Tulane offers guaranteed admission to Louisiana residents with certain scores/GPA. I hit the mark on those standards, but I wouldn’t receive very large amounts of financial aid (relative to the cost of the school). Furthermore, I don’t think I’m very competitive for the Dean’s Honor Scholarship/Paul Tulane Scholarship. I’d really love to go to Tulane for a lot of reasons, but I’d have to take out a ton in loans that would be a real financial burden. I also aspire to attend law school after attaining my undergraduate. Would going to Tulane be worth it despite the potential financial burden?
Apply to a lot of places first.
No need to decide now.
First, do as @PurpleTitan said.
The TL:DR answer is no.
The long answer is, the money you borrow comes with significant opportunity cost. Let’s say you have to borrow $70k. If you instead went where you didn’t have to borrow, but still made the same monthly payment towards an investment making 6% for ten years, and then simply let it sit with no additional principle making 6% until you were 65, you’d have almost $1,000,000.
For you this is very germane as you’ll have debt from law school too.
The short answer to your question is “no”, it’s not worth it to take on lots of debt if you have other options…especially if you have plans to attend grad school. For example, I’d bet that LSU Ogden Honors College would be an academic peer with Tulane at less than half the cost. @PurpleTitan makes a good point that you have time to decide.
I recommend using the net price calculator at the schools on your list (example: https://tulane.studentaidcalculator.com) to get an estimate of costs. Then have a frank conversation with your family about the budget for college to determine which schools fit.
Good luck!
Define debt? I think under 30k for UG is manageable, but over that can be hard unless you are sure you will be pulling down good money!
I’m from New Orleans and know Tulane well great school with much clout in the area the hardest part is not partying your tail off!