<p>Okay everyone I need some advice. I've had multiple arguments over this topic with my parents and I've also battled with it internally as well. I'm having a hard time choosing between a school that is offering me money and a school that has academic prestige, but is not offering me any scholarships.</p>
<p>Here's the backround story:</p>
<p>I have been accepted to FSU, an in state school for me, so tuition is already less expensive and they have offered me scholarships. I also have Florida's Bright Future scholarship which will cover 75% of my tuition. I was also invited to their Honors College, but I have no desire to go there at all. My parents are dumbfounded at how I could turn down so much money, but I really don't see myself there.</p>
<p>I was also accepted to Auburn, which is my number one choice as a safety. They also offered me a scholarship and invited me to their Honors College. Because it is an OOS school it would still be expensive, but not like the other schools I'm applying to.</p>
<p>I applied ED to Duke and was denied. That was my dream school and I've been conflicted ever since the rejection. Knowing that Duke was my dream kind of helps to give you an idea of exactly what I'm looking for in a school.</p>
<p>I'm now submitting my final applications to Boston College and Georgetown. Like Duke, these are schools with very high caliber academics and that's where I see myself. I would maybe get a tiny bit of financial aid from them, but nothing to significantly lower the cost. My parents think it's absurd to spend so much money on an undergraduate degree and submit myself to that kind of debt after college. No matter what I say, they can't understand why these schools appeal to me so much. I want to be at a school where I can get the best education possible and be surrounded by other students that have goals set as high as mine. </p>
<p>By the way, I am planning on doing a Political Science major with a minor in Military Science. I want to eventually work in the counterterrorism field. Georgetown is especially appealing because of their Walsh School of Foreign Service and D.C. has so much opportunity.</p>
<p>Is anyone else struggling with this? Am I being unreasonable?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You’d be terribly stupid to go into huge debt when you have almost-free financial aid offers from solid universities like Auburn and FSU.</p></li>
<li><p>You cannot borrow enough money to pay for Georgetown or Boston College unless your parents agree to co-sign $40,000 in student loans every single year. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter how prestigious you think they are or how much you want to go there, if you can’t pay the bills, you won’t be getting a degree from those schools.</p></li>
<li><p>If you’re interested in international relations/security, what really matters is graduate school. Save your borrowing power for your master’s degree, because that’s going to cost you $Texas.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My parents agreed to pay a certain portion of the tuition wherever I go, I don’t want to say the amount just for privacy purposes, but it’s a decent amount. The rest I would have to cover with scholarships from outside sources and student loans.</p>
<p>Any amount over that would have to be borrowed by your parents as a PLUS loan that goes on their credit record and gets paid off by them if you default.</p>
<p>You are not going to find $25,000 worth of outside scholarships every year. It’s just not going to happen, because the money isn’t out there. Really big outside scholarships are extremely few in number and extraordinarily competitive to win.</p>
<p>So Boston College is going to charge you $55,000. Your freshman year, you can borrow 10 percent of that, or $5,500. Subtract whatever your parents are contributing - let’s say it’s $10,000. Your tuition/room/board bill is still almost $40,000.</p>
<p>Where are you going to come up with that much money four years in a row? If you can’t answer that question, then you can’t realistically afford to attend Boston College.</p>
<p>I know I don’t understand the specifics yet, but I know that affording a school like BC or GTown isn’t impossible for my family.</p>
<p>My parents have had me in private school since first grade and my father works in the financial field, so he is very smart with money and loans. I do know I would have lots of loans to pay off after I graduated, but I feel like that is a common thing in today’s world.</p>
<p>Owing $200,000 in student loans is not common in today’s world, and for those students who have that kind of debt load, they’re frequently crushed into bankruptcy.</p>
<p>You say you’re interested in counterterrorism/security. A lot of those jobs are government jobs. How do you expect to pay off $200,000 in debt on a federal government salary? I work for the federal government, and I can tell you this: You don’t get rich working for Uncle Sam. Check out the GS payscale.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be taking out that much in student loans, and I have two cousins that attended Georgetown and are still paying off student loans, but they aren’t anywhere near being forced into bankruptcy.</p>
<p>My real question is whether a school like GTown or BC is worth the extra cost.</p>
<p>How much in student loans would you be taking out? $25,000 per year? That’s still a ton of money.</p>
<p>Also, you haven’t answered whether your parents are willing to take out those PLUS loans or not. If they’re not, then this is a moot question because you can’t borrow that much money on your own. No bank will loan it to you.</p>
<p>My total student debt is $60,000, including a master’s degree from a Big Ten flagship. I have a GS-ladder job waiting for me when I’m done in May. You don’t need to spend a quarter of a million dollars on your undergraduate education to have a successful career in government. Run a student debt calculator, figure out what your payments would be and think long and hard about the difference between a free degree and six-figure loans.</p>
<p>Well my parents know how much those schools cost and they know I’m applying and they haven’t stopped me. I have not talked specifically about how we would pay for these schools because I haven’t even been accepted yet, but like I said I know it is not anywhere near impossible.</p>
<p>Then you need to sit down and talk with your parents specifically about how you and your family would afford to pay for those schools.</p>
<p>Whether or not it’s “possible” for your parents to pay and sign the PLUS loans is irrelevant, because they don’t have to pay and sign the PLUS loans. If they disagree with your plan and refuse to borrow the money, you have no recourse. So if you want them to borrow six figures so you can attend Boston College or Georgetown, you’d best start talking to them about it right now, and not wait until you get accepted to say “Hey mom and dad, you’re going to sign these $30,000 PLUS loans each year for the next four years, right? Right?”</p>
<p>I really do appreciate your insight on the financial aspect, but I was more interested in finding out information about the schools. I’m trying to discover whether going to a prestigious school is worth it for an undergraduate degree and if I’ll be able to find everything I’m looking for at a state school.</p>
<p>Basic message… if you did not get into Duke ED, you are not getting into Walsh. What about a college like Dickinson? You could be a candidate for good merit aid there, and they have a Security Certificate. The Army War College is located in the same town, and my D was able to get an internship there. She was a political science major, and has a good job in DC now that she has graduated.</p>
<p>I’m not really interested in applying anywhere else. I’m content with all of the schools I’ve applied to, I’m just having trouble choosing which school is the right place for me.</p>
<p>Its your parents’ money, and if they will pay what you need to make the choice you want, then go right on ahead. But also, they are your parents, and that is a lot of money and as someone who loves them and cares about them, it might be nice if you give heavy consideration on how they feel about spending that kind of money. It’s not as though YOU are paying for this.</p>
<p>This whole discussion seems unnecessary: Either your parents will pay or they won’t. If they have already said they won’t, there’s nothing more to discuss here. If they have said they will (including taking on the debt since you won’t be allowed to take it on yourself), then that’s between you and them and there isn’t anything for us to discuss. </p>
<p>We have no idea what your financial situation is, how much debt would be needed, and what the opportunity cost is for you and for them. </p>
<p>Is a prestigious/more academically demanding school worth going into debt for? Sometimes, if it’s not a lot of debt and the alternatives are truly not acceptable. But you haven’t even been accepted to Georgetown or BU, so I’d suggest that you save the debate for April, unless the answer is already ‘no’ from the parental unit. In that case, find affordable alternatives or accept FSU or Auburn.</p>
<p>If it helps, employers care about where your graduate degree is from a lot more than your undergraduate degree, assuming you attend grad school.</p>
<p>Like I said before I do appreciate all of your input, but I didn’t start this thread because I’m concerned about if my parents will or will not help me afford a more expensive school. </p>
<p>I’m merely trying to decide if I would be stupid to pass up scholarships from a state school to go to a more prestigious school that will not offer me scholarships.</p>
<p>I was accepted ED into S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse Univeristy to study TV/Radio/Film.
Newhouse is one of the top communications schools in the nation and is known for producing high quality pieces and setting up their students for a career in communications. It is my dream to go there because the students are so driven and involved in what they do, which I think is very similar to how you felt about Duke, Georgetown, and BU. </p>
<p>But, tuition is CRAZY EXPENSIVE. The total cost is around $50k and I didn’t receive anywhere near the financial aid that I needed to make attending SU a realistic possibility. </p>
<p>I also was accepted into Ohio University with a good amount of scholarships on top of in state tuition since my parents are OU alums. So I would leave OU esentially debt free. But, OU does not have the reputation of being one if the top communications schools and students do not have to be accepted into the communications program, so in my mind, it doesn’t seem to draw the same amount of driven students that Newhouse does. </p>
<p>Then again, it’s pretty much free. It sucks because I know that SU will offer a whole lot more opportunities and connections, but I really don’t think it’s worth putting me and my parents in debt. </p>
<p>I really feel for you because it is slowly sinking in that I’m not going to be able to go to SU. I’m absolutely sure that I’ll be able to have a good time at Ohio, but it’s not my dream. </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s stupid for you to pass up the the scholarships at your state school, but I think it’s unrealistic. College is four years of our lives, and in retrospect, the school we choose to go to is not going to have a huge impact, but how we use our degree will.</p>
</p>