Is Georgia Tech OOS Tuition worth it?

Hi, I got accepted to Tech for early action with a major of civil engineering (probably gonna switch to mechanical or industrial engineering) back in January. Tech has always been my dream school and after visiting the campus, I absolutely fell in love with it even more. However, while I was there I talked to the financial aid department and they told me that I would only get 15 to 20 percent of the tuition covered in grants and financial aid as I did not receive the provost or stamps scholarships. This would mean I would be paying $35-40k a year to attend. These numbers make my head hurt just looking at them. My parents would be able to help me take out loans, and as terrible as it sounds, once my grandfather dies (I love him very much and don’t want him to) some of the money he leaves for my mom would go towards paying for my education (about $60k). In addition, I would possibly be able to live with a family friend and pay instate tuition after my freshmen year. Also, these numbers don’t take into account outside scholarships which I will hear back from during the spring. However, even with all this help, I would still be taking out major loans and would have a lot of debt. I got accepted to Stevens Institute where I would be paying for only room and board, about $20k, and my parents want me to go there. Although I know it is an amazing school, my heart is dead set on Tech. I need to have my decision in by Friday for Stevens and am unable to find sufficient information about return on investment for oos students for Tech. Is taking out all the loans worth it in the long run? I know a lot of people say the Co-Op program can help pay off some of the loans, but as I’m finding out with my sister who attends Stevens, she used majority of the money she made to pay for housing. Also, is the job placement after graduation and starting salaries good? Like I said, my heart is dead set on Tech and for various reasons I do not want to go to Stevens, but I need to know that financially it is a good investment. Thankyou

Stevens’ ROI is greater than that of Georgia Tech for an out-of-state student:

https://www.payscale.com/college-roi?page=2

Stevens students are the tenth highest paid college graduates in the United States. If you are concerned with the return you will get on your tuition investment, only nine schools in the nation do better than Stevens. What is it about Stevens you don’t like? Its academics are among the best, it has the best location in the heart of the economic center of America, and one of the best co-op and internship programs of all U.S. universities. In general, going to an out of state public university is not a good investment. The tuition for OOS at most public institutions is, as you know, significantly higher than in-state, in many cases as high as a private university. If you have an offer from Stevens with which you will be responsible only for room and board, you are extremely fortunate. I would take it.

Unless you are comfortable with servicing tens of thousands of dollars of debt for many years, check your ego at the door and go with Stevens.

Both schools have ROIs higher than most of the Ivy’s … that isn’t a bad thing.

But the calculation is a little more complicated.

Most OOS kids have ~10 AP courses which can take a year off of college.

If you have lots of AP credit, this will transfer to credit at a public school. Most privates won’t give your any credit toward your degree. So at a public you can be looking at 3 vs 4 years to get your bachelor’s.

I don’t know how much AP credit Stephen’s will give you.

So depending on your AP situation and Stephens AP credit policy.

Example (I don’t know the exact numbers):
Stephens 4yrs @ 20k → 80k
GT 3yrs @ 40k → 120k, - 1yr employed 80k → 40k

If Stephens gives you credit then you could be saving 60k+ over a 3 year period.

You should talk to a Stephens advisor to find out how much applicable credit you have toward your degree.

Be careful because some schools will say that they will give you credit but then you still have to take the full hourly load. So they will give you 30hrs credit, but you still have to take 120hrs toward your degree instead of 90… and you graduate with 150hrs.

Thanks for the numbers everyone, I know Stevens is an amazing school but my sister goes there and plays a prominent role on campus. We do not get along very well and I do not want to live in her shadow once again in college like I have in high school. In addition, a lot of people from my school go to Stevens and I do not want to go to a high school 2.0. Finally, the campus is too ingrained into the city for me, I felt much more comfortable and at home at Georgia Tech’s campus. I know these sound like silly reasons, but to me they are deciding factors that I am seriously considering. I want to enjoy college and do not want to go to a school where I do not feel like I fit in or belong. Also, in terms of AP credits, I am only going to be able to get exempt from history, macroeconomics, and maybe an English course. Not enough to be a sophomore by credit hours. Thankyou again everyone, this is a tough decision I have to make and I want all the information that I can get.

Also I applied and got accepted to Stevens for quantitative finance. I was very undecided in the begining of the year on what I wanted to major in, but I think I have finally settled on industrial engineering. To switch from a business to an engineering major at Stevens would require me to retake a lot of classes and would not be an easy switch.

@chrissie1199 how did you already hear back from Stevens? I thought regular decision is not released until late March.

You can’t just live with a family friend and pay instate tuition. Your residency is where your parents are. How are you going to take out major loans? You can only take out $27,000, total over 4 years on your own. It sounds like Tech is unaffordable for you.

@chrissie1199
You cannot afford Gtech. I know this is hard but I think you know what the right decision is.

Ga Tech is the better school no doubt. Stevens is god awful (My opinion). I’ve been there twice and toured. My friend went there first semester and transferred out to Rutgers because he hated it. No sense of school pride, awful m/f ratio, an sub-par academics (comparatively). I am not trying to sound arrogant but Ga Tech beats Stevens for just about everything. The only plus is that you are near NYC so it shouldn’t be too hard to find a job, but at Ga Tech you are in Atlanta so it really doesn’t even make a difference. and plus: Atlanta >> NYC. Plus, If you have lived in the North all your life, now is a good time to experience the South.

What are your other options? I would recommend other great school for engineering if cost is an issue like Purdue, Maryland, Wisconsin, UT Austin. They are not quite as good as GaTech but you could probably get more aid and similar job opportunities. Obv if you have only applied to those two then this is not an option, but if any other similarly ranked school offered you more I’d go there.

I’m not saying rankings are everything, but Stevens isn’t ranked in the top 50 for engineering programs. They aren’t even top 75, they are 78th. Ga Tech is 4th. The academic reputation and experience cannot compare.

How much debt would you take on? Sometimes people panic at the idea of having 30-40k in debt but it really isn’t that bad. People will tell you to get out of college as debt free as possible but you must find an equilibrium between a place with a solid rep, enjoyable atmosphere, and manageable cost.

Forget that in state tuition thing, once out of state, always out of state - unless your parents move.

But what you said is “live with a family friend” as in for “free”??? Because if that’s the case, then you would be paying tuition and food/misc at GT which is closer to $35k and if you save 15-20%, would that be off the total including room and board? If not, you could get that $35 reduced by 20% to $28k which is closer to the price of Stevenson. If the 20% in grants/aid is off the total COA of $48k OOS, then the discount might be $10k, bringing it to $25k. Of course this depends on whether GT allows non-resident freshman to live off campus first year, most colleges don’t.

You really need to see the full financial packages of both colleges. Also, schools generally don’t require you to commit until May 1 - so I don’t know what you mean by needing to answer Stevenson by Friday. If you do, accept, you can always rescind later.

It just seems like you wouldn’t have any margin of error if the plans didn’t work out.

I applied early decision 2 to Stevens, so I need to have my deposit in by Friday, March 9th or else I will lose my spot. I did not realize that Tech did not release financial aid packages until late March for Early Action students or else I would have done regular decision for Stevens. Like I said, my heart is set on Tech and I will do anything to go there. I have applied for a lot of outside scholarships but I will not hear back from them until the spring.

@qow- Stevens is the equal of Ga. Tech in all respects and in many ways superior. If you did not attend Stevens none of your criticisms have any merit, really. If you did not attend Georgia Tech your lauding of that school has equally little merit. Stevens students would not be enjoying the great success they have in their recruitment by major corporations, government, military, and graduate/professional schools and in their resulting careers if its academics were not top notch, believe me. No school pride? I’m laughing. You are right about one thing, rankings mean nothing. They are popularity contests, not objective measurements of anything.

I attended Stevens, Rutgers, and MIT. After Stevens, the others were easy, believe me.

@Greymeer - the name of the university is Stevens, not “Stephens”.

@Engineer80 are you kidding me? Ga Tech wins at literally everything.

Acceptance rates: 43.8% at Stevens
25% at Ga Tech (18% OOS)

Average Test Scores: 30-33 at Ga Tech
29-32 at Stevens

M/F Ratio: 70% male 30% female at Stevens
63% male 37% female and rising at Ga Tech

Overall School Ranking: 38 at Ga Tech
69 at Stevens

Engineering School Ranking: 4 at Ga Tech
78 at Stevens

Average Starting salary(Undergrad only): $67,000 at Stevens
$70,000 at Ga Tech (For grad students the gap is even bigger)

Sports: All Division 1 Sports at Ga Tech
Division 3 sports at Stevens

Cost: $48,000 OOS, $28,000 In-state at Ga Tech
$64,000 at Stevens

Weather: 61.4 degree avg in Atlanta
55.5 degree avg in NYC

Graduation rate (6 yr): 82% at Ga Tech
79% at Stevens

Sure Stevens grads are recruited by top companies, but what did you expect from a tech school with a decent rep in NYC?

Ga Tech is superior to Stevens, there is no question. While the rankings don’t tell the full story they tell a lot. Sure between like 10 places there isn’t much difference but 74 places? Come on. It isn’t even close. You can be skeptical on a few stats but the evidence is heavily against you and your “word” for how good the program is. Plus you’re view is outdated. The Ga Tech of 10+ years ago when you were probably going to Stevens is much different from today’s.

Plus, by your standards, if you haven’t attended Ga Tech how can your statements be valid either? If anything you are just more biased since you attended Stevens.

@qow- A $3,000 difference in starting salary - if that is true - means little. That is in the noise. Academic rankings as I say are largely popularity contests voted on by subjective opinion (particularly USNWR). An ACT score difference of 1-3 points is also insignificant. Here in New Jersey for example Stevens comes in at the highest ACT and SAT scores, and highest selectivity (37%) of all NJ institutions with the exception of Princeton University. Graduation rate- 82 vs 79% - is statistically insignificant. Stevens ranks high in ROI not just because many of its students are in STEM fields. In Payscale’s survey of engineering-only ROI, it ranks at fifth in the nation - ahead of Ga. Tech in fact. That eliminates the effect of a preponderance of STEM/engineering students on the results had the surveyed cohort encompassed all academic fields besides engineering (as the Payscale general ROI survey does, in which Stevens comes in at tenth).

The distinguishing quality of a Stevens education is that Stevens requires a very great breadth and depth of coursework. One studies far more than EE, ME, ChemE, CE, etc, in that the engineering curriculum requires a great deal of coursework in engineering and science subjects outside of the student’s immediate major. Industry values this broad-based interdisciplinary problem solving capability. Most engineering problems require an understanding of more than just the specific area of the problem, and Stevens students are highly trained in how all the major engineering specialties interact. The typical Stevens engineering graduate takes some 153 credits. The high credit load reflects this broad-based philosophy of education that Stevens has had throughout its history.

I’ve worked with and managed graduates of all the big name schools including Georgia Tech. My experience has been that the broadly educated engineer is a far more effective problem solver than the narrowly trained graduates of many other schools. There are only a few schools in the nation that have retained the broad-based Bachelor of Engineering degree and curriculum, Stevens, Cooper Union, and a handful of others. That is why Stevens graduates are so highly valued in the professional world.

Sports and M/F ratio mean little. One has his or her entire life to pursue sports and dating. Stevens students are not Division 1 athletes - so what? That is not their purpose of attending the school. Division 3 student athletes are true scholar athletes. Div 3 schools by NCAA regulation cannot offer athletic scholarships. I am certain the recruited athletes at Georgia Tech (and most other D1 schools) particularly the football players aren’t the same in terms of academic acumen as the non-athlete student body in general.

I have no dog in this fight, but THIS is very telling:

Average Starting salary(Undergrad only): $67,000 at Stevens
$70,000 at Ga Tech (For grad students the gap is even bigger)

A delta of $3K is nothing.

OP, are you considering $160,000 in loans for Geogia Tech? I’m unclear on that. If the answer is yes, I would strongly recommend against doing that.

@suzy - I agree, taking on $160K in loans is crazy.

To the original poster, it is your work that will distinguish you in your career and will drive your advancement, not the name of the school on the diploma. Once you are in the workplace for a few years your employers will be looking at how effective you are in your work, not at what school you attended. The six figure loan however will be with you for a very long time. Stevens is a superb institution (as is Georgia Tech) and you can’t go wrong with either one, however, consider the impact on your life that such a loan will entail. You will want to buy a car, eventually a home, invest for your future, possibly start a business, start a family, et al. It is very nice to be in your position that you have the chance at an education that will distinguish you from other college graduates without an exhorbitant amount of debt.

I wish you the best and I am sure you will be a success in both your academic and professional career!

@Engineer80

My bad.

OP…you cannot get instate tuition. You, cannot take out loans yourself over 27,000 over ALL four years total. As far as counting on outside scholarships, forget that. If, and I really mean if you get any, it will most likely be a small amount and probably a one-time thing. Sorry, but it doesn’t look like Tech is affordable for you, at all.