Is Northeastern worth BIG debt?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, My son has narrowed down his choices to U of Scranton (which is giving him tons of money), Rutgers which costs 22K and Northeastern, his dream school, which will cost 40K per year after the grant they offered.</p>

<p>We were VERY impressed with Northeastern. He will be a journalism major and the journalism opportunities (with such papers as the Boston Globe and top journalists as professors) are fantastic. Also, I can see that my son would be very, very happy in Boston and the general culture there.</p>

<p>Is it worth the money and debt? I will help him but we have little saved and most will be in loans.</p>

<p>Please give me your gut feeling.</p>

2

<p>definitely worth it, co-op will help you land a very good job and will help you pay off college costs during college</p>

3

<p>In my opinion- NO. Rutgers is every inch the equal of Northeastern if not better.</p>

4

<p>Absolutely not IMO considering journalist salaries are low and headed downward, if they can even find a job with newspapers and magazines folding every day.</p>

5

<p>Is Journalism at Northeastern a five-year co-op program? Do you pay tuition all five years? How does that work?</p>

6

<p>You have the option to do it in five years or four and you have options for coop times…or you can do no coop at all.</p>

<p>You don’t pay tuition while on co-op, but if you are there you have to pay housing…or you can come home and do the coop at home.</p>

<p>My son doesn’t want to be a journalist. He plans to go onto law school or perhaps into the media end of business in a corporation.</p>

7

<p>So then if it’s his debt, he’ll also have large debt for a law degree or MBA. I’m not sure why a kid would take on so much debt for a school that’s not any better for what he’s trying to do than his other choices. Boston is great, but $160K in debt for undergrad and we’re not talking Harvard or MIT? Add in another $200K for the grad degree and he won’t have a normal life paying that off.</p>

8

<p>Northeastern is part of a lawsuit against Google in the Texas patent court. They claim Google’s search technology infringes their patents. If they win…</p>

<p>(chances are low)</p>

9

<p>If they win, what…? Students will get better packages?</p>

10

<p>No, Northeastern would be a waste of money. Rutgers is a great school at less than half the price.</p>

11

<p>Could you please give me more info on the google suit…I don’t understand the connection.</p>

12

<p>Frankly, I’d hesitate going into debt anywhere to study journalism right now. According to today’s New York Time and the Boston Globe, its possible that the Globe might not even be around in 30 days. Tough times to be a journalist.</p>

13

<p>my son doesn’t want to be a journalist…he just wants to sharpen his writing in preparation for law school eventually or in working in business.</p>

14

<p>No place is worth a great deal of debt.</p>

15

<p>He’s better off going to Rutgers. It’s cheaper and better.</p>

16

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<p>Journalism may not be the best field to do this in. In fact, because you’re not writing argumentative essays, it may be quite unhelpful.</p>

<p>I’d be wary about that much debt when professional school is in the future, if that kind of money is a true financial burden to the family.</p>

17

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<p>The ability to write quickly, clearly, and succinctly is incredibly valuable.</p>

18

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<p>Absolutely true. When was the last time you read a legal brief?</p>

19

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<p>The last time I was involved in a lawsuit.</p>

<p>Your argument is silly, an undergraduate degree in journalism is excellent preparation for law school. Majoring in philosophy or rhetoric or something will confer no advantage over journalism, and I can see a lot of ways in which journalism training would actually confer a bigger advantage.</p>

20

<p>To the original poster. I work with several Northeastern alums and am very impressed by the quality that comes out of Northeastern. I’m from the MA area so im going to be a little bias. Im a Business major working in NY and Northeastern has a strong presence due to the coop program. Go with Northeastern…they have a rising reputation.</p>