<p>Well I just got my financial aid package, and it looks like I'd have to personally be 60k in debt to go here... Is it worth it when I can go to Fordham with no debt? </p>
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<p>No, 60K in debt is too much especially at the undergraduate level. You may also want to consider going to UChicago for grad school. You will be in more than 60K debt, because you will be incurring interest. In my opinion, if a school is going to put you in debt of 30K or more, it’s really not worth it. </p>
<p>You could go to Fordham, get your BS or BA, then go to UChicago for grad school. You could save yourself a lot of money. </p>
<p>Just my .02</p>
<p>^^ Yeah, that’s what everyone says. But what’s the probability that you’re going to get into graduate school at UChicago? It’s pretty tough to get in, you know.</p>
<p>60k isn’t really that much in the long run, and you’d more than make up for it with the extra salary you’d be making that would only be possible through your Chicago connections and the general prestige of the degree. If it were an art degree, it wouldn’t be worth it, but an econ degree from the most prestigious economics school in the world? If you work hard at Chicago, you can very feasibly be making $80k+ right after college (which would also rise with time), and then you could pay back the $60k in a year or two. It’s a no-brainer.</p>
<p>My rational side says go to Fordham, but uchicago has been my dream school since I leaned what economics even was… This is going to be a tough one. </p>
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<p>Lets look at some numbers.</p>
<p>If you have roughly ~60k in debt, and you’d like to pay off the debt in 10 years, that equates to about $700 a month in loan payments. To comfortably pay this debt, you’d need to make ~$80k a year, but you could perhaps get by making about 55-60k a year. </p>
<p>You could opt to repay the debt over 30 years rather than 10, in which case you’d pay around $400 a month for those 360 months. </p>
<p>For more projections, go here:</p>
<p>[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Loan Calculator](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Loan Payment Calculator - Finaid)</p>
<p>I would go with Fordham. This is my principal reason: the more debt you take, the narrower your feasible job options after college become. Say you go to UChicago thinking you’ll love economics and, afterward, love working on Wall Street. A UChicago degree can probably land you a finance job, but what happens if you don’t actually LIKE the finance job? </p>
<p>With 60k debt, you’re going to need a job that pays about $80k or above for YEARS. Even if you repay the debt very aggressively (say, within 5-6 years), you may need to commit to a job you don’t like for a long time.</p>
<p>For these reasons, I’d pick less debt. Finance/consulting jobs can often be stressful, mindnumbingly boring, hours-intensive, or some combination of all these descriptors. It’s not worth being compelled to take such jobs because of a debt level that forces you to take such jobs.</p>
<p>When you’re young, try to keep as many doors open as possible - and this includes keeping as many types of jobs as possible open to you. You’ll have plenty of time to struggle with debt (with mortgage repayments, credit cards, etc.) later in life.</p>
<p>I have consistently gave advice to students here to go to whatever school that is not Chicago that gave them more money/cost less.</p>
<p>However, I am going to make an exception here. Before, we were talking about the difference between U Chicago vs. Berkeley, U Michigan, UVA, Emory, etc,and the delta was over$100K. I felt that whatever delta between these schools and Chicago was not a justifiable cause to spend another $100K.</p>
<p>The gap between U Chicago and Fordham is so wide in all possible dimensions (quality of education, the quality of the student body, the professional opportunities, academic potential, prestige, reputation - both domestic and INTERNATIONAL etc, etc), the $60K is starting to sound like it’s worth it to go to Chicago.</p>
<p>First of all, if you ever decide to go into investiment banking, the odds of you landing a job in that rarefied field coming out of Fordham are exceptionally low, since they only recruit from tippy top elite schools (some of them do not even include top public schools). Chicago is on their recruiting roaster. Fordham is not. </p>
<p>Another point of view: my son has gotten very well paying internship consistently during the summers from some of the most elite companies in the field. This summer, as a third year, he is toying with the idea of an internship that pays $2000 per week. Now, how much of that is helped by the fact that he is at Chicago, not Fordham, is unknown. However, I wouldn’t think it’s unrelated. Certain elite firms that are highly sought after even for the summer intern positions have the luxury of minimizing their work to find the best qualified interns by just focusing on a few elites schools. You may say, unfair - there are so many highly qualified students who are going to other schools, and you would be right. However, if they have 100 intern positions and 10,000 students applying, they can vastly reduce the amount of work it takes going through all the resumes by focusing on top 10 schools. Why not? There might be 500 very qualified students going to second tier schools, but they are perfectly fine hiring 100 equally and perhaps more qualified students from the elite schools.</p>
<p>At least, this is how we handled summer internship recruitment in some of my previous companies. </p>
<p>So, if you consider this, the actual delta may not be $60K, but perhaps $40K? </p>
<p>And, this is even before we factor in the kind of world class education you will get at Chicago that Fordham does not even have a prayer to catch up in any foreseeable future.</p>
<p>Also do some research on the culture, etc. I have an acquaintance whose nephew is going to Fordham, and she said, a lot of preppy kids with a clear sense of entitlement- a lot of display of wealth. At Chicago, the prevailing culture is such that it’s very gauche and unfashionable to flaunt one’s wealth and status.</p>
<p>In your case, if I were your parent, I would say, go to Chicago.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why UChicago is not giving you any money. Doesn’t the school say that it can meet 100% of demonstrated needs, and you clearly need substantial amount of aid?</p>
<p>You can appeal your financial aid package you know.</p>
<p>Cue7, base on your logic, would you also turn down Harvard, Princeton or Stanford, which for Econ are peer schools, because of the debt load? Would not the $60K be considered an investment on yourself? An Economic degree from the above mentioned schools open a lot of doors. The OP first job may well land him a starting pay of around $80K at a prestigious company or institution. If he/she is ambitious and easily achieved his/her job goals set by his/her boss, promotion and bonuses could easily double or triple that initial pay in less than five years. If you understand corporate world, people can move up the corporate ladder very quickly if you are smart, goal orientated, and well connected. I am not even talking about ibanking.</p>
<p>Obviously Fordham’s degree gives you an initial leg up in term of your first pay of $60K. I don’t think Fordham credential will carry as much weigh as a Chicago or Harvard’s degree but is respected nonetheless. A smart and ambitious person can make it in any environment. Chicago’s econ degree is your foot to the door to such prestigious institutions as the Worldbank, IMF, Federal Reserve, any central bank in the world if you are international applicants.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, in any major investment decision, one must weigh the costs/ benefits on a long term basis. No one wants to incur debt. No can has a crystal ball of what your future will be. Decision once made will stay with you for life and it will only be yourself to direct it. Some kind people will help guide you but you are the skipper of your own ship. Invest wisely and good luck.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if a substantial difference in the money issue is because Fordham has given the OP merit award. If OP had the stats good enough for Chicago RD, s/he would have qualified for some kind of merit award at Fordham. </p>
<p>OP: please also note that you can also graduate from U Chicago in 3.5 years - heck, even in three years if you work super hard.</p>
<p>One of my son’s friends is graduating in 3.5 years (and, I don’t think he killed himself doing it): the motivation is to save the money for half a year: that’s well over $25K. Now, add this saving to the money you will be making in the work force for half a year, and you are coming up more or less even between Fordham and U Chicago, and you will have gotten education in a truly world class institution with prestige and reputation internationally by choosing U Chicago.</p>
<p>Making<em>a</em>Point:</p>
<p>From what I know, your hypothetical question is pretty much moot. When Harvard, Yale, and Princeton make offers, they recruit their accepted students very aggressively, and significant differences in financial aid rarely become the sticking point. Unless the OP comes from a very wealthy family where it was clear 60k was not an issue, H, Y, and P would not be undercut by Fordham on this matter. </p>
<p>In any case, yes, generally, I’m not in favor of college students taking much more than ~30k debt for college - any college. </p>
<p>My problem with taking Chicago (or Harvard or Stanford or whatever) at 60k debt is that it limits one’s conceivable job opportunities after college. Barring a true drop in the standard of living, such a student is pretty much forced into taking a finance/consulting job after college that pays ~80k, and would need to be quite aggressive to pay this loan back in 5-6 years. </p>
<p>If this student winds up loving teaching, or desires working for a non-profit or as an intern in DC, it’s really tough to live on a $35-$40k salary with 60k debt. Or, what if the student wants to get a masters degree or some professional degree that requires student loans? Taking on more student debt on top of 60k undergrad debt is a tough venture. Outside of fully funded PhD programs, this student’s grad school options would be limited by the 60k in undergrad debt. </p>
<p>The OP is good enough to get into Chicago, which means the OP can shine at Fordham. Sure, maybe the blue-chip wall street firms <em>might</em> be closed off, but I’d rather be debt-free and have all my options open than to be debt-laden and compelled to take certain jobs for most of my 20s.</p>
<p>Saving 60k or geting into UChicago, which is harder? which takes more work, discipline and sacrifice to get there? In my opinion, latter for most people. I agree with majority here, the huge gap between two schools and possible long term impacts make the investment worthwhile. 60k buys 1-2 cars. I’d rather drive a cheap old car as long as I need to for a world #1 Econ degree.</p>
<p>Go to UChicago.</p>
<p>I went to UChicago and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, but I wouldn’t pay $700 a month for 10 years for the privilege (i.e. 60k debt). </p>
<p>If I had to pay $700 a month for 10 years, I couldn’t have taken the jobs I took after college - and these were, to me, experiences that were worth just as much as my UChicago degree, and these were jobs I probably could have gotten coming from many other colleges (e.g. work at non-profits, community organizations, etc.).</p>
<p>There are wonderful, meaningful experiences to be had at many, many colleges. Now, ~15 years out of UChicago, I had a great experience, but I’m not sure if the experience offers real solid returns - i.e. jobs, monetary value, etc. - that are totally dissimilar to what I would have if I did very well at a “lower” school. The benefit I derive from UChicago is largely based on memory and experience, not really a network, and again, it’s not worth significant debt. There are lots of great colleges out there. </p>
<p>Like many of my peers at UChicago, I had the option of working in high-paying finance or consulting jobs. I’m very happy I had the flexibility to turn these jobs down for the opportunities I really wanted. Again, I’d take that flexibility over prestige any day, but to each their own.</p>
<p>UChicago opens doors, but significant student debt closes others. Choose wisely, and take care not to inflate the worth of a college degree. You’re getting a bachelors, not a PhD or JD or MBA. People tend to inflate the worth of a college degree on this board.</p>
<p>For 60k of debt total, or 60k of debt per year? I think I misunderstood what the OP was saying. If it is 60k of debt total, UChicago is worth it.</p>
<p>One of my friends is graduating this year, and even in this economy, he is getting paid 90k a year (more than 100k if you include bonuses and year-end award packages) after graduation. He is not one of the top students. I don’t know exactly what his GPA is, but I know it is much lower than 3.8.</p>
<p>It is worth it. He can pay down 60k of debt in about a year and a half (while gaining great work experiences).</p>
<p>DivineComedy:</p>
<p>100k salary works out to around 65-68k after taxes. In a year and a half, your friend will have made around 95-100k. If you look to pay back 60k debt in 18 months, you’re looking on living on about $1500 a month for 18 months.</p>
<p>It’s certainly do-able to live on that much, but probably not advisable.</p>
<p>Again, according to the student loan calculator, to pay 60k in debt back over TEN years, the suggested salary is 80k per year. Sure, some people get jobs that pay more than that, and can pay loans back quickly, but I’d imagine paying 60k in debt in even 2-3 years is relatively rare, whatever the job the OP may have.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice everyone… I’m going to appeal to see if I can get a little more grant, but I think uchicago might be the right choice. And my loans would be essentially to my parents, so if circumstances cause me to be behind on payments, I wouldn’t have anyone coming after me. It’s just a tough choice… </p>
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<p>Go to UChicago</p>
<ol>
<li> People are willing to spend $60k for a Mercedes for 5 years for its brand. How can $60k for a UChicago title for your entire lifetime be too expensive?</li>
<li> With a UChicago econ, the salary of initial job offers could be $10k/yr more.<br></li>
<li> You will have more job opportunities
4.</li>
</ol>
<p>What else?</p>
<p>To the OP, you should visit both schools and make a decision based on the vibe. Just know that UChicago is a brand that will follow you for the rest of your life. Think of it as a long-term investment, and for all of my friends, even in this economy, it’s worth it.</p>
<p>But yah, definitely appeal.</p>
<p>I’ve visited both, and I absolutely loved u chicago… I’m pretty much decided that I’m going there. Luckily my parents are supportive of the choice and are going to be doing anything they can to help me out. </p>
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<p>With the “real inflation” we are facing here, 60K for 4 years of better education is not that much, had it been 60K/year, I would suggest otherwise. Besides, if you work really hard you may cut that to 3 years and one quarter.</p>
<p>Good luck…</p>