<p>Okay, so I was choosing before between NYU and BU and no matter which one I pick, I'll end up in debt anyway. NYU is expecting me to take out a LOT of loans per semester, like around 19k or something. BU gave me much better aid. 32k in grants and 8 k in loans, workstudy, subsidized loans, and unsubsidized loans. If I go to NYU, I'll end up having to take out 19k per semester and if I go to BU, I'll end up taking out 8k a year in laons on my own adding on top of the other 8k the school is giving me. When I graduate, that's a lot of debt. Is it really worth it? Should I just go to my safety?They're offering me full tuition and since it's a mile from my house, I can just live at home. I really don't know what do to because I don't want to owe the bank my soul when I go to grad school. =/</p>
<p>Hi Nickel...Remind me of what your career plans are? Also, where do you think you may want to end up after graduation?</p>
<p>If med or law school, stay at Dallas.....Otherwise, let's see......that's a hell of alot of debt to undertake.....</p>
<p>Well, I want to be a professor. I want to study the Classics and I know humanities degrees seem to earn you much less than other degrees, but that's what I like. >_< I don't think the University of Dallas is a bad school, but I feel it's not the "fit" for me. It's very conservative and religious based and I'm not sure I'd fit in with everyone there. But the reason I picked it is because if everything else fails, I get my mother's employee benifit of not paying tuition. I don't know if living at home means I'd lose out on an experience either. =/</p>
<p>Personally, I don't think that NYU is that much better than BU that you should incur that much more debt. Whether it's "worth it" for you rather than going to University of Dallas is something that only you can answer.</p>
<p>It's because I'd like to go to grad school straight afterward and I don't know if it's smart to go in with so many loans.</p>
<p>This may sound like a stupid question, but do you have to live home? Is this a commuter type school? (I'm not familiar with it)...We do know some kids around here that decided to reside at schools that were close to home....</p>
<p>That being said, you sound unhappy about the "fit" at this school...as Chedva says, only you can answer that "fit" question...but for what you want to do, I also do not think that NYU necessarily is worth the additional debt over BU if you are going in that direction......</p>
<p>Take the free-tuition safety and spend your money in graduate school. Try to finish your UG in 2-1/2 to 3 years. No UG program is worth that much debt.</p>
<p>Yes, I'd have to live at home. There's no point in living in a tiny dorm when I live less than a mile from the school. Also, my mom is in charge of the dorms there, so I'd see her every day anyway. And my dad is constantly there just to randomly see my mom. I think it's kind of a commuter school. Most kids there are Texas residents, so it's easy to go from school to home. I don't really hate the school. I actually liked it better than the other schools in the area and the program for my major is the strongest out of the other schools around here, some of which didn't even have my major. I just feel like maybe I won't make any friends. =/ And I already picked BU over NYU. Any school that considers 19k in laons per semester financial aid is crazy. Crazy I say.</p>
<p>Since your safety is so nearby, I'd suggest you go in and talk to some of the professors in your major. Tell them about your interests and your goals. Ask about coursework, about what might be available for a highly motivated undergrad who'd like to go on to grad school. Ask them for recommendations on reading, or for summer internships. Ask them about what their school experiences were like, both grad and undergrad. </p>
<p>They'll be flattered, you'll get face time with them early on, and you'll have a better sense of the academic fit of the school.</p>
<p>from a purely financial point of view</p>
<p>$19,000 a year in loans
Assuming an 8% interest rate (and assuming the loans are unsubsidized meaning you have to pay or defer the interest from day 1) you will either
1). Pay the interest as you go along. Year one you will have to pay $1520 interest, year 2 $3040, year 3 $4560, year 4 $6080 in interest payments.
or
2). Capitalize the interest - meaning it is added to the loans each year and you pay interest on the interest. At the end of 4 years the $76,000 you have borrowed will have grown to @ $92,000. </p>
<p>2 seems the more likely scenario. If you go to the loan calculator on finaid.org
FinAid</a> | Calculators | Loan Calculator</p>
<p>and enter the loan amount and interest rate it will tell you your monthly loan payments for the selected repayment period. For instance $92,000 at 8% over 10 years would be a monthly payment of @ $1116 for ten years - that is ten years!. The recommended salary to support that payment is $134,000. Are you at all likely to earn anywhere near $134k right out of school? And this is not including you going to grad school. Even if you chose to pay it over 20 years you would have monthly payments of @ $770 for 20 years.</p>
<p>Of course if you go to grad school you will have additional loans on top of this and, if you can continue to defer the undergrad loan until after grad school (I don't know if you can or not), the undergrad debt will continue to grow each year until you start paying it. For instance an extra year of deferring it 92,000 x 1.08 = $99,000 and so on. Plus whatever you have to borrow for grad school.</p>
<p>Awful lot of debt to saddle yourself with. Especially with the field you are interested in.</p>
<p>Nickelxenon,
you said 19,000 a semester in loans which = 38,000 a year. Did you mean 19,000 a year? Either way, that's a lot in loans when you have 2 reasonable alternatives.</p>
<p>"...If I go to NYU, I'll end up having to take out 19k per semester and if I go to BU, I'll end up taking out 8k a year in laons on my own,,,"</p>
<p>Double swimcatsmom's estimates (19k/semester). $38,000 in loans per year is ridiculous. $32,000 in loans over four years is just barely acceptable, but since you have a free option and want to earn a humanities PhD, your smartest choice is Dallas. Make appointments with a couple of professors, talk with them about your plans, and you will probably find you can be successful and happy at Dallas. And don't worry, there will always be some students with whom you fit socially, wherever you end up.</p>
<p>Oops - misread that one. Holy cow - $19,000 loans a semester *:eek: **DON'T DO IT!!!!*</p>
<p>and this is why I started this thread:</p>
<p>Students simply do not understand the debt that they are taking on.</p>
<p>To the OP, I honestly would not take on 64k in student loans (are talking about 16k/year) to go to BU! It is too much debt for an undergraduate degree in my opinion. I think that 20k in debt is okay, but over 3x that amount is not going to feel comfortable. JMO.</p>
<p>"Well, I want to be a professor. I want to study the Classics and I know humanities degrees seem to earn you much less than other degrees, but that's what I like."</p>
<p>Live at home and commute. Take some of the savings and go to the semester or year programs at the American Academy in Rome (I think that's the right name), and the summer program at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (the year program is only for grad students, but you can do the summer course after your junior year of college).</p>
<p>Classics is a very special field. There isn't a lot of money in it so I'd recommend doing your best to stay out of debt.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>I remember reading on these boards that non-professional graduate students usually go for free. Can someone confirm?</p>
<p>If you are working toward a Ph.D. in the humanities or lab sciences, chances are that you will have some kind of tuition waiver, and a teaching or lab assistantship. In the humanities you will be the slave labor that teaches freshman comp classes or leads review sections or grades papers or the like. In the sciences you will be the slave labor that teaches the lab sections or conducts the bulk of the lab work associated with your major advisor's research. You will make enough to live on, but not much more. Your federal student loans will be in abeyance until you finish grad school.</p>
<p>Not all graduate programs will have money to support you, or what you want to research isn't what their faculty are interested in, or the person whose interest you shared just died, or whatever. They might let you in anyway but with the expectation that you will fund your studies yourself. Others may only offer you partial support. So my advice is that when you choose your grad school, go to the one that will pay you the most to go there.</p>
<p>I shouldn't have applied to more than my safety. =/ It's so much harder to give up on your dreams when you realize the only thing holding you back is money. >_< I think I will go take another look at the University of Dallas. I'm a miser you see. I'm so incredibly stingy with money. xD So I crunched a lot of numbers. I don't want to start grad school with severe debt.</p>
<p>Good for you for being careful with money! It's a trait that will serve you well. There are times it is worth spending more, but more often there are times is isn't.</p>
<p>Nickel Xenon --</p>
<p>I think UDallas will be great! There's no reason you can't make as many friends as someone who lives in an apartment a mile from campus. Just decide that from the first day you are going to seek out some student groups to be involved in and do it. Get involved in student government, join an intermural team if you do sports, join a club. </p>
<p>Classics is a fascinating field, but there is not the money in it to support that debt. I'll tell you what I told someone else: That kind of debt is longterm indentured servitude. You will have to choose the job that can pay the debt, regardless of whether you love it or not. That's for a lot longer time than just college. Go debtfree and love the freedom!</p>