<p>I'm down to my top two school choices and I LOVE them both! One, Auburn University I'll probably pay around $30,000 a year. The other, Florida International University, I will get a full ride. I love them both, but I don't know if I should let the money be the tie breaker. At Auburn I would be able to get a double major, which would be so much better for my career. I will be able to afford to go to Auburn, but I'm not sure if I WANT to pay a crazy price when I could be paying nothing. So, is going into debt for college really worth it? </p>
<p>SN: Incase my future salary is a factor in you giving me advice...
I want to be an animal trainer, so I won't make much money initially. But I also know people at big places like SeaWorld and if you get a job like that, your salary is at least 6 digits.</p>
<p>Isn’t there a school in between FIU and Auburn, such as a Florida public that’s higher ranked that FIU?
BTW, you can always take classes outside your major without the confines of a “major” (you’ll have about 1/3 classes that you can take in any field you want, for whatever reason: curiosity, remedial, future job etc.) and some colleges have “create your own major” or “create your own minor” options, which you can add to your chosen major. See if FIU allows that.
Getting into that much debt isn’t worth it since your likely earnings after college are likely to be between nothing - unpaid internships- and low - occasional gigs AND since there won’t be any professional difference between the two schools for the job you want to do (BTW, did you mean $30,000 per year, or total for all 4 years? Because 4X30,000 is INSANE. A big no no - you couldn’t buy a car, you couldn’t buy a house, you couldn’t afford a wedding, you couldn’t afford having a kid, you’d be shackled by your debt for 25 years.)
Since you want to be an animal trainer, where you’re unlikely to make a living for a good 10-15 years at least, I’d say go with FIU. SInce you can get into Auburn, see if you can get into FIU’s honors programs (lots of perks and more respect for your degree, plus interactive classes keep you motivated and are just more interesting than straight lecture in my opinion).</p>
<p>The more long-winded answer is: if you have to pay $30K/year, where is that money coming from? Federal student loans will only cover a fraction. Are you planning on taking the rest as private loans? Is someone prepared to cosign for that much? Or do you have resources to pay at least some of that tuition? Have you estimated what the monthly payments will be upon graduation, and looked at that in relation to rent, car, and basic living expenses and your anticipated income for at least the first few years, while you are building a resume? Will you be able to afford to live anywhere near where jobs would be?</p>
<p>Is graduate school a possibility? If so, better to save your money now. If you spend $120K for undergrad, would you be able to afford additional schooling, or are you better off getting the free undergrad and spending some of that $120K on a graduate program or financing unpaid or low-paying internships?</p>
<p>How many animal trainers are hired each year at places like SeaWorld? How many years experience do these people have? What jobs do they hold BEFORE getting on at SeaWorld? How will you pay your debt while you’re waiting for a 6 figure income that may take many many years to materialize?</p>
<p>If you have the opportunity for a free undergrad education, I think you should take it. Although in a perfect world it wouldn’t come down to money, it really does. The less you pay for undergrad the more money you have for grad school. Good luck!</p>
<p>I have a feeling OP thinks her parents can take loans for her?
(Because as a freshman, Op, you can only borrow $5,500, total, subsidized and unsubsidized.)
I don’t think parents would accept that, though, since for marine biology there’s not a huge difference anyway.
If you can get a free ride at FIU you can get into the Honors college there and thus have an equal quality of education, for free.
It’s rare to see consensus of that level on CC, so trust the collective wisdom: FIU
And Congratulations!!</p>
<p>As an Ivy grad and dad, the single most useful truth I can impart to those of you wondering about how much debt to assume for an undergraduate education:</p>
<p>“5 years after you graduate from college, if people are still talking about what college you went to, you haven’t done very much with your life.”</p>
<p>I’m curious as to whether OP made a decision. I remember OP from other threads, too, and remember that her double-major most likely wasn’t as important to her career as she insisted that it was and didn’t really exist at Auburn (IIRC, she wanted to double major in marine biology and zoology. Auburn has a marine biology major, but they don’t have a zoology major - they have a major in organismal biology with an integrative biology track and an ecology, evolution, and behavior track, but both tracks are VERY similar to the marine biology major with the exception of 2-3 courses).</p>
<p>She could take the same combination of classes at FIU.</p>
