Hi, I was just accepted to Northeastern (which has been my top choice for a long time) however, I am wondering if the cost is worth it (it would come out to be around 60k/ year). Is a Northeastern education truly worth the high price as compared to the honors program at a state school like UConn, uvm, or Delaware (also considering providence honors program)?
donât take this personally, but my opinion is that northeastern is overrated and their rankings are too inflated. i have not heard good things about the school, but ultimately it comes down to preference and if you have the willingness to pay that much
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What is your likely major?
How much debt would you need to take on?
Would the cost be a hardship for your family?
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My major at NEU would be environmental science, but at the other schools I have been accepted into the engineering programs. Also the cost would not be an extreme hardship for my family and I would not go into a ton of debt, we just would not have much/ any money for grad school should I attend NEU.
i would wait for rd applications and if you have any better offers try and ask the neu financial aid office if they can match or lower the cost, youâd be surprised because asking goes a long way
Love NU but also cannot help but wonder whether it is worth the expense.
Along the same lines, is there any way to ask NU for reconsideration regarding a merit award, not financial aid? D21 was accepted EA without a scholarship (before her Fall semester was complete). She had a great semester, nice boost to her GPA and her counselor is going to submit a mid-year report. Could she possibly earn scholarship money post-acceptance?
I think it depends on what your major and future plans are tbh. If you plan on going somewhere insanely expensive like med school or just grad school in general, then I would say it is definitely not worth it. However, if youâre doing something with good ROI like CS or engineering and like what Boston has to offer, then you should consider NEU.
One thing to look at is how each of your college choices has handled COVID. I think Delaware has not allowed freshmen on campus and Providence sent students home. Not sure about the others. It is an expensive school and if you donât like cities or plan on needing money for grad school it may not be worth it. My son is very happy there academically and socially and has really enjoyed Boston. NUâs response to COVID has been excellent and they are one of the first colleges in the U.S. to get the vaccine. The co-op program helps you figure out what kind of job you do and donât want after graduation and can reduce the cost. For us, the cost has been worth it.
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What have you heard?
Every now and then I will pop on CC and add a point of view on Northeastern. Yes, it is expensive (for us cheaper than all other schools due to merit), it isnât a rah-rah school (not many schools are right now), and the cycles of coop and learning can be disruptive to friend relationships and continuity of a traditional college experience. People on this forum always mention that now SEVEN year old article about gaming rankings because rankings seem to be they ONLY thing that drives college selection - prestige matters more than anything else, so Northeastern always comes up as not prestigious enough for what you pay. Northeastern was not the highest ranking school my child got into. In fact he got into several schools that others would âdieâ for.
My childâs experience at Northeastern was the reason he chose this school - vibrant city environment, amazing world travel experience, and valuable real world jobs through coop. As a chemical engineer he has had 2 great coops (currently in second now) that gave him insight to the real world. He was in the middle of first coop when COVID struck and got to see first hand what happens to the corporate structure in a crisis. He had to find a second coop in the middle of this crisis, finding out how tough the world is. He has had good bosses and scary bosses, great teams and dysfunctional teams. These are full immersion six month jobs that gives you a more accurate perspective of the working world - not like a summer internship (that many students will say are the same but I disagree). He makes enough money on his coop to pay housing costs for a year. I think any school with a coop experience is worth the price.
Northeastern has tried its best to respond the COVID-19 crisis - being in the middle of a hotspot city requires flexibility on both studentsâ and parentsâ part. My child has been able to continue his path as difficult as it is right now.
While most students would say they want to have fun in college and not have to worry about things like that yet, I say if I am going to pay all that money for college I want to make sure you are ready to be a functioning human being when you graduate. Thatâs what Northeastern gives you.
Can you get that experience at a cheaper price tag? I am sure it can be found. You have to weigh everything experience you are looking for - what do you want to get out of college and the true cost - before you commit anywhereâŠ
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i have heard things about the administration and teachers, not good things+ i donât think there is any value if you have to pay full price⊠if it was comparable to a state school, price-wise, it would be another story
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Donât believe everything you hear.
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I really appreciate all the responses! To provide context, I received a merit scholarship of 18 k/ year, but the price is still much more expensive than the other schools⊠I am trying to weigh if the more expensive Northeastern experience is more valuable than a cheaper, honors college. Also the wording of the deans scholarship, is unclear and it appears as though I may only receive the scholarship if I am living on campusâŠwhich would not be ideal.
What is the wording?
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FWIW, my son has had ten professors so far and liked them all. He currently has a Silicon Valley executive for one of his business classes and finds him impressive. The administrators have been extremely communicative throughout the pandemic and also appear in the media a lot. My son sees President Aoun eating lunch and spoke to him once. I have heard complaints about advisers, but my son is in the Explore (undeclared) program and they have a low student-advisor ratio and the advising is great.
The scholarship letter itself does not mention anything about needing to stay on campus to receive the money. However, in my financial aid letter the cost is broken down under âFinancial aid awardâ to show how much money the scholarship combined w/ financial aid amounts to and says âyour award is based on the followingâŠyou will reside in university housing.â I am confused bc its not mentioned in the scholarship letter but instead the financial aid letter?? Not sure if anyone has more details on the âdeans scholarshipâ
The merit scholarship is not affected by where you live. Did you also receive a need based grant? If you did and you were to move back home (if you live in the Boston area) then the need based grant would likely be reduced because your housing costs would be minimal.
This is a big difference. What do you actually want to study?
If you want to study engineering, and if you want to be an engineer, then I do not think that it is worth $60,000 per year to attend a university where you did not get accepted to the engineering program.
If you want to study environmental science, then UVM is also quite good for this particular major.
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At Northeastern you apply for a certain major but are admitted to the university. If the OP wanted engineering he could contact them and they would switch it.
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To change into an engineering major at Northeastern, here are the criteria:
https://coe.northeastern.edu/academics-experiential-learning/undergraduate-studies/undergraduate-academic-advising/change-major/