I have been accepted to Northwestern, Rose-Hulman, and Purdue for engineering. I really want to go to Northwestern and it is a great fit with a great atmosphere, but I only received $3,500 in financial aid. For all 4 years, I would have about $85,000 in debt/loans. I plan to co-op and an engineer’s starting salary is good and I will likely get a good job out of college. Is Northwestern worth it?
YOU would not have $85K of debt. Students are limited to $27K. The rest would be your parents’. How do they feel about that? How much are RH and Purdue after their aid offers?
I would have an extra $30k if I went to Purdue, but I’m not really thrilled about being at a huge school, even if their engineering is great. I don’t know how much Rose will give me. I would probably have to take out private loans or something(that would suck) because my parents will pay the around $170k but there would still be a lot uncovered.
If that is only Purdue vs NU, for $30K extra, I would do NU. As you said, PU is too big and you became a number.
So NU ED and the others EA?
What are net costs at PU?
If RHIT costs about the same as NU, I think NU offers more opportunities outside engineering if you are so inclined.
How much can they pay and how willing are your parents to take out loans?
85k is too much in student debt. (What does I will have an extra 30k mean?) Yes it would be nice but that is a huge anchor for a student. That’s 10 or twenty years of servicing debt instead of banking money and taking vacations. The extra you will be paying in interest is 32k for 10 years. And what if you can’t pay 1k a month when you start out? Will you have to take a job you don’t want because it pays more? You will just be starting to save when everyone else is comfortable. Private loans will have to be signed by your parents anyway so that everyone is on the hook for that money. Rose Hulman might be the same price unless you get some merit money.
Did you not run the Net Price Calculator to estimate the NU price? Was your offer worse? Then you can talk to them.
you will carry that extra debt like an albatross. purdue is an amazing place, lots of smart people attend. the students are also overall more down to earth and grounded than at northwestern
“you will carry that extra debt like an albatross. purdue is an amazing place, lots of smart people attend. the students are also overall more down to earth and grounded than at northwestern”
1st part true; 2nd part ridiculous.
In Engineering, Northwestern and Purdue are peers, so if cost is a concern, and clearly it is in the OP’s case, then Purdue is the better option.
@Alexandre for an undergrad in engineering, I don’t think I would call Purdue and Northwetsern peers. I might argue that Northwestern and Rose-Hulman are closer to being peers in ug engineering. That being said, (on average) Rose has a very high net price and many alums report having large student debt after graduation.
I certainly wouldn’t put NU a step above Purdue in engineering.
Nephew graduated from Purdue in engineering three years ago and has done really well.
If you really want NU, would they let you take a gap year to earn some money first?
I wonder how NU co-ops work? Since they are still on quarters that would shorten the length of the co-op term. I’m curious how companies work with that. Purdue has either 3 or 5 session co-ops and a very strong Professional Practices office. It is likely at Purdue if you procured a co-op you could possibly pay the $30k from your earnings.
@Ivvcsf: Nothing says that you can’t do a co-op session over 2 quarters (with one of the quarters being summer, which you’d be taking off anyway). That’s what happens at UCincy, a quarter-system school where almost every program has co-op.
Slightly off topic, but how was OP already accepted to NU?
Northwestern has ED and RD, not EA. If OP was accepted ED, then he’ll have to make sure that he can get out of the ED agreement before even considering turning NU down.
@PurpleTitan Thanks for the clarity. I have a good friend who graduated from UC’s Engineering Dept. many years ago and he really enjoyed his co-op sessions. I just never considered how they ran them. Today, Ohio requires all public universities to be on semesters.
notretseh, your family income must be fairly high for Northwestern to have been awarded only $3500 in financial aid. According to my Northwestern NPC estimate, a family making $180K (with $90K cash/checking + $90K investments + $90K home equity, not including retirement savings) would get over $13K in grant aid.
Is Northwestern’s aid offer much less than what the NPC would have predicted? If so, try bringing that to their attention and see if they will increase the offer. Be sure the award was based on complete, accurate information, if there is any doubt about that, and that the entire financial aid package already has been decided.
If the offer is approximately in line with what the NPC would have predicted, weren’t you aware that more aid was unlikely when you decided to apply there? If you applied ED, that should have been with the understanding that you would accept an offer from Northwestern as long as you could afford to attend (even if it meant passing up scholarships from other colleges.) The mere fact that Purdue is ~$7500/year cheaper (“I would have an extra $30k if I went to Purdue”) is not necessarily a valid justification for declining an ED offer. If Purdue finds out you reneged on an ED commitment at another school, without being released from that commitment due to inadequate aid, then at least in theory Purdue could rescind its offer. Whether they actually would do that, I don’t know … but to be safe, you better talk to Northwestern and get released from the ED commitment before accepting any other offer.
http://www.ugadm.northwestern.edu/apply/application-options.html
“Students admitted under Early Decision may be released from the commitment to enroll at Northwestern only for demonstrated financial hardship.”
(I’d expect them to be pretty generous in interpreting “financial hardship”.)
@Ivvcsf: You’re right; it’s Drexel with the quarter system.
Parent here with a recent grad from PU in ME and another son at NU also in ME.
Oldest son had a great experience at PU with study abroad, co-op, meeting tons of people from all over and establishing a really good network. Don’t let the size turn you away, it can be an advantage. He a has landed a great job and has been well prepared.
Youngest son is attending NU and is also having an outstanding experience. We are paying about 24k and next year when he is off campus will save more. A smaller private was a better fit for him and we are happy with the decision. NU will price your total cost according to your financial status.
We have been stretched a bit but this is how I see our family advancing, my sons are the first in our entire family to make it with solid college degrees.