<p>I'm a high school senior ready to graduate, and after an exhausting year dealing with college/senior stuff, my choices for college are between Clemson University and USC-Columbia. My FAFSA is being verified, so I haven't heard anything about need-based aid and federal aid from either college, but both have shown me their merit awards. After doing the math, it turns out that over 4 years, if I study at USC, I will have about $12,000 in debt (not considering possible increase in tuition). For Clemson, the debt will be around $30,000. I plan to study Chemical Engineering and I would be in the Honors College at both universities. I've heard many different sides to where I should go. Some say that Clemson is worth it and that with my degree it won't be hard to find a good-paying job and pay off my debt. Others have talked about how they are still paying off debt after having graduated 10 years ago. To even add more problems to my situation, Clemson has been my number one choice since December. I have no doubt that Clemson is the right college for me (except for the cost, of course). I could go to USC, but I don't think I would feel at home.</p>
<p>So, is Clemson worth the extra $18,000 of debt? It has the engineering reputation over USC and it is where I strongly want to go, but is this worth the costs? I still haven't received notice about other scholarships, so the cost of Clemson will go down for me most likely. I know of ways of driving down my debt through employment. How likely is it that the Clemson debt won't hinder me after I graduate?</p>
<p>tbc31cc…There are a couple things to consider before you decide. Given that a fairly large portion of your FA package will be driven by your EFC, do you anticipate any major changes over the next 4 years that could drive your EFC higher? If any state/federal grant money is included once your need-based aid offers are made, you probably can anticipate those amounts decreasing somewhat over the next 4 years given the budget crises that many states are facing and given that the proposed federal budget already includes some cuts in the federal grants area. Also, you can almost be guaranteed that at least tuition costs are going to increase at both universities over the next 4 years so your amount of debt at either one is going to be higher than you anticipate. A general rule of thumb many CC’ers use is that anything in excess of $25K debt for undergrad is excessive, and many will use an even lower number. Others will tell you to “follow your heart” no matter how much debt is involved. For what it’s worth, I side with the “follow your head” crowd and would suggest you go with the lower debt at USC. If you’re considering grad school as a possibility you’ll want to have as much wiggle room as possible financially 4 years from now whether it’s cash reserves or borrowing power. If you didn’t at least have some interest in attending USC you probably wouldn’t (shouldn’t) have applied there, and I’m sure you can be happy and find great experiences wherever you go. And just to throw in a final, completely random and unrelated reason to attend USC…I’ve been to Columbia a few times and there are two OUTSTANDING chicken wing places within spitting distance of campus (Wild Wing Cafe and Carolina Wings and Ribs). What the hey…a person’s gotta eat right?? Good Luck with your decision!!</p>
<p>Clemson is predominantly an engineering school which means ChemE is definitely better than Columbia. You may want to ask them if they can increase your merit aid since both schools get their money from the same State.</p>
<p>@texaspg
I already did that and they basically said that they don’t have the funds to fully award deserving applicants. I’m e-mailing them some more to get information on employment and their co-op program. I heard from a friend at school that a friend of her’s makes more than the teachers at my high school through the co-op program, but that sounds exaggerated so I’m going get some more information on it. USC is starting to sound more reasonable. It’s just that I’ve been decided for Clemson for so long. It’s going to be hard at first to accept going to USC.</p>
<p>If your EFC stays constant and the university doesn’t change it’s methodology for calculating your need, then theoretically your need-based aid should stay about the same. If you have any siblings coming along behind you that will be in college at the same time as you, your INDIVIDUAL EFC will decrease but your FAMILY EFC will stay about the same (i.e will be split between all the siblings) but don’t expect the school to make up the difference in what your parents would be paying towards your education. They might increase grants but more than likely would just increase the amount of loans in your FA package. There are some threads already discussing some changes going into effect now that are increasing some folk’s EFCs (something to do with Making Work Pay program) so I don’t think anyone knows what to expect over the next 4 years. Basically, any grants you receive are subject to change. Depending on your/your parent’s credit scores, etc. your ability to borrow in each subsequent year could be affected (although with the amounts you’re tentatively looking at this probably wouldn’t be a factor). Generally, scholarships seem to be the most stable (although certainly not etched in stone) means to offset cost. Bottom line…expect COA to go up and don’t count on FA increasing with it…because it could possibly go down.</p>
<p>That 's a tough question that only you can answer. The $30K debt figure is really right on the line of what I personally believe undergrads should borrow, and what the government also has established, since that is about where the max Staffords lie. </p>
<p>Be aware that costs will increase each year. However, if you so much prefer Clemson, discuss this with your parents and see if this can somehow be worked out. My kids did not take the least expensive route, but eliminated unaffordable options. So any of them would choose Clemson in your situation, and as their parent I would support it. I would also help them with the cost differential if possible.</p>
<p>Try running all of the numbers, and some of the non-numeric information through this calculator, and then see what you and your parents think: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Advanced Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid) The cost difference may not prove to be a deal-breaker.</p>
<p>Does Clemson really have that much better of a reputation? USNWR ranks Clemson 85 and USC-Columbia 102 for Engineering. That’s very little difference, if any. Go cheaper and get just as good an education.</p>
<p>OP, in your analysis you would be well served to include a ballpark approximation of future year(s) cost inflation with respect to your total estimated COA/debt. Per your original post, it does not appear that you have yet. As a hypothetical, with 6% inflation applied to your estimated debt amounts the $18K in debt for USC might be more like $21.5K whereas Clemson might be closer to $36K. Hard to to know for sure what the numbers are without running them on a spread sheet and accounting for some amount of compounded annual inflation.
We did the above (in Excel) for S1 and the subsequent COA/debt increases for the more expensive private schools were an eye opener. Even with reasonably generous merit and grant aid, the difference in COA between year #1 and year #4 for many schools was over $10K. We included a 6% annual cost of inflation factor, applied to ALL costs. The most critical factor (aside from the inflation factor) is the fact that most awarded merit and grant aid is NOT indexed to inflation/cost increases.
It may be that USC might be your best bet for a good college experience/degree with a manageable amount of student debt.</p>
<p>Are you sure your math is correct? I went to Clemson for undergrad and graduated with ~$10k in debt. I only received merit scholarships (Palmetto Fellows, SMART grants, etc). Note that the award amount for these scholarships increase as you progress in your education.</p>
<p>But more to the point…</p>
<p>I think Clemson is clearly the better choice if you plan to go into engineering, both in terms of education and networking opportunities. If you are smart enough to get into ChemE with honors, then managing the extra $18k debt will not be a problem. Go with your heart because you only get to experience college once!</p>
<p>For reference… I went to CU, did MechE honors, co-op at GE, now in 3nd year of PhD.</p>