I really, really want to go to Northwestern, but...

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

<p>... I just can't seem to afford it. Despite having an EFC of practically 0, my family is still expected to pay about 20,000 a year. An appeal had little effect, and I don't know what to do now. I'm afraid that Northwestern is just confused by the fact that my father is a doctor, but our situation is pretty complex.</p>

<p>I have a pretty good offer from UC Berkeley, but I really want to go to Northwestern and I think it would be a better fit for me.</p>

<p>Is there anything I can do at this point?</p>

2

<p>Cal is still a good school. Just weighing everything out, with NU approaching $50K, it just seems to be too big a burden, (especially times four years and especially if you expect to go to graduate school).</p>

3

<p>well, how much can your family afford to pay a year? could you take out loans to make up the rest? i think you need to figure out just how much you're willing to be in debt for the sake of going to NU. It seems to me that it's not worth racking up thousands in debt, especially seeing how Cal is such an awesome and prestigious (moreso than NU, even) school.</p>

4

<p>If you can't seem to get the finances together it seems like Cal is a great alternative.</p>

5

<p>If NU is where you want to go...I'd simply take the loans out and deal with it when I had to.</p>

6

<p>this is my thinking, u shoudln't take out more loans than you cannot be able to pay back within 3-5 years of graduation. That means, if u will finish with 60,000 in loans, you better be making like a good 100,000 each year afterwards, so u can pay back 20,000+ interest each year and knock it out.</p>

<p>Cal is great, but personally, i think that nu is a unique experience school s</p>

7

<p>UC Berkely is an amazing school. So, if it ends up that you can't afford Northwestern, well, a lot of people are in a /much/ bigger predicament than you. Like some other posters said, it all depends on how much you can take out in loans and if you are willing to have that kind of debt saddled on you. What type of profession are you thinking about going into? If your debt is going to be twice as much as your starting salary, that might be a cause for concern. If it's half as much, well, I know of a lot of people who have graduated with that amount of debt and said it is not a big deal at all.</p>

8

<p>Yeah, I ended up choosing Berkeley. The in-state offer is just incredible, and I don't think my preference for Northwestern can justify the huge price difference.</p>

<p>Thanks for the help, though.</p>