Im debating whether to go to ucsd, ucb or cmu honestly i like cmu the best but it is 20k more each year so im wondering if the opportunities and advising is worth the extra money. my parents make about 80k a year and my sister is currently attending a uc (18k a year)
ucsd (warren college biology major) - 18 k
berkeley( college of letters and science, fall program for freshman, undeclared ) - 17k
cmu- (dietrich/mellon college of science joint, biology major ) 38k
im trying to appeal, but i have no other offers from other private colleges (boston college actually costs more from me 48k)
also i’m premed / biology major
any input will be much appreciated
Where will you get the money from, loans?
This is a very personal matter. CMU with loans, especially considering med school in future, seems like a bad idea to me.
What other things that cost $80k more out of pocket do your middle class parents seriously consider buying?
@YZamyatin i have savings that should be good for some of the money, but I will have to take out loans
My advise would be no. Not for biology premed. Go the best economical educational route. Do your best at a high GPA and get a high MCAT. Save for medical school.
Here’s the thing…
No one can say where the definitive line should be drawn on worth, but a college decision is definitive. You can only attend one school, so you must decide where the line goes.
The one piece of advice I give people is to think carefully about loans. For the type of student hanging out on CC, I think they are almost always unnecessary.
One school’s loan package is a less selective school’s grant aid.
I’m suprised about 2 things: 1) the EFC differential between CMU and UCB and UCSB is so greate, and 2) CMU expects your parents to contribute $38k on $80k of income. Especially with a sibling already at a UC paying $18k / year. Putting that aside though I my personal choice as a parent would agree with most comments above. UCB and UCSB are both excellent schools and it’s just not worth it to go to CMU for that joint MCS / Dietrich degree and pay an additional $80k. Maybe CS, certain engineering disciplines, or acting / musical theater. But as one poster points out, it is a personal decision.
I’m surprised about the $38K on $80K income. Call CMU and discuss it with them to see if there is an error someplace. We’re also $80K, but the 2nd child is in 10th grade at a private school. The 1st FA received from CMU was full pay and an EFC of $154K. I discussed it with them and they found a typo in the CSS profile From this (my) error, they assumed we had $1.9M hidden assets and proceeded accordingly. Once the typo was fixed, the FA package was more in line to what we were expecting. Still not a done deal, but it put CMU back in the picture.
If it’s a CSS Profile error, it would not affect EFC calculations from state schools that use FAFSA but not CSS. We also sent the corrected CSS profile to other schools, and they responded very quickly and positive.
I have 1 child at CMU (CIT, 2nd year), and 1 at a state university. CMU aid brought the cost down to where it is extremely painful but just doable. AT first, I didn’t think we’d say it was worth the extra cost, but we do now. Small class sizes, great facilities, and the opportunities for internships that wouldn’t have happened at a state school… For most families, the costs are tough. I think there is a payoff (so to speak) at graduation for the extra cost.
Definitely ask your parents to call CMU FA office and talk to someone and see if you can receive more aid.
I attended CMU many moons ago (psych major), and my sister attended UC (also psych), and we had two entirely different experiences. I was not a super student, but I got to work closely with a professor on his research project, which in turn helped me to start my own research project, which became my senior thesis project, which I got to present at two major psychology conventions. The research project and convention travel expenses were paid for with undergraduate research grant. CMU was the perfect environment for a student like me. I had friends who were pre-med at CMU and valued their professor mentors. One tip: I worked in the dining service for one year and got free meals. For two years I was a RA (resident assistant) and got free housing. Every little bit helped!
thank you for all your inputs i am going to try to meet with a financial aid adviser this week and hopefully they do lower the financial its just that i dont have any offers on the table which they usually use to adjust the FA so im feeling hopeless
@kaukauna @Shoshonte i got 28k in grants they offered me 8k in loans so it would be 30k counting the loans, without loans netcost is 38k if that seems more right
Heelloothere: No the net cost to still seems strangely high on $80 K of annual income. But we don’t have all the information. Good luck with your meeting. Best of luck to you.
It seemed like CMU looked at Institutional EFC which takes home equity into account.
Okay. Sorry to hear that. Well good luck with the decision.
@kaukauna thank you !
@acadia1: “CMU aid brought the cost down to where it is extremely painful but just doable.” Sounds like they used the same process as that for pricing a new iPhone. 
only come to cmu if your major is the best here. otherwise ur wasting ur money