<p>Would it be wiser to complete my undergraduate a prestigious private college but take out approximately ~15k in student loans per year or to attend a public college on a 'full-ride' scholarship?</p>
<p>You can’t borrow more than the Stafford loan maximums (5,500 freshman, 6,500 sophomore, 7,500 junior, 7,500 senior year) unless you have a credit-worthy co-signer who is willing to do that for you. Even if your co-signer qualifies for the first year, there is no guarantee that that person will qualify again in future years.</p>
<p>Most parents would consider that 60k is too much debt. Yours might have different ideas. Talk this situation over with them and see what they think.</p>
<p>FWIW, no, you would not take on that kind of debt if you were my kid.</p>
<p>It depends (but you knew this, right?). A few considerations: </p>
<p>1) What can your family afford? Do they consider the debt worth it? Different families have different values and different financial profiles.</p>
<p>2) What are your plans after college? Will you have to take on more debt to go to grad school? Does graduating with no debt give you more options for the future?</p>
<p>3) What are your plans professionally? Are you entering a field that pays highly and you could pay this off in a reasonable amount of time (say, engineering) or will you be aiming for a position where the compensation isn’t high and/or positions aren’t readily available?</p>
<p>4) What’s the reputation of your public college? Do they have an honors program? Can you get the courses you need to graduate in 4 years or will you have to take an extra year (as is increasingly the case in CA)? Do they offer the subjects you want to study? </p>
<p>5) Can you do a work/study at the school where you are taking out loans? Are there scholarships or other ways to reduce the debt below $15k p.a.?</p>
<p>6) Do you have other special educational needs that would make one school a significantly better fit than the other?</p>
<p>There are many reasons why kids don’t take a full-ride somewhere and choose instead to incur debt to go to college. As long as they, and their families are realistic about what the costs really are, what they are getting for that money, and how they plan to pay it back, it’s a reasonable option.</p>
<p>Debt for graduate school seems inevitable at this point, but I plan on becoming some type of physician so paying it back doesn’t seem like a potential problem. The college that I have a full-ride to is Troy University in Alabama - where I live. Most of the typical Alabama stereotypes (ignorant redneck) seem to be true from what I know about this school. They do however have an honors program, and I do believe I’ll be able to graduate in four years. The private school(s) that I applied to are Vanderbilt, WUSTL, and Cornell - I believe I have a decent chance at each. Each of these schools do have a work-study program.</p>
<p>Even though Troy University doesn’t seem too appealing it is the safest choice financially for undergraduate. I’m just afraid that if I go here I will have a difficult time competing with individuals who went to better schools when it comes to medical school acceptance, etc…</p>
<p>Quite a bit of my information is just based off of assumptions. I haven’t been accepted to the private schools yet, but I’m just trying to prepare in the case that I do gain acceptance. The net price calculator gave me the ~$15k estimate after filling it out as accurately as possible.</p>
<p>If you want to go into medicine the major bulk of your education comes from med school, which you will need to apply to in 4 years. A full ride school would be better IMO because your GPA, MCATs, etc…matter during the admissions process into med schools. The undergraduate school you went to matters to a lesser extent.</p>
<p>You are a long way from being able to pay back those loans. I’d go with the cheaper option unless the difference is minimal. It’s a long road with a lot of off ramps between HS senior and post-residency doctor. Don’t assume what the end will look like until you are a lot closer.</p>
<p>I think this has been discussed before on multiple threads about whether or not going to a more prestigious college will help you get into med school. The consensus is that it will not since it comes down to gpa and MCAT scores. It may be more difficult to get a higher gpa at some of the private schools if you are competing against a bunch of other pre-med students. As long as Troy covers your per-requisites, it’s the smarter choice financially. </p>
<p>And don’t think that debt won’t be such a big issue since you’ll be a doctor. High debt might force you into a higher paying specialty. My sister as a physician is struggling with her debts and she had a full ride as an undergraduate. Our family doctor was worried about taking out loans to upgrade the computers at his group practice because he was still paying off student loans.
[Income</a> – American Academy of Family Physicians](<a href=“http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/otherpubs/debtmgmt/graduation/income.html]Income”>http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/otherpubs/debtmgmt/graduation/income.html)</p>
<p>Sadilly makes a good point about being pre-med, that has been made elsewhere. Medical schools don’t care where you get your undergrad degree - it’s about grades and MCATs, followed by letters of rec and relevant experience. Attending a somewhat less academically competitive school might actually help your GPA and your ability to stand out to faculty. We know too many bright kids with 4.0s from high school who started out as pre-med at top schools, and then changed their minds when they realized what the weeder classes would do to their overall GPA if they didn’t slog through the next 4 years.</p>
<p>Med school costs around $30k p.a. instate at U of Alabama and $50-70k p.a. at the privates or out-of-state, unless you plan to join the national health service or go military. Being a resident of Alabama is a huge advantage. At U of Alabama-Birmingham the instate acceptance rate is a whopping 38% compared to just 4% of out-of-state applicants. You want to protect your in-state residency at all costs if you are serious about going to med school.</p>
<p>I really appreciate all the feedback; it has reaffirmed what I didn’t want to believe. I do believe I will be attending a public institution this fall.</p>
<p>My brother in law is a physician still paying off huge undergrad (state school)/med school (private school) loans…12 years later. Says he’ll be paying the loans off for at least another decade. Going into medicine is no guarantee of a financially carefree life (at least not anymore). The business side of medicine is tricky - have had several discussions with Bro in Law about how he’s trying to buy into his practice - going to have to go into significantly more debt to do that. Now he’s starting to think about putting his kids through college. More debt! I know it’s hard to think so far ahead when you’re still in high school, but carrying that kind of debt burden is really hard on a person over time.</p>