@Publisher I don’t have a student at U Arizona. I have a student at a lower ranked KMart Uni, our state uni, URI. DH alone with a KMart BS engineering degree from URI makes 175k as an engineer. We have no debt and high assets. That is just downright irresponsible to recommend to students on here to take on 90k-140k if he goes a fifth year for an engineering or CS degree.
You know OP can just go to a fancy school for fred for grad school. I went for free to RPI for grad school. No debt.
Great ! I appreciate your insights. You have contributed very meaningful advice & resources. It is not an argument, it is a discussion revolving around consideration of the most important factors.
I’ll test you, however. If working in Silicon Valley and in mid to late 20s, what are some of the common bonus amounts ? And, if you know this, you would not be regarding $80,000 of debt plus interest as any sort of obstacle whatsoever.
Well you are exaggerating the situation by making an assumption of a 5th year.
No grad school needed if you do it right at the undergraduate level.
Your opinion is that some posters might pick name over finances. Many, many others would choose otherwise. It is not “the choice”. It is your opinion.
So you do not know. If you did, you would not be posting as you are. Everyone appreciates & respects your opinion & insights. I certainly do.
OP: The value of the Stevens Institute of Technology network far outweighs $80,000 plus interest of debt.
Again, if you know the bonuses being paid out by many tech companies this year, it would not even be a minor concern. And I am talking about folks under the age of30. Setting that aside, the network of contacts is well worth the $80k plus interest.
Well thank you you for the compliment. Surprising from someone who has such a recent join date… That said, many engineers do not finish in 4 years, some do co-ops, and some do choose to get an advanced degree.
And what don’t I know? Bonuses? I didn’t respond because it’s not relevant.
@jym626: I like you & I respect you. But, it is relevant. You are not commenting because you do not know. That’s okay. You mean well. And I mean well. Two intelligent folks can disagree.
But, for those in Silicon Valley & in Seattle & Austin & the research triangle &, now, in Atlanta, I suspect that you know otherwise.
In short, the annual bonuses well exceed the $80,000 mark for computer engineering employees in their mid to late twenties. Far, far exceed.
@Publisher With tuition increases, OP can easily find himself at 90k of debt for 4 years.
And OP’s family lives internationally so add in travel expenses.
Arizona is ranked around #50 for engineering. OP will have a palette of opportunity with very little debt if he/she has summer internships.
This family needs a fall back position if there is a fifth year. They can’t be ruined.
@publisher are those numbers skewed since the strictly engineering schools don’t have English majors and other liberal arts grads mixed in with the results? The salaries of engineering grads from the schools should be compared.
@Cookies510: You are correct.
@gearmom: You are correct. But MSNBC & payscale dot com rank Stevens Institute of Technology above MIT in terms of mid level career compensation.
Unless you have seen the bonuses or the W-2s, it is hard to believe. And I am talking about the bonuses of 27 & 28 year old individuals. And I an NOT including stock options or deferred compensation–just straight annual cash bonuses.
@Publisher - please don’t tell me what I know and don’t know. You have no way of knowing what I do and do not know. I already said my engineer s’s work in SV and my spouse is also in IT. But I have no intention of discussing bonuses. Especially since the op may or may not end up with a job in one of those companies. And there are other companies besides the well known names that are generous with bonuses. I do not care to get into this side discussion. So what I know is not up for discussion, and I will not discuss that further. So move on.
Sorry that you feel this way. I do respect your opinion.
P.S. And I am talking about the after tax bonus assuming that 35% is withheld.
But it is not the student/engineer/bonus earner with the debt, it is the PARENT. No student can have $80k in debt on his own. So the student/engineer goes to SV and gets a $20k bonus, which is then reduced by taxes, and gives his parents the $10k for 8 years (probably 9 with interest) to pay the parent’s loan. What does the student then have as a bonus? Nothing. $0. Zip.
The U of A student without an SV job works somewhere else, gets a $7k bonus, pays the taxes and keeps the $5k or so left over. He has no loan to pay so he’s up $5k over the Big Bonus kid in SV.
My daughter is graduating and in this same position. She could have gone to Stevens but it cost too much (no athletic scholarship, overall more expensive than current school). My D went to a different tech school, took the merit and athletic scholarship and in a much lower COL area. She borrowed about $15k (her direct, subsidized loans) but has about $7k of that still in the bank. She has a job for probably less than she would have received in NYC or NJ as I’m sure many Stevens grads get, but the same amount as all the new engineers make for this firm. She can actually afford to move and start this job, which she couldn’t do if she were heading to SV with $80k in loans (which would have been MY loans!) as she has enough to buy a car and pay first/last/security deposit. My daughter has no interest in living in NYC or NJ (her boyfriend lives in NJ and has been begging her to move there, but got a big fat NO).
Some people have priorities that don’t involve making more money just to pay debts. D is so happy right now. I’m encouraging her to start plunking money into a 410k program. If she had huge loans, she wouldn’t be able to do that.
A $20,000 bonus in Silicon Valley ??? Are you kidding Me ???
That is the bonus for a first year lawyer or a second year at a Big Four. Not for a techie. LOL
Second thought: If you are speaking about a first or second year techie, then I guess that that low of a bonus is possible, but still hard for me to believe. The tax on the bonus would exceed that amount. And I mean far exceed that amount.
@Publisher no idea where you are.getting these “facts” but I can tell you with 100 percent certainly that Big Four firms don’t give $20,000 bonuses to second year staff.
In any event we ALL get that you have a different opinion as compared to the majority of posters.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Closing thread as it has just turned into debate, which is not allowed. The OP, who seems to have been scared off, received some great advice to start on the first couple of pages. He can start a new thread if s/he has follow-up questions.
As a side note, since many of these users are on other threads, let’s keep discussion civil please. AFAIK, nobody posting on this thread knows anybody here else in real life, so please make no assumptions about what a user does or does not know.