Is 200,000k in undergrad loans worth it?

Ever since I was small I always wanted to go to a college in the UK, somewhere like oxford. But as it would seem such a college also has a huge price. To study engineering at oxford I would require about 200,000 dollars in living costs +tuition for 4 years. My dad in comparison only makes around 20k per year. Give it to me straight…is this aspiration really worth its price?

No.

NO!!!

How much of a financial burden would this put for me for the rest of my life?

You can’t borrow $200,000 and your dad’s income is too low to qualify for loans. Aren’t you at Binghamton? What’s wrong with affordable US colleges?

No No No

Nope… No one would lend it to you, and with good reason.

So is it a better idea to wait under I graduate from Binghamton to then attempt to get a masters at Oxford or perhaps a PhD?

No. There are so many great schools in the US that will give good need- and/or merit-based aid that going into debt $200k for a bachelor’s degree is a bad outcome.

Don’t bank on getting any kind of graduate degree. That’s not a good bet, especially a PhD. You only want to do that if you want a research (industrial, academic, or government) and/or teaching career.

It is VERY important that you understand what I’m going to tell you. It isn’t just $200,000. You need to figure out the opportunity cost of that money used elsewhere, over the duration of your career. At 6%, a very reasonable return to hope for in a very broad basket of US stocks like a Wilshire 5000 index fund, over 40 years, that money is worth over $2,000,000. Listen to every poster above and don’t make a huge mistake. Good luck.

I won’t. Thank you everyone

if your dad really makes only 20K, you can go to Stanford, and Ivies for free, including Rm & Board

The annoying thing is that my parents are still encouraging me to apply…like they don’t fully understand what 200,000 is and how the payoff of an oxford degree isn’t worth the tag

Buy them a bumper sticker that says “My son was smart enough NOT to go to Oxford”.

If there is no financial aid at Oxford and. you really need to take 200K in loans… then HELL NO!!! It’s good you are asking questions to understand more.

Trust me, like the other parents here I’ve done lots of research on the topic. (At one point I started a thread and did some ballpark estimates… at 10 year payback, I think $25k=300/month. In other words, your loan fee would be almost $3k/month. It’s a moot point though - you can’t borrow that much.)

There’s lots of (free!) advice about colleges and financial aid right here on College Confidential. Let the collective wisdom of the CC parents guide you. It’s clear your parents are unfamiliar with college financing realities, but CC parents are, and can point you to affordable options. Good luck!

Absolutely not. Where do you think $200,000 in loans are coming from? There is no loan fairy.

Unless you are planning on staying in the UK, then going to Oxford isn’t going to open any more doors for you (at least in engineering) than going to a school here stateside would.

@boneh3ad thats exactly what I’m trying to explain to them…can you please elaborate on why for engineering oxford isn’t any better if I want to stay in the US for a job? So I can explain it to my parents more clearly