’ll also admit that I’m really frustrated that I’m struggling to pay $25K a year so my kid can graduate without a lot of debt and my kid doesn’t see a problem with borrowing money to go to college choice #1.</p>