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<p>For MED SCHOOL. NOT for UNDERGRAD.</p>
<p>And most of my friends and I (at our state school) are having an epic journey. Your life is what you make of it, not where you go.</p>
<p>quote from Redbluegoldgreen: “Northstarmom, I think we just have a difference of opinion on what makes for a happy, productive, satisfying life. I’m looking to lead an “epic” life. Looks like you are satisfied with “settling.””</p>
<p>Redbluegoldgreen, I think the difference between you and Northstarmom isn’t that you are “epic” and she is “settling.” I think the difference is that you are a kid and she is a grownup.</p>
<p>My own opinion, based on 35 years of attending and teaching at a variety of institutions: I don’t think cost should be the only issue in choosing a school. There is a big difference between a topnotch and not-topnotch college, in the quality of faculty, peers, and programs offered. In my case, I went to a small, unselective school for my first year because of a scholarship, and was bored and restless; then transferred, also with the help of a generous scholarship, to an Ivy university. The difference was night and day. My husband had the same experience. On the other hand, it is simply not true that only one “dream school” can offer you a thrilling future. What makes for good education isn’t some patented secret, and excellent students attend a wide variety of schools. Moreover (since the OP is interested in English) she should know that since the academic job market for English PhDs has been miserable since about 1970, there are very smart, engaged, publishing faculty all over the place, not just concentrated at a few elite institutions.</p>
<p>In short, William and Mary is an excellent college but there are others like it. I encourage OP to investigate those similar schools: either private schools that give significant aid for which she might qualify, or public schools with affordable tuition.</p>
<p>jingle…
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<p>i was thinking the exact same thing, I don’t believe Redbluegoldgreen went to undergrad 33 years ago, he/she writes like a naive 17 year old.</p>
<p>A bit of advice to the OP: maybe you should look at the type of person making the posts you are reading. Consider if the comments are coming from a position of experience or if the they are coming from a person in the same situation as you are.</p>
<p>I am a parent of two college students. Here’s the quick replay of our experience. Son got into his first choice college, a very expensive and competitive one. Due to little financial aid, he went elsewhere. He got a good education, had fun, graduated top of his class and got into a great grad program. With one year left, he has job offers and a reasonable amount of debt. Good decision. </p>
<p>My daughter applied to a variety of types of schools, partly due to my recently bad financial situation. Her first choice college was expensive, but they were less prestigious and more generous with financial aid than my son’s dream school. She also won several scholarships, making that school actually cost less than the state school down the road. Good decision.</p>
<p>My husband and I paid off college loans every month over the longest time possible. Every month. Through marriage, new house, new cars, babies, etc. Not easy. Don’t let the payment be too high.</p>
<p>So, my advice is this: apply if you want, but not ED, as you need to compare financial aid packages. ED takes that option away from you. And $80K (or even $60K) is too much for an undergrad degree, imo, especially if you might want to go to graduate or professional school.</p>
<p>OP–what specifically do you like about William and Mary? There probably are other schools that offer similar things, but are less costly. Some may be very strong in English, your prospective major. </p>
<p>What are your post college and career plans?</p>
<p>Nsm, I asked that 80 posts ago, but OP didn’t respond.</p>
<p>I just hate when kids get fixated on one school and act like they can’t possibly be happy anywhere else. Sets them up for disappointment. But to find that the dream undergrad school will put them $80K in debt? That’s just irresponsible, especially when the major is something where they are unlikely to get a lucrative job upon graduation.</p>
<p>If what you want is a beautiful campus with friendly students and a strong English department, there are colleges that can provide you with that at less cost.</p>
<p>not enough info here. Why don’t you just give us the the facts. Which undergraduate school are you talking about? Do you intend on going to graduate or professional school? If so, in what field. get to the point and you’ll get better answers!</p>
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<p>You gotta love this. Don’t get excited about your dream school’s unique programs or tremendous opportunities in your major. Your big dream is about having the piece of paper on your wall! :rolleyes: </p>
<p>My pieces of paper are on a wall at home. My spouse thought they’d look nice framed, but people in my field (which is my dream career) don’t bring such things in to the office. I barely look at them. But hey, if that’s what’s important to you, go for it.</p>
<p>I agree with ClassicRockerDad: your dreams should be far, far bigger. Do you want to have the freedom to spend time after college developing as a writer? Do you want to travel the world? Study on a fellowship? Start a business? Get started in a dream career that requires unpaid or lowpaying internships for a few years? Go to grad school in a nontechnical field? Learn to drive a race car? Hitchhike across the country? Those dreams are all going to be a lot tougher to pursue if you need to immediately start working to pay off $60k in private loans. The posters here who are scornfully telling you to pursue your dreams, who blithely say that it’s only money–well, it’s only money, but there’s not an infinite supply of it. How do YOU want to use it? </p>
<p>Some happiness is indeed worth $80k in debt. Your job is to figure out if W&M is THE happiness that’s worth that for you.</p>
<p>Based on the OP’s other posts, the school appears to be William & Mary.</p>
<p>personally - i think it’s worth it to follow your dream. my parents both paid for their own college education (and for one of my parents, med school), and always said that the debt was never much of a burden. they graduated, got jobs, and it was just like another bill to pay. of course college was cheaper then, but still.</p>
<p>i am going to northeastern university. my parents pay for it currently, but i am paying them back for housing (working part-time during college, plus what i had earned while working in high school). they’re not strict on deadlines or anything like that, but i do pay them back. when i graduate, i’m expected to pay back the student loans i got from financial aid. my parents can afford it, but it’s just always been assumed that that’s what i’d pay, plus it’d help me get credit history, etc. the loans are approximately 6000 a year, plus around 8000 for my housing each year, so i’m responsible for about 14,000 a year, and will definitely graduate in debt, although part of it will be to my parents. regardless, i’ll definitely owe about $24,000 for loans. i guess it depends on your confidence about getting a well-paying job after college. for me though, it was important for me to go to a school i really wanted to go to, instead of settling on a cheaper school that wasn’t for me.</p>
<p>of course, if you feel that a cheaper school can offer you everything you want and you’ll be happy, that’s a great alternative.
maybe just don’t apply early decision, apply regular decision and make your decision in the spring, when you see what your final choices are.</p>
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<p>School was much cheaper when our parents were in college. My state school costs about $23k a year. When my aunt was here (mid-late 80s) it was only about $5-7k a year.</p>
<p>MED school is MUCH different than undergrad.</p>
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<p>Which is a fraction of what the OP is planning on taking out.</p>
<p>In the context of dreaming for the stars, since when did a specific college become the end unto itself? Education ought to be a means to a particular end rather than the overarching objective or final destination. There are so many great schools out there to help transport us towards our ultimate goals in life. There’s absolutely no need to be unreasonably fixated on places that are unaffordable when so many equally promising alternatives exist. </p>
<p>One way to ensure you never reach certain goals in life is to be foolish with money by over estimating the worth of what you are spending it on relative to the degree of sacrifice it requires. It’s always a calculated risk best given over to reason rather than emotion. Spending money not yet earned, except under the most controlled conditions, is one of the most effective ways I can think of to dismantle a dream. And if attending a specific school is truly the sum total of all dreams… well, that isn’t much anyway.</p>
<p>Here’s some numbers to consider:
60K , paid off at $400/month , 5% interest will take 19 YEARS and 8 MONTHS to repay.
You want to pay it back in 10 years? That will take $640/month.
Let’s assume you start with a generous salary of $60,000/year. That turns in to about $36,000 after taxes. That’s $3,000/month. Your % of debt burden is now 21% - which is already high.</p>
<p>What I can’t figure out is why the parents would agree to spend $120K to leave their daughter $60K in debt for an english degree. That’s a REALLY bad investment for them unless they want her to live with them until she’s 35. LOL!</p>
<p>^ I’m not entirely sure why that was necessary. </p>
<p>I agree, the OP should find a more reasonable school, but to put down a major like that, is really unnecessary in my opinion.</p>
<p>Maybe the parents figure that the OP won’t get in. I think the OP is planning to apply ED to up their chances of being accepted. The parents also may think that shooting for the stars may encourage their kid to maintain high senior year grades.</p>
<p>"Let’s assume you start with a generous salary of $60,000/year. That turns in to about $36,000 after taxes. That’s $3,000/month. Your % of debt burden is now 21% - which is already high. "</p>
<p>Let’s assume that the OP starts at what many English majors now start at if they’re lucky (many are still looking for jobs) $30,000 a year…</p>
<p>Romanigypsyeyes, I meant no disrespect to the OP or to the major, but the reality is that few english majors can support rent, food and $640/mo in student loans right out of college. </p>
<p>I would wholeheartedly support my kids in studying whatever they want. I would certainly pay for the education if I could afford it. The world needs english majors. They have a contribution to make. I would not, however, knowingly spend all of my limited resources only to leave my child with that kind of debt burden with little hope of “launching” into an independent life.</p>
<p>“Is happiness worth $80,000 in debt?”</p>
<p>The assumption is wrong, that $80,000 is needed to buy such happiness, and that it would do so if spent.</p>
<p>IMHO, $20,000 is a reasonable amount, $80,000 is not.</p>