<p>I applied to Cornell Engineering RD. I also applied to several other schools, although Cornell is one of my top choices. However, along with many others, I definitely cannot afford the 40k/year tuition. We probably won't qualify for federal aid because of a unique living situation/family issues, etc. We can probably afford about 20k/year. My question is, is going 20k*4 (80k) in debt, worth the degree from Cornell? I absolutely love Cornell (atmosphere, academics, everything) and would be ecstatic if accepted. However I could go to UVA and graduate with no debt because I'm in state. (I can't stand the UVA atmosphere, it's not me... but $talks..) Would a Cornell engineering degree pay itself off? Or should I stick around home and kiss Cornell goodbye?</p>
<p>thoughts...?</p>
<p>80k in debt isn't all that unusual for cornell. the median debt is 20 grand i believe. u'd be at the high end but not in the red either. all i can really tell you is that students regularly choose to incur that amt of debt for cornell. sounds like engineers shoot for grad school pretty often. it might be wise to go cheap on undergrad and splurge on the grad school. </p>
<p>i think you should go to cornell though and give it all your money. i'd love to make my college richer. wouldn't you?</p>
<p>it depends what you want.</p>
<p>if you want to earn a lot of money in the future, cornell might give you better jobs at first and a slightly higher salary but in the long end, it's not really what college you go to but what you do in life. you decide whether that 80k is worth it, or you could save it for grad school and still get an engineering education.</p>
<p>if you want to spend 80k on good academics and mainly a good experience and think that good experience will be worth 80k, then go for it. otherwise, it's probably not worth it. how will you have money for grad school?</p>
<p>starting salaries for engineers are pretty good. so you probably won't have a big problem paying it off. but still, if you go to state school, 80k can pay you for many other things. </p>
<p>i'd say if you have some really good deal for a state school, go state and save your money for grad. otherwise, it's up to you.</p>